A Favorite from Shakira!

I posted earlier this week about my students taking part in the HOUR OF CODE--an event to get millions of students around the world to code.

I took a photo of some of my students, proudly displaying their participation certificates from Code.org, and tweeted it with the hashtags #HourofCode and #teachHOC.

A few minutes later were thrilled to learn that one of the celebrity endorsers of the event, the one and only Shakira (@ShakiraSpace), had favorited our tweet. My students were thrilled and felt connected to the global community. What a wonderful feeling for my rural students. Kudos to Hadi Partovi (@hadip) and everyone at Code.org for their amazingly successful event!

Rural Minnesota kids can code! #HourofCode #teachHOC @codeorg pic.twitter.com/CxR2DXAWNA
— Mara Gust (@MaraGust) December 13, 2013

The Hour of Code

This post will be short...I am busy coding!

I have written before about coding. The Scratch program is what really got me started a few years go. My students love Scratch and they don't realize how much they are thinking whey they do it. I love it when I secretly make them think! Scratch could actually be used as a digital storytelling tool in any subject area. This week, my students will be programming along with students around the world.

This week is the HOUR OF CODE. The goal: to get millions of students around the world to code, and to demystify the stigma of coding being for the ultra-brilliants of our society. I will be the first to admit that moving from Scratch to creating iPhone apps is a bit of a jump, but any exposure is worth it, and any thinking is good. Happy coding!