This past week has been jam-packed. A lot of teachers around the building gave up their free periods so I could clear my schedule for Startup Tech. I had kids in my room half the day working. On Saturday, at 1am, I woke up because my phone chimed to let me know I had an e-mail…from one of my students who was still trying to get a feature working. I didn't get much sleep myself, because I had so much to do - communicate with the judges, make ballots, name tags, and award certificates, and on and on. We had a film crew in the building most of the day Tuesday, so my classroom also had to get cleaned up from the disaster-mess of trifold board building! My lesson plan for the day after the Expo read simply, "COLLAPSE." Hey, it's measurable!
The best advice I can give a teacher who is doing Startup Tech is, have a Mock Judging. Not only did it light a fire under some kids who NEEDED to be scared a little, but there were a lot of lessons learned for me as well. For example, we discovered that we couldn't rely on our WiFi, so all apps had to be downloaded to devices. We also discovered that the simplified judging rubric I made was still not user-friendly enough, so I had to re-design that. These and a thousand other lessons were better learned at Mock Judging than at the real thing, in front of high profile guest judges!
We spent a lot of time this week polishing the "soft skills," like eye contact and delivery. One student whispered, and another needed to "turn down the coffee." I have to remember that they are 12 and 13. They have never been in a professional environment. These skills are completely new to them. If they learn nothing else from Startup Tech but a professional voice and demeanor, they will have a vital skill for life success.
I was really proud of the way my students worked. There was a lot of teamwork, both within individual groups and with other groups pitching in to help those who were behind or who were having trouble with a certain thing. Students who couldn't come to school called in - at one point, I had 3 speaker phones in my face while I taught. They really are taking this seriously, and I think it will show tomorrow. Besides the judges, a lot of students have friends and family coming, and we have students from around the school who have earned guest passes to tour the Expo. Most of my students are nervous but ready.
I'M nervous but ready.
Created by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), in partnership with Verizon, Startup Tech teaches students coding and entrepreneurial skills. Follow Mrs. Costello's class at Memphis Street Academy as we create apps and plan app-based businesses.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Preparing for the Business Expo, Part 2: Mock Judging
OMG, this week!! Mock Judging was Wednesday, and it was ka-raaaaa-zy! We had to have everything done by Wednesday, and nobody thought they would make it. We had to have our app judge-ready, the trifold board done, and our pitch presentation memorized. Then, we set up in Mrs. Christidhis' room and had Ms. G and Mr. Gear and twenty million other people walk through and pretend to be judges. We all dressed down and wore our white Startup Tech shirts. There were about a thousand people in the room, and it was hot, and the WiFi was really slow, but we learned so much from practicing.
When we went through Mock Judging, some groups were ready, but then the judges found all kinds of things that needed to be fixed. Everybody left with a to-do list. Some groups had apps that didn't make sense, or their pitch was bad, so they had to fix all that. Our group found out we were really behind when we saw what everyone else had gotten done, so we started working at home to catch up. My partner worked all weekend! Mrs. Costello kept bothering everybody about their handshake. We had to make eye contact and have a firm handshake, but it couldn't be too firm. We had to practice until we got it right. You can't get a job without a good handshake.
Everybody had little things to fix after Mock Judging, and there's only a week before the real Expo. I wish we had worked harder earlier in the year so we weren't so far behind. The judges hated our app and said it didn't solve a problem, so we had to re-do the whole app in a WEEK.
When we went through Mock Judging, some groups were ready, but then the judges found all kinds of things that needed to be fixed. Everybody left with a to-do list. Some groups had apps that didn't make sense, or their pitch was bad, so they had to fix all that. Our group found out we were really behind when we saw what everyone else had gotten done, so we started working at home to catch up. My partner worked all weekend! Mrs. Costello kept bothering everybody about their handshake. We had to make eye contact and have a firm handshake, but it couldn't be too firm. We had to practice until we got it right. You can't get a job without a good handshake.
Everybody had little things to fix after Mock Judging, and there's only a week before the real Expo. I wish we had worked harder earlier in the year so we weren't so far behind. The judges hated our app and said it didn't solve a problem, so we had to re-do the whole app in a WEEK.
Building Our Apps
The hardest part of building our apps was figuring out what our apps were going to be. It was easy to have a lot of ideas, but then when we met with Mrs. Costello, we realized we didn't have the time or App Inventor skills to build everything. Some stuff, we could learn how to do, but other things were either too complicated or we just didn't have time. Like, we wanted to put a login screen, but that was really complicated, and, when we thought about it, we realized we didn't actually need it. We had to focus on the core feature of our app first and make sure we could build that.
The app had to solve a problem. It was easy to think about problems, but it was harder to have an idea for an app that could solve that problem and that we could build. The idea had to be at least a little original. We were going to put a music player in our app, but we realized that Pandora and iTunes have better music players, so we just linked to those.
Some things were surprisingly hard to build, like a calculator. We had to look it up online to figure out that the + and - were variables, too. It took a LOT of if-then statements to get the calculator working, but we realized that that's just how real apps must look when they are coded. We never knew how much coding went into building something really simple. That must be why early computers filled a room - they had so many if-then statements.
The app had to solve a problem. It was easy to think about problems, but it was harder to have an idea for an app that could solve that problem and that we could build. The idea had to be at least a little original. We were going to put a music player in our app, but we realized that Pandora and iTunes have better music players, so we just linked to those.
Some things were surprisingly hard to build, like a calculator. We had to look it up online to figure out that the + and - were variables, too. It took a LOT of if-then statements to get the calculator working, but we realized that that's just how real apps must look when they are coded. We never knew how much coding went into building something really simple. That must be why early computers filled a room - they had so many if-then statements.
Preparing for the Business Expo, Part 1
Preparing for the Expo was a real "full court press." There was so much to do. We are all so busy with everything else that is going on at the end of the year - Reading Olympics, Model UN, band, choir, science fair, sports, and a thousand other activities. It's getting hard to manage our time so we can get everything done. Mrs. Costello posted a calendar to keep us on track. Some people wasted time at the beginning, so they had to work at home in order to catch up. Then, there were people with medical and other issues who missed a lot of school, but Mrs. Costello let them "telecommute." The people who couldn't come to school called their partner and attended the class on speakerphone. App Inventor is internet-based, and Google lets you collaborate online, so everybody was able to participate even if they couldn't come to school.
There was a lot to do to prepare for the Expo. We had to code an entire app. A lot of people had ideas that they didn't know how to code in App Inventor, so we had to look online and figure it out. Then, we had to come up with a business plan. We wrote mission statements and figured out our target market and decided how to price our app. It's really overwhelming, but you feel good when you look back at how much you got done by working a little very day.
There was a lot to do to prepare for the Expo. We had to code an entire app. A lot of people had ideas that they didn't know how to code in App Inventor, so we had to look online and figure it out. Then, we had to come up with a business plan. We wrote mission statements and figured out our target market and decided how to price our app. It's really overwhelming, but you feel good when you look back at how much you got done by working a little very day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)