Today's technology challenges our students and divides their attentions to their academic study. The challenge is to harness their current interests in playing games by teaching them how to create games to problem solve and teach/train skills to pre-k to grade 8 students.
My students are digital natives that constantly use technology in a social aspect.
Throughout the years, I have been told that the skills I teach are transferable to other areas of academics, and their performance improves for the most part. I like to find ways to build on their interests to connect concepts that are meaningful to them. In my class, they learn about cooperation, teamwork, planning, designing and programming. These are essential skills that all high tech firms look for in candidates.
In the past two years, I have had teams win the Global Game Jam, ousting professionals and college-level teams through their hard work -- knowing how to apply these skills. I have second year students returning that are interested in learning C#, which is an emerging relevant language in the gaming industry. This is in line with a career pathway option that our school and district offers.
The school is in a rural area. My students are awesome and they deserve this opportunity.
My Project
I am requesting a class set of books for the school year. This would be very helpful to teaching the students how to use the compiler, language and transferring the software to the targeted platform: the Box.
Last year, a group of my students worked over the summer to develop an educational game for the rising ninth graders coming in this fall. The spirit and momentum I have with my students would make this the next transitional challenge for them to stay interested in learning and off the streets.
Computer science classes teach computational thinking and prepares our students for their chosen careers.
I am trying to attract a broad population of students, including girls, to take my classes and benefit from them. This will be an excellent experience for my students, and the skills they will learn are transferable to other areas in their life.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. T. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.