Change of Plans...

After having gone back to the drawing board, I have decided to change my topic for my inquiry idea.  Originally, I was going to research the benefits and/or consequences of having music in the classroom when students are working (both in terms of writing as well as working on other subjects).  I decided not to pursue this idea because I think I already have a notion of the information I am going to find out.  I don't think this would serve as a great opportunity for me to learn something new that I can incorporate into my teaching.

Enter my new idea... Computer Programming.  I have been meaning to learn/teach myself this subject for some time, and I know that there is some expectation that as a technology teacher, I will be responsible for at least introducing the concept of computer programming to my students.  Really, this seems to be yet another win-win scenario for me.  This gives me an opportunity to devote time and energy to something I have had on my educational to-do list for some time (computer programming).  Also, I am benefitting from using the structured time and shared setting of the UIWP to "make" myself explore and get work done.

As far as teaching computer programming, it seems like there is already a very solid and well-laid out free curriculum up for grabs on the website code.org.  I began browsing through it today.  At first glance, it appears to be very detailed.  In fact, I may have to cherry pick here and there because I don't think there is any way I can complete the entire course curriculum and teach the photography skills I would like to teach all in a single 18 week semester... Perhaps some units may end up getting the axe...

Here is an overview of the middle school computer programming curriculum, called Computer Science Discoveries:

https://curriculum.code.org/media/uploads/CSD_1-pager_final.pdf

Here is a link to the full curriculum:

https://studio.code.org/courses/csd

After tooling around with some other exploratory online computer programming resources, I also stumbled upon this website:

http://www.programmingbasics.org/en/beginner/gettingstarted.html

It's a pretty basis, elementary, and visual way of explaining the ins and outs of computer programming.  I feel I have a good grasp of some of the fundamentals they discussed after reading through it.

Also, I had an opportunity to explore and play around with a specific scene that was created on the website.  In this particular programming space there are "acting robots" performing on a stage.  You can program the acting robots to move, and even speak lines in various exchange patterns.  This got me thinking that this could be a prime example of how teachers within an English Language Arts class could use something that is really a computer programming activity to teach elements of story, dialog, spacing, interaction, timing, comedy, etc.  Essentially, you get to be the director of actors that will do exactly what you tell them to do, in the exact same way, every time you tell them to do it... As someone who has experience directing people in dramatic roles, this is something that every director wishes for at some point in the process :)

Here is the website of the completed scene I messed around with today.  I think the opportunities that it opens up are endless from a standpoint of creation.  The commands in the programming box are the default commands.
http://www.programmingbasics.org/en/beginner/strings2.html

Here is a screencast of the video.  Obviously, I changed and added several new commands to the program in order to get my "actors" to play out this scene.

Here is a link to the same video on Google Drive.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwCOTrQxX2IhZmZNTnlDLUx4dlk

I am now excited to continue inquiring into this subject and find out more :)