I Love Teaching Math & CS

A few days ago, my AP CS Principles students completed a multi-screen app project in the Code.org App Lab environment. I was simply blown away by the creativity of their apps! This is the third year I've taught the Code.org curriculum, and this year I focused more on peer feedback and the iterative process. We began the lesson by introducing the project - creating an app whose design included at least 4 screens and whose code included event handlers allowing the user to interact with the app. The  rubric  also laid out the expectations that: 1) The intended purpose of the app is clear. 2) The app is visually appealing and the user interface is intuitive to use. On the day that the app was due, I asked students to trade their app with a peer, go through the rubric, and give each other constructive feedback based on the rubric. They shared with at least two peers, and then I asked them to modify their app based on the feedback they received. I explained that this version is con

Recently I witnessed how removing a small obstacle for one of my students led to a powerful transformation in how this student sees himself.  A few days ago I asked my AP CS Principles students to add themselves to my class on the College Board Digital Portfolio so they can submit their Explore and Create performance tasks as part of the AP requirements for the course. In order to do so, they need to log in with their College Board account and then click on the class code of their corresponding class period. When I shared with my students the link to the Digital Portfolio, the vast majority of my 97 students were able to add themselves within a couple minutes. Those who couldn't remember their College Board password had to reset their password and were able to add themselves by the next day. There were a handful of students who had never created a College Board account, so they had to create a new account before adding themselves to the Digital Portfolio. Out of 97 students, on