Code Club Showcase Like no Other

I just celebrated my 12th Code Club Showcase, virtually. Last year’s Code Club went virtual after three weeks due to the Pandemic and our school switching to remote learning. There was no Showcase because what the students needed at the time was a fun weekly code break and not another virtual project to work on. We were all overwhelmed.

This year, while we are now back to full-time, in-school learning, code club had to be held remotely due to school protocols. Students were more amenable to this set up this year and we reached our max during sign-up and had about a 60% retention from week to week. That meant at least 10 coders online for one hour each week.

Luckily, I was able to send home printouts of our Code Club learning projects for the students to work from. Those school Chromebooks have really small screens. I don’t like to code using them and I wouldn’t want to have to split my screen to see the learning project and Scratch at the same time. I sent home a variety of project resources, more than we had time to work through, in case the students were interested in learning on their own.

Virtual Code Club Chatbot projects

From Code Club I use the projects Felix and Herbert, Chatbot, Balloons, Scratch Cat Goes Skiing and Create your own world. I also used the Scratch cards for Make it Fly and virtual pet. This is a mixture of my standard learning projects (like Chatbot and Virtual pet) and some based on what the students told me they wanted to make (Create your own world). I put in Scratch Cat Goes Skiing as an example of a vertical scroller for a couple of reasons. One we were meeting in February and two I needed a break from the side-scrolling Flappy Parrot project.

Scratch cat goes skiing projects from virtual code club

I used Google classroom for announcements, meet links, materials and the Game design document, GDD for planning the Showcase project. It worked out well. Most students completed the GDD and I was able to find Code Club projects or Scratch cards to support their ideas. A couple of the girls didn’t have an idea for their Showcase project so I showed them (at school) what I projects I had available and they choose the virtual pet and space junk type projects to work on.

They worked on their projects for four weeks. I was able to help debug during our meetings. The students were pretty comfortable with sharing their screen so I could see their code and what was going on. There were a few tricky bits of debugging that I got caught up in each week. If we couldn’t solve it together during the meeting, I would work on the problem and post the fix (if I found it) in Google classroom. I let a couple students work on their projects in the lab during a rainy recess. This just reminded me how much better coding together in person really is. I hope we can get back to it again.

For the virtual Showcase, students took turns introducing their project and giving hints or background on how to play and why they made it. It was very informal, no parents, just all the club members. Then we would play their game. I encouraged students to “heart” like the project and leave a positive encouraging comment like a cool, or I like your music, Sprite, theme, etc. In school I ask them to provide more detailed, helpful feedback, but this wasn’t school but a club, so friendly feedback was all that was expected. Everyone did great. Everyone was positive and encouraging.

Showcase of projects from Virtual Code Club 2021

When we finished sharing and enjoying each others showcase projects, I share a studio I had put together a my pick for the Best of Code Club Showcase projects. During the prep for our showcase, I had gone back and picked a favorite project from each of the previous Showcase of Scratch projects and maybe one or two more that I find super fun.

Best of Code Club Showcase projects

It was a delightful way to spend our last virtual hour together.

Virtual Code Club ends, another begins

I did twelve weeks of virtual code club. Each week I posted materials in our Google Classroom and sent out an email to parents as well. I occasionally hosted virtual office hours (about every other week) and I also tried to comment on all of the projects the students shared online.

I don’t know how many students participated beyond the few that came to the office hours or that shared projects online. Very few students posted comments in our Classroom and no parent ever responded to my emails after the first one. It is hard to believe no one had any questions, but it is easy to believe that with all of the other virtual classwork students were doing, no one had the bandwidth to add code club on top of it all.

Last virtual code club week post

For the final week, I thought about making another video of myself to say thanks for coming along with me on our virtual code club, but I made this Scratch project instead:

And challenged them to make a “Thank you card” Scratch project, too.

I posted Code Club certificates for them and closed the book on this experiment. In reflection, I learned that putting out weekly projects with no feedback as to how they are received is hard. I don’t like it. There is no way to change it on the fly to make it work for each student. I really don’t know what I need to change to engage more students, and yet I don’t think it was me that caused low attendance.  It was an optional part of virtual life during emergency remote learning during a pandemic.

So I put out project ideas that I thought they would like and that I liked, too. In the end, there are more Scratchers out there, creating projects that interest them. They may not have the foundational skills I was hoping to instill, but they are part of the Scratch Community and will find it for themselves or perhaps seek out more opportunities and working on more passion projects.

