What I am thinking about this year

One of my Code.org co-facilitators asked me this summer, "What are you focusing on this year?", with it being mid-summer I was kind of caught off guard, the school year seemed so far away, but now with the time approaching, I've taken some time to think about the areas I am most jazzed about improving my practice this year.

1. Increase belonging in my classroom.  I think along with this is to think more intentionally about who participates in my classroom and how do they participate with a special focus on under-represented populations.  
1. Levers to pull in this area:
• Highlighting student work and thinking - for highlighting student work, I am thinking of displaying creations in the hall or in technologies outside the classroom.  I also can do a better job of showing student thinking in class.  I pull a lot of ideas from the room, but I want to be more careful on who's voices I amplify in that process. 
• Question of the day - I stumbled upon this deck of questions for students in an advisory class, but I think they could be used in any class to allow students to do some introspection as well as have all-class conversations about topics around identity.
• Provide. Student. Choice. - I need to think about when I can provide students more choices and then do that.  THEN highlighting the different choices students make in a public (validating) way that assigns competence to each student can help students feel a sense of belonging.
• Learn more about introverts - I am currently reading the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Cannot Stop Talking.  It has opened my eyes into how much society (and myself) values extroversion over introversion and how we are leaving some fantastic minds un-tapped in that process.  I used to think my goal was to help introverts "become" extroverts, but I need to re-examine that.  I am not done with the book, but I know I need to do a bit more thinking about this.
• Check in with students daily - I think my best year of "connectedness" with students was my first year when I "checked in" student homework by going around the room each day to check it.  It allowed me to say hi to each student and also make a little bit of small talk.  I already meet students at the door each day but sometimes it gets a little backed up and some students take advantage of that time more than others. 
• Talking Points - At a TwitterMathCamp I saw someone demonstrate using "Talking Points" in their math classroom to talk about doing mathematics.  I am wondering if doing something similar in CS about issues of representation in CS classes and industry would help bring awareness to the class about this issue.  I could also see doing this for other topics as well - I think in general adding more structure to classroom conversations can help support all students in having equal voice in discussions.
• Seating charts - Oh seating charts... when teaching math I used to do intentional grouping in heterogenous groups.  When I switched to CS I let students sit where they wanted.  The result was that students got to know less new people.  I also think this lead to some people feeling isolated if they didn't have friends in the class.  This year I am going to do random seating charts every twp weeks.  I think this will allow students to get to know new people but also make it sustainable for me.  I will still allow people to pick partners for group PROJECTS but not for daily work.
2. Data to gather:
• Survey data - This is a little tricky since I feel like asking students "do you feel like you belong here" is a bit off-putting or might lead to inauthentic results.  I also think the term "belonging" needs to be unpacked a bit.  What I want my classroom to feel like is a giant family.  I have had classes that have really gelled like that and it is an awesome feeling.  
• Focus groups - UGH this is a dream of mine.  I would love to get some of my girls together from CS classes and hear their thoughts on belonging in the CS classroom.  Do they feel "othered" in the room?  What deminishes that feeling and what amplifies that feeling?  I would also like to do that of students of color too.  I have no idea of this is logistically possible, but something to look into.
• Student reflections - I am wondering if I could have a day (or part of a day) where we talk about places or communities that they feel like they "belong" in.  It might be that it is when they are with family, or with friends, maybe it is when they are online playing video games, maybe it is when they are in the art studio... I don't know, but I wonder if we can pull out those qualities into the classroom. 
• Student participation - I think there are various ways to measure student participation, all of which I want to explore.  I am making an assumption that when students participate, they feel like they belong. 
2. Increasing collaboration and creativity in programming.  
1. Levers to pull:
• Consider where, how and when to involve more project based learning into my courses - Initially I was thinking of calling this more "Project Based Learning", but really my goal in doing more project based learning is to get at this collaboration and creativity piece.  I don't see PBL being the only way to accomplish this.  In both CSA and CSP this year I want to give some more open projects to students.  Whenever I did that last year, engagement went up and I saw students creativity shine through a bit more.
• Provide. Student. Choice. - Sounds familiar, I know, but it seems to fit here too.
• Raise the ceiling - Provide tasks and projects that allow students to really go ALL out.  This will reduce the "I'm done" effect some students have. 
• Pair Programming! - I am doing it this year with fidelity.  It will increase collaboration, but I am not sure about creativity.
2. Data to gather:
• Reflections - Mainly my own.  I need to think more deeply around a few key questions: How do I know if students were creative?  What does "being creative" look like?  Are there multiple ways to "collaborate"?  Is all "collaboration" verbal?  Who benefits when I value collaboration and creativity?  Who is left out?  What supports can help students collaborate and be creative?  Can I "teach" creativity in isolation?  Should I?  Clearly, I have a lot of questions that still need to be answered here.
• Surveys - Man I love a good survey.  It allows me to hear from all students equally.  In past surveys, students always rank the Unit 3 - Design a Digital Scene as their favorite task.  It is crazy.  It is through this data I am assuming students thrive in collaborative and creative environments. 
• Data from Tasks - I am thinking back to Knowles in how we would look at an assignment and consider what "unspoken" values are being communicated in a task.  I wonder how tasks I provide students with portray the role of collaboration and creativity.