Hello. This is my first post to the beginners list. I've been a perpetual beginner since I first found out about Squeak over ten years ago ( can it really be that long ? at least somewhere at the beginning of ver. 1.x ) . Anyway, I'm not a programmer, I'm a musician and an explorer, and currently, a substitute teacher - teaching 9th graders (gifted ones at that) computer skills. Today I introduced them to Squeak ! It went really well. First I talked about smalltalk, had them type in the " Transcript show: 'Hello World'. " program in a workspace, and I'm sure that bored them plenty. But I did not miss a beat. I next introduced them to the morphs - the bouncing atoms and the blobs , etc.. and they were HOOKED ! 80 Kids now know about Squeak. Now what ? What should I do with Squeak and my 9th graders that will thrill them further ? Ideas ?
Thanks !
Russ Van Rooy http://www.myspace.com/russvr
Russ wrote:
Hello. This is my first post to the beginners list. I've been a perpetual beginner since I first found out about Squeak over ten years ago ( can it really be that long ? at least somewhere at the beginning of ver. 1.x ) . Anyway, I'm not a programmer, I'm a musician and an explorer, and currently, a substitute teacher - teaching 9th graders (gifted ones at that) computer skills. Today I introduced them to Squeak ! It went really well. First I talked about smalltalk, had them type in the " Transcript show: 'Hello World'. " program in a workspace, and I'm sure that bored them plenty. But I did not miss a beat. I next introduced them to the morphs - the bouncing atoms and the blobs , etc.. and they were HOOKED ! 80 Kids now know about Squeak. Now what ? What should I do with Squeak and my 9th graders that will thrill them further ? Ideas ?
What do you want to teach them? That could provide us with more direction to help.
Some ideas:
* Have you looked at the projects on squeakland.org?
* Although it's a bit young for 9th graders, have you looked at the book "Powerful Ideas in the Classroom" by B.J. Allen-Conn and Kim Rose?
* Check out this video: future_software_development_series.kay-alan.lecture.2003-04-24.102656947.wmv
at this location: http://ftp.squeak.org/Media/AlanKay/
Go to near the end and see Alan's demo of what other kids have done in squeak. It's a bit more advanced than the book, so it might fit in better for their age.
You might want to look at Scratch too. Scratch is written in Squeak. Although it is not intended to teach programming in Smalltalk or Squeak, it does teach general programming concepts very well. Plus it's really fun!
http://weeklysqueak.wordpress.com/2007/01/23/scratching-the-surface/
Ron Teitelbaum
-----Original Message----- From: beginners-bounces@lists.squeakfoundation.org [mailto:beginners- bounces@lists.squeakfoundation.org] On Behalf Of Brad Fuller Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 11:34 AM To: A friendly place to get answers to even the most basic questions aboutSqueak. Subject: Re: [Newbies] I've just introduced some 9th graders to Squeak
Russ wrote:
Hello. This is my first post to the beginners list. I've been a perpetual beginner since I first found out about Squeak over ten years ago ( can it really be that long ? at least somewhere at the beginning of ver. 1.x ) . Anyway, I'm not a programmer, I'm a musician and an explorer, and currently, a substitute teacher - teaching 9th graders (gifted ones at that) computer skills. Today I introduced them to Squeak ! It went really well. First I talked about smalltalk, had them type in the " Transcript show: 'Hello World'. " program in a workspace, and I'm sure that bored them plenty. But I did not miss a beat. I next introduced them to the morphs - the bouncing atoms and the blobs , etc.. and they were HOOKED ! 80 Kids now know about Squeak. Now what ? What should I do with Squeak and my 9th graders that will thrill them further ? Ideas ?
What do you want to teach them? That could provide us with more direction to help.
Some ideas:
Have you looked at the projects on squeakland.org?
Although it's a bit young for 9th graders, have you looked at the book
"Powerful Ideas in the Classroom" by B.J. Allen-Conn and Kim Rose?
- Check out this video:
future_software_development_series.kay-alan.lecture.2003-04- 24.102656947.wmv
at this location: http://ftp.squeak.org/Media/AlanKay/
Go to near the end and see Alan's demo of what other kids have done in squeak. It's a bit more advanced than the book, so it might fit in better for their age.
-- brad fuller www.bradfuller.com _______________________________________________ Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
On 1/25/07, Russ russvr@gmail.com wrote:
Hello. This is my first post to the beginners list. I've been a perpetual beginner since I first found out about Squeak over ten years ago ( can it really be that long ? at least somewhere at the beginning of ver. 1.x ) . Anyway, I'm not a programmer, I'm a musician and an explorer, and currently, a substitute teacher - teaching 9th graders (gifted ones at that) computer
Now what ? What should I do with Squeak and my 9th graders that will
thrill them further ? Ideas ?
Hi Russ -
This French page has many interesting projects:
http://www.ofset.org:8000/super/gallery
I think it might give you some ideas/inspiration.
In addition to that, I think it promotes cultural values (learning from people of a foreign country has intrinsic value - and it may boost the morale of the 9th graders taking French as a second language).
My 2 cents...
Cheers.
Henry Lenzi
Il giorno gio, 25/01/2007 alle 10.45 -0500, Russ ha scritto:
Hello. This is my first post to the beginners list. I've been a perpetual beginner since I first found out about Squeak over ten years ago ( can it really be that long ? at least somewhere at the beginning of ver. 1.x ) . Anyway, I'm not a programmer, I'm a musician and an explorer, and currently, a substitute teacher - teaching 9th graders (gifted ones at that) computer skills. Today I introduced them to Squeak ! It went really well. First I talked about smalltalk, had them type in the " Transcript show: 'Hello World'. " program in a workspace, and I'm sure that bored them plenty. But I did not miss a beat. I next introduced them to the morphs - the bouncing atoms and the blobs , etc.. and they were HOOKED ! 80 Kids now know about Squeak. Now what ? What should I do with Squeak and my 9th graders that will thrill them further ? Ideas ?
You many find many ideas on the Squeakland website ( http://www.squeakland.org ), and in the Squeakland mailing list ( http://www.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland ).
Giovanni
Thanks to everyone who responded ! The kids really liked alot of the Squeakland stuff. I'd like them to start building their own etoys, we'll see.... - Russ
On 1/26/07, Giovanni Corriga giovanni@corriga.net wrote:
Il giorno gio, 25/01/2007 alle 10.45 -0500, Russ ha scritto:
Hello. This is my first post to the beginners list. I've been a perpetual beginner since I first found out about Squeak over ten years ago ( can it really be that long ? at least somewhere at the beginning of ver. 1.x ) . Anyway, I'm not a programmer, I'm a musician and an explorer, and currently, a substitute teacher - teaching 9th graders (gifted ones at that) computer skills. Today I introduced them to Squeak ! It went really well. First I talked about smalltalk, had them type in the " Transcript show: 'Hello World'. " program in a workspace, and I'm sure that bored them plenty. But I did not miss a beat. I next introduced them to the morphs - the bouncing atoms and the blobs , etc.. and they were HOOKED ! 80 Kids now know about Squeak. Now what ? What should I do with Squeak and my 9th graders that will thrill them further ? Ideas ?
You many find many ideas on the Squeakland website ( http://www.squeakland.org ), and in the Squeakland mailing list ( http://www.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland ).
Giovanni
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Ron Teitelbaum -
Russ