So this past week, I signed up as a technical volunteer for the Hour of Code. Here’s how my experience went. 💻️
So this week, I signed up as a technical volunteer for the Hour of Code.
Code.org is sponsoring a whole week (December 7th to 13th) of CS education through their Hour of Code event.
Quite a few schools reached out to me, but, of course, I couldn’t volunteer with some of them due to constraints in my class schedule or because they were just too far away.
I, along with an ODU student, decided to go ahead and even attend a Professional Development Workshop for the Hour of Code so we could be better prepared to assist the kids. The session was held at CAML Academy in North Carolina and was roughly 3.5 hours away.Thankfully, it was a Saturday.
Professional Development Workshop
So in the end, I decided to volunteer throughout the week for 4 different schools: Bethel High School, Sedgefield Elementary School, John B. Dey Elementary School, and Tallwood Elementary School.
I created two different presentations, one for high schoolers and one for elementary schoolers.
Hour of Code Presentations
High School Version
At Bethel High School, I presented and helped out with 3 classes that were all taught by Mrs. Ai Choo Ashe. I gave a roughly 30-minute presentation to each class using the slides below. The classes were related to digital media/game development/animation so the students were learning how to use software like GameMaker & Adobe Photoshop. I gave away all my free swag I got from Code.org to Mrs. Ashe because she deserved it. I kept the water bottle and a sticker, though. They were too useful to pass up.
Elementary School Version
At Sedgefield Elementary School, I gave a presentation to a class of 3rd graders on why it’s important to learn how to code. The teachers in charge were so nice and supportive of the kids. I found it funny how much more the 3rd graders participated than the high schoolers, but hey.
Bethel High School #HourOfCode
Here I’m helping a high schooler out.
John B. Dey Elementary School #HourOfCode
Drag & Drop Blocks on Code.org
Tallwood Elementary School #HourOfCode
Shy but resilient!
Sedgefield Elementary School #HourOfCode
Hour of Code – Sedgefield
If you’d like access to the Keynote files to show to your class, please contact me and I will happily send them to you.
High School
Regular Version
Elementary School
Volunteering Alone Version
Volunteering with Group Version