| Example #1: A child says “I think this is going to work!” in reference to a program she designed. |
| Example #2: At the end of a lesson, a child exclaims that he will be able to design a story with more pages next time. |
| Example #3: A child tells her peer that she is excited to run her program for the class when it is share time. |
Teacher Insights on Practicing Optimism
The following excerpts were taken from interviews with teachers who were asked to describe instances in which their students practiced optimism, as well as times in which the teacher personally practiced optimism while implementing the Coding as Another Language-ScratchJr curriculum.
I could see optimism because they would see their friends getting it, so they were like, “I can do it,” and “I’ll figure it out,” and then you’d get [children] saying, “no, don’t tell me, I want to figure it out.”
— Lydia, Kindergarten Teacher
I’m a generally optimistic person by nature, so I definitely had that going on with this. I felt like, “of course you can do it, let’s get right in there!” Same goes for any other colleagues who were doing [ScratchJr] that were a little bit more reluctant like, “No way, I’ll be your cheerleader. It’s cool. We’ll get it done.” And we did.
—Allison, First Grade Teacher
Watch Optimism in Practice
More Debugging!
Two children are optimistic after debugging their program, with one child showing excitement to debug more programs.
Guided Questions for Observation
• Pay attention to the children’s body language and expressions. How do they convey their optimism?
• How does the process of debugging promote the children’s optimism?
Let’s Do the Hokey Pokey
Teachers and students have fun while dancing to the “Hokey Pokey” before programming Cat to do the Hokey Pokey.
Guided Questions for Observation
• Pay attention to the teachers. How do they model optimism in their classroom?
• How can unplugged activities promote children’s optimism to learn how to code?
An Optimistic Start
A teacher shows her optimism by giving high-fives to students who found the ‘Start’ block.
Guided Questions for Observation
• How does the teacher model optimism in her coding playground?
Excited to Share
A group of students show excitement while sharing their creation of Cat crossing the road.
Guided Questions for Observation
• How does exhibiting their project foster the children’s optimism?