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Monday, December 3, 2018

Mentor Hats

Have you ever used the Mentor Hats cards from Columbia College Chicago ?

They are described as:
The Mentor Hats are a playful way to think about how your facilitation, teaching, or mentoring style can impact learning. We all wear different hats. Which do you wear the best? Which would you like to try on? The cards can be used to play a more structured game, or they can simply be used as a discussion and reflection tool to shake up how you approach teaching.

I have seen this used in workshops I have attended and it came up again today in a presentation a friend of mine shared. I have not personally sued them and I am looking for feedback from friends!

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Hour of Code 2018

The Hour of Code is coming!! 

I will be using some of these resources in schools from the www.hourofcode.com website.

Check them out and feel free to use them too!
https://hourofcode.com/us/promote/resources 

Share your event(s) using #hoc #HourOfCode on Twitter!!





Saturday, November 17, 2018

Book Study and Flipgrid - Planning Phase

I am working on putting together a book study with a favorite book of mine and one that I can't wait to get my hands on. What are some books that you would like to partipciate in a book?

Book I can't wait to get my hands on:



Book that I love because of the thoughtful research and practical examples:



Last year I participated in a book study on the book:



The book study was run via Flipgrid. All of the discussion posts were ready day one and you could post at your own pace. I loved this! It was also done in my school district, allowing me to connect with teachers I work with. I have seen other book studies done on this book where George interacted with the readers via Twitter.

If you have participated in a book study, what are somethings you loved? What are somethings you would have changed?

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

#TechnovationMN 2019


I just received an email from the TechnovationMN team! If you are intersted in learning, read on or contact me!

Whether last year or prior years were your first year or 4th year as a mentor, we are hoping you will join us for the 2019 season. Without you, there is no Technovation[MN] program. Included are all the important dates and info so you can be ready for the entire process.

2019 Season Timeline:
  • App Days in the Twin Cities:  December 8, 2018 & January 12, 2019 (Mentors attend one or both)
  • Official Season Launch: January 7, 2019
  • Southeast MN (Rochester) events: Coming in January!
  • Team Registration Deadline: March 20, 2019
  • Mobile App Submission Deadline: April 23, 2019
  • Appapalooza: May 11, 2019

Register to be a mentor! Click this link to complete registration:  Register Here

Events:
  • App Days  for the Twin Cities are coming! App Days teach mentors and the girls how to use App Inventor.
    • For new mentors, this is an opportunity to learn about the Technovation Challenge, understand your role and responsibilities as a mentor, and answer any questions you may have.
    • For returning mentors, this is an opportunity to learn about what changes are in store for the Technovation Challenge this season and help answer any questions new mentors may have.
    • We will be hosting two separate sessions so please mark your calendar for December 8, 2018 and January 12, 2019.  Register here for the December 8, 2018 App Day.

Hoping to see all of you for the 2019 Technovation season. It is going to be a great year of learning and fun! You can view our  Appapalooza Video as well as our Promotional Video. We have also attached a PDF doc summarizing the program and commitment involved for mentors. Feel free to pass it along to anyone who might be interested.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Resources for Integrating Computer Science into your Elementary Classroom


What are some of the resources you look to as you think about bringing the Computer Science standards into your elementary classrooms?

Here are a few of my go sites, but I am always looking for more:



I also think about Computational Thinking. I find Barefoot Edu to be incredibly helpful.


What's in a Code.org Computer Science (CS) Fundamentals Workshop?






Thursday, October 4, 2018

Ermarie - The story of helping teachers organize their professional learning





My goal : To allow educators to focus on being an educator by creating a platform to simplify the professional learning documentation and licensure process.

My solution: Participate in Startup Weekend Edu, create a program, and share with the world. Then, branch off for other professions that document learning.

End Result: Two years of hard work, experience as a cofounder of a startup, international team work, interaction with 400 active users, the hard decision to call this a good experience and move on .. for now.. and much more!

