TEACHER CAPACITY & DEVELOPMENT/ PD PLANS

In May of 2019, when we received the phone call that we were awarded the Computer Science is Elementary Grant, we instantly screamed with excitement. During the summer, the Technology Integrationist began to research and plan for the Fall of 2019.

One of our K-12 professional development days before school started was a Computer Science Sandbox where numerous STEM stations were set up on a rotation basis so teachers could rotate and collaborate while learning and gathering ideas for classroom integration.

The 2019-2020 school year began with an initial all staff meeting announcing we were awarded the grant. Teachers were very excited about the resources and professional development opportunities that would soon come. Our primary goal was to generate buy-in and excitement early on in the K-4 staff. We started by having bi-monthly professional development meetings with the K-4 teachers before school to discuss CSTA standards and look for resource ideas that would guide us in making purposeful decisions about our budget spending. From there, we broke into grade level teams to unpack standards and find connections to existing core curriculum. Some teachers started to dabble in CS integration with the support of the Technology Integrationist into core lessons/performance tasks. In September, a group of teachers benefitted from speakers at the Computer Science is Elementary Institute. They were also able to collaborate with representatives from other CS is Elementary grant recipients. In October, another group of teachers had the pleasure of visiting Loess Hills Elemenatry Computer Programming School in Sioux City. Teachers observed a variety of classroom implementation with a reflection discussion after. This team brought their learning back and shared with other staff members.

In March of 2020, the pandemic hit, but teachers continued to explore resources and attend virtual conferences throughout this time to build their efficacy and comfort level in learning CS fundamental concepts. They also used this time to work on their CS Scope and Sequences to meet our goal of including a weekly CS time into their class schedule for the Fall of 2020.

In the Fall of 2020, a K-4 CS classroom schedule was created to insure 30 minutes of CS each week.

We started the year believing that we could implement all five CSTA concepts with fidelty in our lessons. With the effects of Covid including learning loss, we quickly realized this was an unreachable goal. Therefore, we scaled it down and just implemented the Algorithm and Programming concept. This was a good choice for our students because of the engagement piece of the physical computing devices. The Technology Integrationist assisted teachers with the weekly CS lessons. Our year-end reflection led us to understand that CS is NOT just Coding. We needed to learn and understand the other 4 CSTA Concepts and where they would fit in our CS Scope & Sequence.

Throughout the year, we held grade level CS PLCs where teachers were provided support with understanding the CSTA standards and how they could be met with the goal of implementing a complete CS Scope & Sequence in the Fall of 2021.

In the Fall of 2021, we were beginning a much more "normal" school year with a completed K-6 CS Scope & Sequence. Fifth and Sixth grade CS classes were added to the weekly schedule. We continued to build teacher capacity by using reflection journals after each weekly CS lesson. This helped teachers identify what went well and what needed to be changed when the lesson circles around again. It also helped make decisions for future lessons.