| Code Savvy Newsletter – Educator Connections – March 23rd, 2021 Our newsletters highlight a variety of people, organizations, and resources that are doing work to broaden participation and expand equitable and engaging computer science and STEM opportunities. We are honored to work in this space along with so many talented and passionate individuals and want to help bring attention to their work. Reflection – #stopasianhate Since news of the horrific shooting in Atlanta last week, our thoughts have been with the victims, their families, and all others who have been harmed by the ongoing attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. We stand with our AAPI students, educators, and community members, and condemn these attacks, and the racism, sexism, and AAPI hate that drives them. To learn more about what you can do to help or get involved, please visit Stop AAPI Hate and the Learning for Justice Resources on helping students understand racism against and respond to AAPI people. This Week’s Spotlight and Project-Inspiration: Women’s History Month Spotlight on Women’s History! This week’s focus is “Women Who Helped Open Doors” For the next month, we will shine our spotlight on the contributions of women in history, culture and society. This week’s focus is “Women Who Helped Open Doors”  Billie Jean King is an American tennis player who went on to win over 39 major tennis titles. While this accomplishment is amazing in and of itself, it is her relentless pursuit for the rights of women in sports that make her a woman of history to note.King’s advocacy in women’s school, amateur, and professional sports helped move them from being a novelty to ensuring equity in participation and pay, enabling the ability of women to attain scholarships, and provide increased opportunity. There had been many great women athletes before King, but she helped make it more acceptable for girls and women to be athletes. She also became the most prominent female athlete at the time to come out as a lesbian. Thank you Billie Jean King, for spar-‘king’ the athletes in many of us. As you practice coding this week, can you create a sports inspired project? Maybe you could follow some Scratch Tutorials to create a Pong Game and customize it to be more like tennis. Or you could animate some sprites to make it look like they are playing a sport together. Be sure to share whatever you come up with! Share your CS to Go projects! How to Share: We invite CS to Go with Code Savvy participants to consider sharing your projects publicly with the Code Savvy and greater #MNCodes community via video with Flipgrid. We can’t wait to see what you create! Please be sure to follow online safety guidelines and get adult permission before sharing. You can find our Privacy Policy here. CS to Go and Bytes of Inspiration with Code Savvy are our response to the current health crisis — Code Savvy’s programs have come together to develop weekly youth- and educator-centered videos that focus on creating new things with computer science. You can find all CS to Go and Bytes of Inspiration videos under Distance Learning on our website! Code Savvy’s MNCodes Educator Training Program Scholarships Available for CSTA 2021 Each summer the Computer Science Teacher’s Association hosts a large nation-wide conference. This year will be virtual, and CSTA is offering scholarships that subsidize 100% of the program cost to support teachers whose limited financial resources may prevent them from attending. Learn more about our scholarship opportunity and apply by April 30. Read more about scholarships here. CS Integration Curriculum Showcase As part of the MNCodes Cohort, educators are asked to create lessons that integrate computer science with another curricular content area such as literacy, math, science, or others, and align to both CSTA and MN Academic Standards. We will use this space to regularly showcase various curriculum resources that have been created by current or former MNCodes Cohort members. Sphero Games This middle school project has students participating in olympic style games by programming their Sphero robots! Check out the lesson resources here. To see other projects that integrate CS into core content areas, you can browse our database on the MNCodes website. Coffee + CS Ed Zoom Call Looking for more ways to connect with other educators interested in CS Ed? Or do you have ideas to share, questions or want to try out a resource in the company of other K12 CS Educators? Check out Coffee + CSEd Chats – every Friday at 8am, CT. Anyone is welcome to join! Details and Zoom info can be found here.  Technovation[MN] This year, Technovation[MN] will be hosting Appapalooza as a LIVE Virtual event. Different from previous years, the winners at Appapalooza will not automatically advance, however, we do want to gather, with friends and families, to celebrate the outstanding work of the girls in Minnesota. We hope you will join us as a judge for the live pitch session of Appapalooza 2021. Find out more and register here! CoderDojos Our winter/spring schedule is now available here. Our next virtual event is March 27th (this Saturday)! – Register Here. Hope to see many of you there. Sign up for email notices – CodeDojoTC and Rebecca CoderDojo. MN Cup Applications Open Minnesota Cup (MN Cup) is kicking off its 17th season! Applications for the 2021 competition are open from March 15-April 16. MN Cup connects current and aspiring Minnesota entrepreneurs to education, mentorship, seed capital, and the broader community. Find out more and apply here! | |
About Code SavvyCode Savvy empowers youth and educators with the knowledge, skills, and support to create with technology while interrupting and counteracting gender, racial, and socioeconomic gaps in computing. We create opportunities for hands-on computer science learning that inspires learners to transform the future. Visit our website to learn more→Support Code Savvy Our programs are FREE to all students who want to learn, regardless of background. Help us keep it that way. Donate today! Donate Click here to access our 2021 newsletter archive, or click here if you’d like to join our mailing list to receive the latest newsletter in your inbox weekly! |
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