January 17, 2014

Volume 10 Issue 3
Up to
code
Students
learn to
program p14
Fashion
Resolve to
look great
this year p8
Food
A cinnamon
bun recipe
to try p18
Kati Norman had a feeling she wasnt
using the iPads in her literacy class-
roomat Touchstone Academy to their
full potential.
Last year, the independent, co-opera-
tive elementary school in Rothesay
had received a donation of 20 of the
tablets, and 10 were assigned to her
class.
While she was getting her Grade 4
and Grade 5 students to use apps on
the iPad to create a 3D timeline on a
history unit they learned, a comic strip
based on a lesson in class or a movie
trailer on a book they had read, she
had a gut feeling she could be using
theminother ways.
The whole time I was saying to
myself that Im not using these to
their full potential, said the schools
vice-principal and literacy teacher. I
know it. I know it. Theres more that I
candowiththese.
So when Julie Atkinson, the schools
marketing and admissions officer,
mentioned she had read an opinion
piece about introducing computer
coding to New Brunswick schools,
somethinginside Normanclicked. She
realized students education needs to
go beyond the three Rs. They need to
addaC: coding.
I want kids to read and write and
create in the English language, Nor-
man said, but then I realized what
was lacking. I wanted themto do that
incomputer languageas well.
It was like an a-ha moment, she
recalled. That was the piece I was
missing when I was using the Smart-
boards andthe iPads andall these neat
things.
Since November, students in Nor-
mans Grade 4 and Grade 5 literacy
classes have been learning a new lan-
guage: computer language, or cod-
ing. For an hour a week, the students
are being taught how the very apps,
games and operating systems they use
onadailybasis arecreated.
Its put this private school in
Rothesay at the forefront of a recent
global push to introduce students to
coding.
Education experts and tech organiza-
tions and leaders across the continent
suchas Facebooks MarkZuckerberg
and Microsofts Bill Gates are start-
ing to advocate for more computer
programming in schools at an early
age. In the United Kingdom, its being
done. There, the entire education sys-
tem is being overhauled this year to
include coding from kindergarten to
Grade12.
On Jan. 23, Touchstone Academy is
holding a panel discussion open to the
community about teaching children
to code. Its the second in the acad-
emys Live andLearnseries, a newpro-
gram of evening panel discussions for
adults inthecommunity.
The Kids and Code discussion will be
moderated by David Alston, the chief
marketing officer at Introhive and a
champion on returning coding to the
New Brunswick school curriculum. It
was his article in the Telegraph-Jour-
nal that Atkinsonhadreadlast fall.
Besides Norman, who will share her
experience with introducing coding to
her students, the panelists will include
a member of the New Brunswick
Information Technology Council;
Rothesay resident Leroy Vincent, who
is a technology and arts teacher at
River Valley Middle School in Grand
Bay-Westfield; Justin Kammerman,
who has been Touchstones Adopt-a-
School technology mentor; and Moira
Sherwood, the technology curricu-
lum coordinator for the Anglophone
SouthSchool District.
The panel will discuss why kids
should learn to code, howschools can
introduce coding and how the New
Brunswick Information Technol-
ogys Adopt-a-School program works.
Launched last year, the program sees
industry mentors visit schools to share
their knowledge and passion with the
next generation.
*****
The idea of holding a panel discus-
sion on coding in schools seemed like
a no-brainer to Atkinson, who organ-
izes the sessions for the academy as a
way to bring the greater community
into the school. She had read Alstons
opinion piece last fall and thought it
was aperfect topic.
Alston, who is an advisor to technol-
ogy companies throughout North
America, believes coding is an essen-
tial skill of the digital economy, and is
quickly becoming a hot commodity in
todays jobmarket.
He say the technology courses being
taught in New Brunswicks middle
and high schools are out of date and,
as a result, are turning kids off careers
in the tech sector. In his opinion piece,
he stressed the need to see the tech-
nology curriculumin NewBrunswick
updatedthis year.
I knew it was exactly the kind of
issue that our school likes to be all
over, Atkinson said. We like to have
newthings, and it was just the kind of
thing our school likes to offer our fam-
ilies. We want to give our kids every
opportunitythat wecan.
Last fall, during the schools inaug-
ural panel discussion on healthy
kids, Atkinson heard parents repeat-
edly lamenting about the amount
of time children spend in front of
screens. It was one of their chal-
lenges in keeping their kids active.
After reading the article, Atkinson
thought maybe a discussion on cod-
ing would shed new light on this
issue.
I thought maybe there is a way to
look at screen time in a more positive
way,she said.We need to make sure
that the time the kids are spending
on screens is the most valuable use of
Weve got to turnthose switches on
Erin DwyEr
KV Style
Cover story
{
k
Photo: Kt Braydon
Jack Borland, 10, and Anika Nice, 10, work on coding an animation at Touchstone Academy.
