Week 6: Introduction to App Inventor

This was an exciting week.  We made our first app in MIT's App Inventor (AI).  It was called "Hello, World."  In the first version, when you click on an icon, text appears that says, "Hello, World!"  In later versions, we used text to speech to have the icon actually SAY, "Hello, World."

Before using this app, I had never had any kind of experience with creating an app. I was very anxious to begin using it. The app we created had very basic functions such as: text to speech and reacting when a certain button was pressed. When I first saw how the app I created had worked, I was ecstatic! I saw that when I pressed the button, the text I had entered appeared.

For someone who never used App Inventor I highly recommend the use of it. I have never done anything like this so it was a new experience and I barely knew anything. I learned how to code our apps, how to use our diffrent types of buttons. With coding "Hello World," for me it was hard, but I got the hang of it. Before I started the app inventing, I felt overwhelemed because I knew nothing of entrepreneurship and I thought I was going to fail because of lack in experience. Well since we have a great teacher, it was really fun to learn because she took it slow with us.  It helped a lot, because this process is hard to understand if you go too fast. When I got my first app working, okay to be honest I was hype but when i learned that my app could talk. To me as someone who never did anything like this, I was really happy & excited.

The best part of the week was when the two gentlemen from Colonial School District came to see if they wanted to bring this program to their schools. They asked us many questions and Mrs. Costello got us to present what we have been working on to the gentlemen. This week was great - can't wait for next time!




Mrs. Costello's Corner

I've been teaching for 8 years.  The first time students tested their Hello World apps, I had students leaping in the air and screaming for joy.  That genuine exhilaration was the most amazing experience of my teaching career.

When I was told I would have visitors observing my class after we had been on AI for just three days, I was beyond nervous.  I didn't even know what my visitors were going to ask, so I couldn't prep the kids.  But my students rose to the occasion.  Their poise, confidence, and mastery of the course content and objectives made us all forget that they were only 13.

Today, we celebrated with cupcakes in Startup Tech colors.  My students are right.  This was a great week.  I can't wait for next time, either!