Artifacts from CS First

This week I only completed two of the required 8 lessons in CSfirst. I created a sprite that I named, made speech bubbles for and programmed to move.  I also created a two player game(which I am excited to play with my mentee this Friday!). Boy am I feeling challenged by these activities and pretty excited that I completed what I did. It is not so much the actual creation of the code but the glitches with my older chromebook and the number of details to do for each activity. I did find creating the flicker screen in the first activity a little difficult. My sprite did not appear and I spent many hours trying to figure out the where I made a mistake.  I never did solve it so I began anew and it worked the second time through. Sometimes starting fresh is a good option.

I love the creating and problem solving involved in this and I REALLY love watching the results of the code I am creating, I  feel overwhelmed with the time it is taking me.  I have had a little experience with Scratch and none with CS first.  I really like the videos through CS First (although the narrators sometimes talk so fast I miss some of the directions). I appreciate that the directions are repeated in writing on the bottom right corner. Each activity made me more familiar with the types of actions or ways to program. I am in awe of the code that was written to allow for the variety of motions, looks, sounds and more that I was able to use.

The wrap-up questions and video at the end are a good way to assess and connect what was learned through the lesson. One of the questions had code written out in text only and we had to explain what activity it was programming. I found it more challenging to follow the thinking in that format.

I feel confident as I move forward on the remaining six lessons it will go smoother and quicker. Back to coding and check back for more contemplations on coding!