Photo: Kt Braydon
Jonathan Magee, 10, and James Oland, 9, work in Scratch, a programming language
educational tool, in their Touchstone classroom.
Photo: Kaitie Shea and hailey Beaulieu
The after school coding class at River Valley Middle School in Grand Bay-Westfield. At the centre is Leroy Vincent, the technology and arts teacher at the school.
Two teachers are part of the movement to teach children how to write computer code.
On Jan. 23 the teachers join others for a panel discussion on the topic at touchstone.
k
Photo: Kt Braydon
Peter Riedle, 9, and Ali Walsh, 9, work on coding in the Hopscotch app with teacher Kati Norman at Touchstone Academy.
Photo: Kt Braydon
Ryan Paixao, 10, (front) and Owen Morrison, 10, laugh at an animation they made
dance around with an app called Hopscotch during their work at Touchstone
Academy.
16 January 17, 2014
that screen time as possible.
*****
After Normans a-ha moment
last fall, she quickly took steps to
introduce her Grade 4 and Grade 5
students to coding. She sought out
a school mentor and saw Kammer-
man, a software engineer at Sales-
force, come into her classroom.
During his first session in Novem-
ber, Kammerman deconstructed
a computer to its parts and taught
themhowthe binary code worked.
The kids were ecstatic, Norman
said. They were so excited, and it
was actually an unplugged session.
They didnt touch any computer.
It was pen and paper and oral dis-
cussion. But they made art projects
with the binary codes, they were
playing games with each other and
making secret messages with the
zeros and the ones. They were so
excited.
By the end of that first session,
Norman realized her students
were going to be learning more
than just coding. They were going
to be gaining life skills: learning
how to problem solve, be creative,
work as a team, share, and not be-
come frustrated after encountering
a glitch.
It is just so relevant and they can
relate to it,she said.
*****
Next, Norman brought her stu-
dents to visit River Valley Middle
School, where arts and technol-
ogy specialist Leroy Vincent of
Rothesay has incorporated coding
into his classroom.
A former marine engineer, Vin-
cent was also inspired by Alston
to introduce his middle school
students to computer language.
Alston approached Vincent last
spring about the importance of ex-
posing coding to young children,
and Vincent decided, with the con-
sent of his schools administration,
to act on it in September.
I think, when kids get to Grade
12, they should have tried every-
thing academically, Vincent said.
They should be exposed to pro-
gramming, they should be exposed
to engineering, and they should be
exposed to different kinds of sci-
ences and all the trades.
The more we expose to the kids
the better prepared they will be
when they leave school to make
decisions, he added. As teachers,
weve got to enlighten kids and
turn those switches on.
Vincents school went outside the
curriculum and introduced cod-
ing to every single student in the
school. Over the last four months,
the 340 or so students at River Val-
ley Middle School have gone from
a basic introduction to coding to
creating their own games like
math games and logical games
using Massachusetts Institute
of Technologys online program
called Scratch (scratch.mit.edu.).
Weve never really evaluated the
kids on whether they can make the
game work perfect or not, he said.
Its been more based on how cre-
ative they could be.
Vincent is finding some students
who typically get Bs and Cs are
A-plus programmers. They have
become mentors to some of the
other students, which in turn has
enhanced their leadership, social,
interpersonal and verbal skills.
It given these kids a chance to
shine,he said.
Vincent doesnt believe all of
his students will become comput-
er programmers. But he believes
understanding code will give his
students skills they can use in virtu-
ally every job in the future from
business owners and engineers to
police officers and firemen.
Its in every industry you can
think of,he said.
*****
Back at Touchstone Academy, the
students have one more unplugged
session ahead. Then they will be
getting into actual coding on the
iPads and the classrooms laptops,
using Scratch to develop educa-
tional games or apps which, if suc-
cessful, could be sold in Apples
App Store.
Thats the ultimate goal for us,
Norman said.
Norman believes its important
for children to not only become lit-
erate in reading and writing. In to-
days digital world, its also import-
ant for them to become computer
literate.
Its everywhere, its everywhere
in the world, she said. There are
a lot of jobs available in computer
coding and the amount of jobs is
increasing every day because new
problems arise and new technolo-
gies are created.
The opportunities are endless,
she added. I just think that once
that door is open for some of the
students in my class, they are just
going to fly.
Editors Note: The Jan. 23 Live
and Learn panel discussion will
take place at 7:30 p.m. at Touch-
stone Academy, 68A Hampton Rd.,
and will also include a coding dem-
onstration by students from both
River Valley Middle School and
Touchstone Academy. It will end at
9 p.m. with refreshments.
Cover story
k
Photo: Kaitie Shea and hailey Beaulieu
Students showothers what theyve learned in computer coding at River Valley Middle School.
Photo: Kt Braydon
Peter Riedle, 9, works on coding in the Hopscotch app while at Touchstone.