My story:
Ever since I started teaching and tracking my professional learning in a binder, spreadsheet, and Google Drive, I thought "there has to be a better way to do this." I pitched the idea of creating a platform to help to anyone who would listen (many people), they all thought it was a great idea, but no on wanted to build it. I finally decided it was time for me to do something with my idea. I proposed  it at Startup Weekend EDU, formed a team, built a prototype, and continued on for two years building Ermaire with a cofounder!

What I learned (eventual goal is to create a new blog post for each lesson and continually add to the list):
  • Build, publish, gather feedback, adjust, repeat.
  • I have an entrepreneur mindset, but at this point in my life I need to see immediate impact in education.
  • I analyze, I learn, I share, I reflect, I build, I connect.
  • I enjoy working on a team.
  • I use a variety of techniques to stay organized.
  • I enjoy networking and learning from others.


Wednesday, October 3, 2018

STEM for ALL Video Showcase: SciGirls Code



Read more about my experience as a facilitator for the STEM for ALL Video Showcase at the
Circl Educators' blog https://circleducators.org/stem-for-all-video-showcase-featuring-scigirls-code/ 



In this blog post, I share about the SciGirls Code research project which is working to answer the following questions:

- How do computational learning experiences impact the development of computational thinking? [learning]
- How does engaging in computational learning experiences impact interest in and attitudes towards computer science? [interest]
- How does engaging in computational participation practices impact learners’ perspectives of self and world? [participation]

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Education Reading Club



Who wants to join a collaborative research community!?


via GIPHY


👇👇👇👇👇
Signup here if you do.

Once a month Edji will share out an educational article nominated by a fellow reader. We'll share our ideas in the text and, at the end of the month, in a video chat!
I shared https://circlcenter.org/computational-thinking/ as an option I would like to explore!
Let's see if it gets picked. 🤞🤞


Do you know Edji?


Edji readings revolve around your students interacting with text through comments. As they read, students highlight interesting or important parts of the text and leave a comment to express their thoughts about it.

Comments can be written with text or strings of Emoji that convey complex thoughts. You can see all comments being made in real time to keep an eye on what your students are thinking.

I met Will, and the Edji team, at Startup Weekend EDU 2016. The year we attended it was held at Flipgrid. Learn more about Edji here https://edji.it/#/about#top .


We started in a large group listening to how Startup Weekend would run.



Then we had to line up and pitch our ideas. I liked Will's idea, but I was there for another reason. I wanted to create a platform to manage professional development.





Will's idea was picked and his team worked on Edji over the next few days. I had enough people interested in helping make my dream come true too.



In the end, I built Ermaire for two years until we decided to shut it down. Will, kept going with Edji and it is a successful app that people are using still to this day!

Tuesday, September 18, 2018



Attending the Great North Labs Kickoff yesterday could not have come at a better time!
Tomorrow I will be in Pine City at the Dragon Technology Summit. My keynote has a focus on how technology is changing everything, computer science, and innovation in the Midwest!

Learn more about the Pine City Dragon Technology Summit


Learn more about the Great North Labs Kickoff through my blog and through the Twitter hashtag #GNLkickoff .

Monday, September 17, 2018

Computational Thinking : From Research to Practice


Pati and I wrote an article connecting Computational Thinking research to practice.
Learn more by reading our post on The Educators' Corner
https://circleducators.org/from-research-to-practice-introduction-computational-thinking/

Great North Labs Kickoff #gnlkickoff


Great North Labs Kickoff

I attended today with two goals:

1. Listen to learn and understand the ecosystem of startups in Minnesota.
2. Make connections to further connections for K-12 education (teachers and students) around how technology is changing everything, even right here in the Midwest.


Read more to learn more about my takeaways!

(Great North Lab cookies)

Introduction from Ryan and Rob sharing their story and how it all started at SCSU, just a few years ago. Then recreating the picture that you see in the slide below. Great North Labs is an early stage venture fund for the upper Midwest. Positively impact our community while delivering strong returns. 


Did you know that many of our region's top startups have come out of places similar to St.Cloud. I hadn't thought about it before.


 I found the table settings interesting. I didn't know that Zubaz were created in Minnesota.
Learn more here.


