Coding and Computational Thinking

Lesson Idea Name: Coding

Content Area: Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 8th Grade
Content Standard Addressed: ELAGSE8RL3: Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or
drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Technology Standard Addressed: Empowered learner, digital citizen, knowledge constructor, innovative
designer, computational thinker, creative communicator

https://scratch.mit.edu/
Bloom’s Taxonomy Level(s):
☒ Remembering ☒ Understanding ☒ Applying ☒ Analyzing ☐ Evaluating ☒ Creating

Levels of Technology Integration (LoTi Level):

☐ Level 1: Awareness ☐ Level 2: Exploration ☒ Level 3: Infusion ☐ Level 4: Integration
☐ Level 5: Expansion ☐ Level 6: Refinement

Universal Design for Learning (UDL):

Engagement: I will engage my students through coding because they can create creative projects and work on
their processing skills as well.
Representation: Students differ in the way they learn and receive information and coding gives students the
ability to create different projects and material that suits their interests and skills.
Action and Expression: This is the how of learning, and through coding, students can represent their
knowledge on different topics or ideas in many different ways.

Lesson idea implementation: As I address the standards, the teacher will present the information through the
flower example coding button. The students will then create their own flower to get a feel for the application
software and tools. Then, the teacher will have students create a coding timeline for the plot of the novel
Flipped. The students will then create a timeline of major plot points for the novel suing the coding software.
This will take students 4 days to work on to master the coding software and work in groups to code. Student
learning will be assessed by how well students understand the coding software and lay out the points of the
novel. The teacher can differentiate learning by having students just focus on mastering coding for the flower
if they’re struggling and then taking more class time to work on the novel coding assignment. This can be
extended to a higher learning level by having students make their own coding image based on a book they
choose. I will provide feedback to my students by having them submit their coding flower and novel
assignment to my email.

Importance of technology:
The coding tool is critical to this project because Scratch allows for students to be creative and make sharp
lines and use the tools to make a proper timeline that is neat and easily able to be read. Without using this
tool, the processing skills a student gains and the technology confidence would be lost.

Inspiration (optional): https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/303601140/

Internet Safety and Student Privacy:

Publishing student work and collaborating with others can bring about some issues in a classroom. It’s
important as the teacher to always inform administrators and parents about what you are doing and how it
will support learning. Teacher’s must always be proactive and do not allow anonymous communication from
 Coding and Computational Thinking
your students, so always know who is posting what. Websites can be password protected, so it’s important to
implement this into your technology practices.

Reflective Practice:
The activities created could impact student learning by improving student processing skills and having
students gain technology confidence in a classroom. If I were to extend this lesson, I could have students play
around with different coding sites to find one they like best, and give them more of a free reign to create
content that fits their own individual learning styles and technology skills.