A code club member and Scratcher following his own interests.

Another new Scratcher working on their own passion project.

I’m starting my summer virtual code club through the public library today. I’m hoping some kids come so I can get some feedback and learn to be better at being a virtual code club coach.

Putting it Out There

I have been remiss in blogging. This is week 6 of my Virtual Code Club.  I have been adjusting my expectations (as we all have) as I keep posting weekly activities for my students, hoping they are useful or enjoyed (or noticed). Virtual code club is both easy to do and hard to know if it is worth it or even hitting a mark. I get very little feedback and that’s okay. It’s not about me, really, except that I do this because I enjoy working with the students.  So most of what I love about Code Club has vanished and I’ve become a curator of project ideas for students that I know.

My curated virtual code club list of projects

I have opened my code club up to all 4th graders in my school and have had some additional students join. Some who traditionally don’t participate in after school programs and some who would normally have scheduling conflicts with their after school sports.  All of my Code Club members have at least joined our virtual Google Classroom so they took the first step. Some may be looking at the projects and doing them offline, where I can’t see. Some may be overwhelmed, which is understandable, given the #stayathome orders. I don’t really know as I haven’t received many comments in Classroom. I know a few students are working on projects, maybe 1/5.  I have heard from a few parents but just to get their student’s account for online Scratch. There, at least, I can see who’s posting projects.

Code Club is Fun: Q&A project results

I’ve hosted two video-conferencing Code Break meet-ups. It was great to see the kids. I invited them to ask questions. I shared my screen and showed them how to find our code club studios, how to log on, how to share projects.  I even did a little bit of coding to inspire them to try it.  The first conference had 4-5 kids and the second only 2 kids.  It was really fun to see them and hear their enthusiasm for coding with Scratch.  One student asked where everyone was? and how could there be anything better to do than code club at this moment? And that’s who I do this for.

Earth Day project from my code club

I’ve also connected with my monthly Library code club and have held a couple of virtual meetings. One with 2 students, one with a single student and one, over April break, one with no students- just the librarian and me.  We are planning to continue in May and switch to weekly through the summer.  I just want this opportunity to be there for students during these exceptional times.

It’s all fine, just totally different than in-person meetings where I can observe the learning and the fun.

This week was a little bit better.  Even though only two students joined me in the video conference, I’ve seen an uptick in activity around this week’s project – make an Earth Day Google-doodle that I found from CS First.  I’ve been able to help a student get started and he’s been asking good questions in the comments.

Being thanked by a student is something special!

It’s enough for me to keep going.

And so we go on.

Virtual Code Club

Last week I took my Code Club virtual as we are all trying to do in education during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Here’s what I did:

I created a Google Classroom and invited all my Code Club members to join.  I created my first post, added the materials, created a short video of me introducing the concept and emailed it all out to all the parents.

Our first lesson was Virtual Pet – here is my lesson Virtual Code Club #1. I kept the format the same as our in-person meeting – Greeting, Discussion, Learning Objective, Project information. I added some links to former Code Club project examples and posted it as material in my Classroom. I didn’t want this to be an assignment with a grade or due date.  This is for fun.

The majority of my Code Club has accepted my invitation, including my middle-school helpers. Parents emailed back and were thankful and very much appreciated the idea of Code Club continuing. I had a few student comments of “This is fun” and one student who got stuck but then figured it out before I could help him out.  It went like this:

S: I tried this and it didn’t work.

S: What should I do?

S: Oh wait, it’s working now.

Me: What a great example of debugging. Keep testing and trying options. Let me know how it goes.

S: It’s working perfectly now.

My students are young, 9-10 years old, and most of them use Scratch offline versions – like I use with them at school, so I can’t see their projects.  That is one of the toughest parts of virtual for me.  I’m not getting to see their projects.  A lot of them are learning quickly about Classroom and virtual meetings with their class through Meet or Zoom. Eventually, we may do this as well (and I can wear my Scratch cat earrings again).

Today I got an email about #ScratchAtHome from Scratch In Practice.  I will see what support they have and perhaps they’ll have some suggestions for sharing project files and other learning opportunities for my students to be creative with Scratch.

I’m working on this week’s virtual code club project: Flappy Parrot – one of my favorites.  Then I may need to figure out a way to take my Library Code Club virtual, too.

Stay safe and wash your hands.