My Brothers Watched Me Die From Coding

    I did not know that Scratch was something that my younger brothers had worked with in school. They saw me coding (or attempting to) away on my 80-year-old Macbook and harangued me the entire time. I wondered, "What is the deal? Why is this something I had to do? Why is coding something THEY had to do?" As I persevered through the complexities of a seemingly simple coding program, I realized a couple things.

1. Trial and Error
    You make many mistakes before you can see the fruits of your labor. I cannot count how many times my Sprite disappeared on me every time I fiddled with the backdrop and how long I spent trying to get it back before I had to completely reset everything. Thankfully, my brothers gave me tips and helped me to better understand coding. Benefit: teach students that making mistakes is normal and there's nothing wrong with it; it's part of the natural process of creating something from something you've never used before.

2. Keep Going!
    I wanted to give up every time I made a mistake. Actually, I initially had planned to create a better Scratch project, but I adapted the plan little by little until I accepted that I could only do this much for this little time. I can definitely revisit and improve my coding skills... much, much, later on. Benefit: focus on the process, not the product; teach perseverance and patience. 

3. Be Proud
    I may not have made the best project, but at least, I got to learn how to code and use Scratch. I still feel proud of what I ended up creating, and I think it conveyed the message from my Learning project this week. Benefit: coding or Scratch is another way to express what we think or what we've learned. 

So, my brothers asked me, "Why are you coding?"

I responded, "Why did you?"

As I've hinted from before, I tied my Scratch project to my Learning project poem for this week called "The Lanterns Are Here." The Scratch project has sound (from the bell and the instruments), but for some reason, they aren't working in the video. I invite you to pretend you're hearing them (haha). 







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