Chapter 4: A new year!
Hello everyone!
Welcome to 2018. I know it has been here for a few weeks already, but I hope you are settling into a great year. This it the first newsletter of 2018 and I am ready to share all sorts of great things.
Let's dive into the work......
Remember, if you have anything awesome going on at your school or home please send me information and pictures. I would love to spotlight the community of learners and makers
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1. In case you are not aware, Iowa has passed computer science standards to be implemented in 2019. Read about the work here. I am excited to report that I have been selected to start being part of the work at the state level so looking forward to being part of this group and to bring a voice to the table.
2. This is a great article discussing the importance fo writing despite the growing need for STEM skills in education. This article discuss the 5 writing skills needed - Focus, Clarity, Discipline, Organization, and Critical Eye. I would argue that these five skills can be applied to any overarching concept or skills that one must learn to be successful in life.
3. I read this article about the brogrammer culture in STEM and having two daughters some things stood out to me
- Companies should give women the opportunity to lead from day one. This means creating programs that tell women, "We want and expect you to take the lead one day," and sending female staffers to leadership trainings and conferences.
- meet-ups and programs designed for women in engineering, like Girls Who Code and She Geeks Out.
- tech entrepreneurs can exchange ideas, engage in white-boarding sessions, and, of course, mentor women in STEM fields
- Women now represent 47 percent of the US workforce, but only 12 percent of computer scientists are women
- My advice to women who want to break into STEM: Be authentic and believe in yourself. If you were called smarty-pants growing up, then be a smarty-pants, study, and do the really hard stuff. If you are opinionated, then be opinionated and share your voice. Your voice could very well be the reason we go to Mars, battle climate change effectively, or perfect self-driving car technologies.
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I just returned from a very quick trip where I had the chance to keynote and lead a coding and making workshop for the Microsoft Educator Expert Showcase School and Leaders Summit in Orlando, Florida. I spent more time on planes than Florida, but I left so inspired by these expert educators in Florida. I wish I could have stayed for the FETC conference, but I learned a great deal in one day and looking forward to bringing this learning back to Iowa.
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Classes are off to a great start at 212 STEAM Labs.
HINT HINT: New classes go Wednesday! Be ready to register and sign up for March/April classes
HINT HINT HINT: Summer camps will be going live in a few weeks
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I am excited to announce that I will be hosting a Maker Yourself Into a Maker: Builds 4-5 for educators in April. Here is the link to register.
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I have been exploring the product Micro:bit. This is what I used in my workshop to teach coding. I created a page on my site to document my learning. This is going to be a summer camp for sure! So many possibilities with an easy learning curve that leads to some pretty advanced learning.
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Ava(my daughter) and I created a new slime video in case you wanted more slime at home!
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Happy to help.
Email: amaurer@aea9.k12.ia.us
Twitter: @coffeechugbooks
Website: www.coffeeforthebrain.com
212 STEAM Labs: www.212steamlabs.com
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