Two weeks ago in my Tech class we listened to a presentation by Dr Fadjo, from the Columbia Teacher's College. He was there to talk to us about Scratch, a "programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web." Unfortunately, I didn't really learn anything about the program from Dr Fadjo. Most of what I learned came from looking up tutorials online. His presentation was very interesting, but it did not explain Scratch to me. I felt that his PowerPoint presentation was thorough on what Scratch was, but not on how to use Scratch.
That being said, I really enjoyed working with Scratch. The project was by no means easy, or simple, but it got my mind thinking. I was able to, basically, create a short PSA on cyberbullying. Now, my PSA wouldn't be shown on PBS or an after-school special but I thought it was pretty cool. I was challenged in all the right ways and while I did have some difficulty getting my timing down 100% I felt confident that I had, at least partially, mastered a new software.
I could definitely see myself using this kind of technology to both educate my students and have them educate others. While I was working on my project I thought that it would be really cool to have my future learners create a short "play" between two historical figures or characters. For example, they would reinterpret Julius Caesar, by Shakespeare. They would be able to change how the Sprites looked and have them walk around the background (or stage). It would be a way to teach several disciplines (art, tech, theater, history, and literature) all in one lesson.
Here are some examples of Scratch projects that I could see myself using in the classroom.
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