Middle School Students Attend Empower Youth Conference

This post was written by Hinesburg Community School educator Mary Muroski. It's a follow up to this post from July of this year. 

On December 6th, 2018, ten of Hinesburg's 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students attended the Empower Youth Leadership Conference at the Holiday Inn, Burlington. They were joined by 40 other students from towns in Vermont, including Shelburne, Charlotte, Williston, Winooski, Burlington, Grand Isle, and South Burlington. The students participated in workshops designed to build personal leadership skills.

The day started with middle schoolers working with student facilitators to establish their hopes and dreams for the world. These ideas were shared with students in Uganda via a live Skype conversation. As the day progressed, students engaged in activities aimed to enhance communication skills. Highlights included creating vision boards that identified future goals and learning about the power of nonverbal communication. In a workshop on money smarts, students learned about credit, debt, investing, and compound interest. The day ended with students learning how to practice and express gratitude as a way to bring abundance and positivity into their lives.

The event was organized by Hinesburg Community School teacher, Mary Muroski, and Charlotte Central School Counselor, Kathy Batty, and co-sponsored by the Children’s Legacy Partnership through a grant from the NOVO and Education First Foundations. Local sponsors, who helped with the event, included Larkin Realty, Holiday Inn Burlington, New England Federal Credit Union, and Lantman’s Market in Hinesburg. Another conference will be held in March and more of our students will be invited to attend. It was so heartening to see the insight that these future leaders have to make the world a better place for all!

Hour of Code in CVSD

This week marks the 5th year that schools in CVSD, the United States, and the world participate in Hour of Code. The premise behind the Hour of Code is that sometime during this week, schools will provide an opportunity for students to learn about coding, or computer programming, for an hour. The CVSD schools have all participated since the inception. The momentum continues this year in our district, along with about 120 other Vermont schools and nearly 700 million participants globally.

From the Hour of Code website:

What is the Hour of Code?
The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. 

Why Computer Science?
Every student should have the opportunity to learn computer science. It helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. By starting early, students will have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career path.

Most popular during this week are the offerings on the code.org website. There are opportunities for all ages and abilities. Many have popular themes, such as Minecraft or a connection to a recent animated movie. They are all very engaging.

The excitement is not limited to this week; many classes have other things scheduled and will engage in the Hour of Code sometime over the next two weeks. There are opportunities for coding year-round in all of our schools, such as Lego robotics clubs, coding in design tech classes, CVU’s computer programming classes, and CVU’s Computer Club, which participates in CyberPatriot competitions. There’s a competition today - perfect timing! Plus, the resources from code.org are always available.

Here are a few examples of how the Hour of Code has been a focus this particular week in CVSD:

Younger students used iPads apps such as Hopscotch, Scratch Jr., Kodable, CodeSpark Academy with the Foos, or Daisy the Dinosaur. They have explored offline coding through games, small robots (Beebots, Dash & Dot) and physical activities like providing directions for classmates to go from one part of the classroom to another.

CVU students engaged in code.org activities and some were challenged by the Advent of Code. One student tried out an app created by another. Last week, 9th graders in Nichols Core were given choice in how to show their understanding of Neolithic Evolution. One student created a multi-level game to share his learning in a unique way. (see the end of the video below)

There are a myriad of ways in which coding, problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking are integrated into our daily work with students. This week’s special focus brings it to the forefront and connects these skills to real life.

We hope you will explore the code.org site and try out a few of the activities on your own or with a student. Let them teach you. And watch out, it’s a lot of fun!