Andrew Leone
Dispatch
Grew out of the need for a better product to deliver materials, track product, and stay in connect with their customers. Andrew Leone, CEO & Cofounder

Mary Grove  -  
https://twitter.com/maryGrove
Rise of the Rest
Left silicon valley to come to Minnesota due to the future of innovation. She learned about entrepreneurship from her parents at a young age. At Google, she learned the importance of a mission. Google - To organize all of the worlds information and make it accessible.

A few of my takeaways...

  • When we are forced to bootstrap, the results can be amazing. 
  • Economic Opportunity is Global. You are not constrained to launching products in your area, you can go global. 
  • The most successful people she has worked with think global from day one.  
  • By the year 2020, 90% of people in the world will have a mobile phone or have access to one by the age of six. 
  • Access to opportunity is not equally distributed. 70 % of vc funding went to CA, Boston, and New York. A small portion went to women and an even smaller percent went o African Americans (1%).
  • Silicon North Stars
    • Youth in Minneapolis go to Silicon Valley. Visit places like Facebook, Google. Then for the next four years they work together to create solutions to real problems! 
      • I would love to work with you on this!!
  • Thriving Startups :1. Talent (cs and engineering programs as well as other programs like marketing) 2. Density (a physical cluster of university, coworking, housing) 3. Culture (risk taking, embrace failure, struggle is real and should be celebrated) 4. Capital (should be accessible outside of the cost). 5. Environment (how can the government help)
  • Road map to maximize opportunity
    • 1. Democratize opportunity to capital and look outside of the coast. It is not only the right thing to do but the economically savvy thing to do.
      • Stockx in Detroit - sneakers, watches, ext raised a 44 million round
      • Blockable - build beautiful modular houses for low income houses
      • Freightways - 700 billion dollar market, aggregates data in freight transactions
      • Neobite - Phoenix treat and diagnose infinite jaundice
      • Dispatch, Strucrutal, 75f , kidizin in Minneapolis
  • Minnesota is home to a 25 billion dollar top states for startups and leading with  female entrepreneurs with in a diverse market. 
Structural - The Internal People Network
  • Developing an enterprise HR solution that allows customers to most effectively utilize information. 
  • For the first time in 20 years there are more job openings then people looking for work.  
  • You can search for a person and see comparable people.
  • They are looking for introductions

Outstate Entrepreneurship-
Matt Lewis -  Greater MSP/Growth North -Moderator
People drive the ecosystem and then companies follow. Ecosystems need to porous, to allow expansion of people (new to the system or new to the area). Connectivity. Everything boils down to access to being connected with time as the challenge. 

Panelists
  • Mark Ritchie, Former MN Sec. of State
  • Eric Martell, Gener8tor
  • Wade Beavers, President of Mobile, Newscycle Solutions
  • Sandy Hansen, AgVenture Feed and Seed
  • Neela Mollgaard, Red Wing Ignite
  • Brad Goskowicz, CEO of Microbiologics
A few takeaways 
  • Minneapolis / St. Paul does a great job at retaining people in the technology market. People have left places like Silicon Valley to come here. 
  • Networking. The truth is part of the answer. The opportunity may not look like "us." The opportunity for women and minorities in innovation, technology, agribusiness, and how it relates to health. Finding direction and leadership - Sandy
    •  Fun fact. I didn't know Sandy before today. Her company is in the small town right next to where I live. I will seek her out to connect!


Ryan Gerhardy - 
Pitchly - Turn your business information into designed content. 
Nine years of investment banking and corporate finance let him to realizing there is a lot of data but it's not useful. 
A lot of data, information, wasn't always useful. The goal of changing the paradigm. Makes business data useful. 
A database layer for business information to be aggregated and organized to useful information like documents, presentations, ect off of templates. 

Doug Berg
Browser based tool. You can zap data from anywhere you go. Extract data and enrich it. Here is x person. Here is his blog, email, phone number, and the put data in your CRM. Share the data with your team in an easier way and quantify your results. Easy way to send information to and from. 
BPI -Browser Protocol Interface. 

