Google CS First: First Impressions from a Tech Integration Specialist
In this guest post, TIS Brooke Hall (@BrookeHallTIS) describes her first encounters with CS First by Google. Brooke attended a workshop to learn more about the curriculum and to discover ways to use the lessons with students.
My name is Brooke Hall, and I am the Tech Integration Specialist at Scott County School District 1. I want to continue to immerse and introduce computer science to our students. I had been seeing info about Google’s CS First curriculum but hadn’t taken the time to thoroughly research it. The biggest thing I love about this curriculum is that it doesn’t scare anyone away. The “no experience needed” is a great way to make people feel at ease. Anyone from parents to the media specialist can implement this curriculum and feel comfortable.
I’m always wanting to get students introduced to computer science and expose them to the endless possibilities within this field. I recently attended training with Five Star to learn about Google’s CS First program. I had not been able to dive into the curriculum, and so I was going in with basically little knowledge about CS First. Going into the training, I really wanted to gain a better understanding and to walk away with something to implement. That is exactly what I experienced in this training. The training is really geared for all levels and for anyone who is interested in learning more about the CS First curriculum. I learned what CS First is about and got some hands-on experience with support, if needed, along the way. I then created and set up my first project for students to tackle. I walked away from this training with a better understanding, the knowledge base, and a ready to go lesson.
This training is a must for anyone wanting to implement or simply learn if this would be a fit for their school or classroom. The training is very informative and really can suit all levels of learners. You do not have to have any experience in computer science to learn and begin implementing CS First. Five-Star makes the training very informative, gives you one-on-one help, time to explore the curriculum (sandbox time), time to create curriculum or project, and time to ask questions. I would highly suggest attending this training and implementing this in your school or classroom.