Margaret Anderson Kelliher - 
  • Healthcare, Internet, Software are the three strongest places where vc has taken place in Minnesota.
  • The health care sector - 3.8 bullion. 
  • VC investments are becoming more concentrated over time. Over time fewer industries are accounting for a greater share of the total VC. 
  • Emerging investment opportunities are energy & utilities and leisure.
  • Angel investment tax credit. more than $421 million of private investment in Minnesota companies have been tied to the credit. Many people in the room today have used it. 
    • the credit disappeared at the end of 2017 and was not renewed in 2018.
    • opportunity to reinstate the credit when legislature reconvene in 2019
  • Minnesota Venture Conference
    • Day after the election, November 7at the Raddison Blu for Entrepreneurs and Investors

Mark Ritchie
President and CEO of EXPO 2027 - Minnesota's World Fair
Theme: Healthy People, Healthy Planet
Mission: Wellness and Well Being for All

Sports Tech Panel
Moderator : Rick Ehrman Vp of Bus Dev Sports Engine

Panelists-
Dave Abbott - SportsRadar
Todd Larson - TeamGenius
Alex Ryan - Starting11

  • Linklete is a website connecting people through the shared experiences of sports. The stories will inspire and encourage us as we navigate our way through youth sports. 
  • If you can measure it, you can improve it. Growing market for measured results and analytics. 

Todd Larson
Problem: tryouts are one of the most stressful and time consuming events of the year. The typical process hasn't evolved in decades. Paper pencil. Long hours of hardworking volunteers with long wait times. Team Genius has web and mobile tools to streamline the process. 


Centracare Health Foundation
Bradley Konkler
Philanthropy and Community Health
  • 9 out of 10 people in central MN receive their health from Centracare, 700,000+ people
  • 11 million dollars into the central Minnesota, consider a charitable partner in your business plan

Sarnath Ramnath - Department Chair of Computer Science at SCSU
  • A mentor of Ryan's while at SCSU
  • Relationships and connections are vital
  • Helped Ryan build NativeX
  • "There is nothing more exciting to hear from your students that you did something to help them. It's awesome!"
  • New Approaches for Sum-of-Diameters Clustering - article
Mynul Khan
Field Nation
Slow and Steady Start. The power of connections. They couldn't do it alone. There is a lot of great talent between SCSU, Uof MN, Mankato State but we need to create an ecosystem to build a vibrant community. Mynul benefited from the finances and meeting the right people through Ryan and Robert. Connections over money.

Patrick O'Rahilly
Factory Fix
Chicago based startup. Skilled manufacturing Pros, On Demand. Field nation for skilled manufacture  workers. 
Problem: There is a shortage of skilled workers. No good way to find them. Hiring them full-time is risky. Engineering, Maintenance, and... Kind of like a dating website for hiring skilled workers.  They are hiring. Can't find enough people in developers and designers in Madison.


Glowe
In stealth mode. They haven't launched yet. Gamified social wearable device targeted to teams. Check them out. This is the best I can do for now to showcase GLOWE, a company I will be following. 





My Thoughts for  future events like this:
- Thank you for bringing everyone together in the same room
- Thank you for the focus on sharing stories, advice, and facts
- I would love to have the pamphlet shared online via a shortened URL for ease of access
- I would love to have contact information for people highlighted in the pamphlet included (Twitter/Linked?)
- Thank you for the healthy food in a grazing type atmosphere 
- Use Flipgrid for each person to share a 30 introduction to what they do
- Use Flipgrid for attendees to share why they are attending and what they hope to get out of the day
- Charging solutions at tables
- Build in a student panel (high school and college)
- Wondering if our name tags could identify who we are/ what we are looking to do by color
-  I wonder if Google Slides would be a good way for presenters to get their information to you without formatting issues?
- Let's create a Google MyMaps of Startups in MN to highlight the diversity in our state

**If I mentioned you or your company in this post, and something isn't accurate, please reach out and let me know! I did my best to document my learning while actively listening with little time for editing.**





Thursday, August 30, 2018

3 Months Until CS Ed Week! Invite a friend to a Code.org workshop!

Did you know we have only three more months until 

Computer Science(CS) Education Week?


During this week, many people participate in an Hour of Code! If you are wondering how to start with an Hour of Code, one suggestion I have is to attend a free Code.org CS Fundamentals workshop which are for elementary educators at all levels of comfort with CS. Did you know, that in Minnesota we have over 1,000 educators who have attended a  Code.org CS Fundamentals workshop!? You could reach out to a teacher friend and there is a pretty good chance that if they haven't attended, they will know someone who has. If you don't find someone, even if you do find someone, you should attend a workshop! I have two planned over MEA at two fabulous locations!!

Here is my algorithm for your call to action:


1. Create an emoji of yourself at Made with Code

2. Invite a friend to attend a Code.org CS Fundamentals workshop if you want to attend with me you can easily find my workshops at bit.ly/codewithangiews
3. Attend the workshop and create your plan for hosting an Hour of Code
4. Share your plan - On Twitter I use #Csforall and #HourofCode
5. Follow through with your plan
6. Share pictures and thoughts about your Hour of Code

Here is template that you can use to invite your friend to attend! I created it using Canva.


Social Media – Untitled Design by AngieKalthoff

Back to School 2018

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Launch CS and Back to School Sale!! #csforall



Are you ready to start something new in your classroom this year? 

We have the perfect PD for you! 

Sign up for our Computational Thinking Integration course using promo code backtoschool2018 and receive 20% off your online or in-person training. Click here to visit the site and learn more!

Online-Hybrid Learning: A great way to attend PD made for you and your schedule. Our 8-module, self-paced, highly engaging training lets you attend PD when it's convenient for you.

In-Person Learning: Looking for a personalized PD experience for you and your staff? We've got you covered. From our 3-day Computational Thinking Integration PD to our Train the Trainer PD, Launch CS is ready to support your school/district to make #CSforAll a reality.
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Thursday, August 16, 2018

Algorithms Magazine!


Ok, friends.... The time is now! 

This is a call to action.

Do you want to see a " bimonthly publication geared toward kids to help them traverse the world of computer science in a fun and non-intimidating way."

You may recognize Kiki from:





  • Creating and starring in many Code.org videos
  • Her BLOG
  • Many guest appearances on panels and in other CS books
  • Many of my Tweets, including the last time we were together



  • ... and so much more. I quickly discovered her when I began my CS journey. She has helped me grow so much in my knowledge as a teacher and a learner. I really look forward to seeing what she creates with her magazine!

    Your call to action!

    1. Support her kickstarter campaign
    2. Share her kickstarter campaign with others you know. You can find her on Twitter at @KIKIvsIT
    I am the 12th backer!
    Whoohoo!
    Now it's your turn.
    What are you going to do?




    Wednesday, August 15, 2018

    Code Kitty





    Jason and Jill are both IT professionals with daughters. They see the need for more Computer Science education in school. They decided to do something about it! They took their robot and story to Startup Weekend and won! Read about it here.




    A little bit of information for you about the day...
    • Python, most popular language in the world
    • Code.org was a great way to introduce kids to coding and help them think like a programmer, now we move to the next step to get off of the visual step to text programming
    • You don’t need the block experience but it is helpful, it’s not a requirement
    • Kids as young as 2nd grade have been in their workshop
    • All robot parts are 3d printed to save on cost
    • Most parts of the robot are biodegradable, the citrus are not the rest are cornstarch based
    • All of the parts were designed using Onshape https://www.onshape.com/, it is free for education with support and scales with size changes


    • This is the 3d printer they use to print all of the parts, they even brought it! Einstart

    Programming the Robot!

    • Head over to http://codekitty.org/robot/ 
    • Then get the Beagle Terminal chrome app
    • We brought in the library they had already setup by using from codekitty import *

    Using functions and sensors

    I made my led turn pink/green based on touch!

    Chrome Web Apps



    • crtl + D will show the output of whatever code is on the robot
    • Write code in <txt>, then save, it will send to Beagle and the robot will run your code


    Using #

    When working with young kids, where typing may take awhile. If you use something like the program below they can take away the # to make their robot do something. This allows the kids to get the feel for it without having to 
    You can use the # to add notes for you to remember what the code means.


    After having a few bugs with Beagle and txt, I downloaded Mu