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CCP – Lesson Proposal Template – Revised 08-10-2023

Creative Computing Project

Lesson Proposal
PSC-IT and ISTE-E Standards Addressed in the Project
6.2/6b Managing Technology & Learning
Candidates manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in a variety of
environments such as digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces, or in the
field. (PSC-IT 6.2, ISTE-E 6b)

6.3/6c Design & Computational Thinking

Candidates create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and/or
computational thinking to innovate and solve problems. (PSC-IT 6.3, ISTE-E 6c)

6.4/6d Creativity
Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge, or
connections. (PSC-IT 6.4, ISTE-E 6d)

In this document you will outline the proposal for your Creative Computing Project. This project
could be part of your normal teaching or part of an extra circular activity in either a formal (k-12
school) or informal (library, community center, etc.) learning setting. Projects should include
some type of computation (e.g., Scratch, Makecode, another programming languages, or CS
Unplugged Activity.)

Suggestions include (but are not limited to):

o Teaching digital storytelling with Scratch
o Doing a CS Unplugged activity to teach about the steps of an algorithm
o Using the Makecode website to teach block-based coding
o Using your SparkFun Inventor’s kit to teach students how to breadboard (e.g., make
their first LED blink and/or control the servomotor.)
o Creating a robotic pet

This activity could be done with a whole class, or a small number of students depending on your
teaching environment.

Name: Summer Shearer

Grade level: 9th

Subject(s): English
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CCP – Lesson Proposal Template – Revised 08-10-2023
Date of implementation: April 15-19, 2024

Description of Your Proposed Creative Computing Project

This section should include a detailed description of your Creative Computing Project. What is
your inspiration for the project? What materials did you need? What will be the teaching
context? (e.g., traditional classroom, after school program, makerspace, etc.)

My project will be using SCRATCH to have students create a scene from The Hunger Games. I
will be implementing this project in my 9th grade classes. I will need physical copies of The
Hunger Games, chromebooks, and the Scratch website. Students will get one week to complete
this project. Classes are 90 minutes, students will get 30-60 minutes each day to work on their
project.

Use of Technology and Student Learning Strategies (ISTE-E 6b)

This section should document how you plan on managing the use of technology and student
learning strategies as part of your Creative Computing Project.

ISTE Portfolio Questions

1. What rules, guidelines, and parameters, regarding the use of technology, do you have
for your learners when they are working independently in alternative classroom
settings?
When students are working independently, I always print and post the requirements for
their project. The instructions will also be posted at the front of the room using
classroomscreen.com. This removes a lot of the questions students may have. I also use
GoGuardian so I can see all of my students' chromebooks and I can set a scene that will
only allow them onto certain websites.

Also, when starting something new, I always demonstrate the project for the students
and also provide them with an example that will help guide them.

2. Do you guide learners to reach out to their peers for support and troubleshooting?
I always tell my students to ask 2 buddies around them before they ask me. This process
removes a lot of repetitive questions coming to me. I would rather students support
each other rather than solely rely on me all of the time.

3. What ways do/can they troubleshoot their needs, independently?

For students to troubleshoot their needs, I will post video guides to help them on
Google Classroom. This is so they can look back at the videos and pause it as they need
to.

4. How do you manage the use of technology in these alternative classroom settings?
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CCP – Lesson Proposal Template – Revised 08-10-2023
I use GoGuardian in my classroom so I can see all of the students' computer screens. I
also can create a “scene” that will only let students onto certain websites. This will eliminate
students migrating to games or off-task websites.

Design Process (ISTE-E 6c)

In this section you should outline the five (5) step design process that you plan on using as part
of your creative computing project. Possible design processes include:
o Creative Learning Spiral (Imagine, Create, Play, Share, Reflect),
o Creative Play (Inspire, Imagine, Create, Play, Share),
o Engineering Design Process (Ask/Define, Understand, Plan, Create, and Improve), or
o Design Thinking (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test)

ISTE Portfolio Question

1. How do you implement a recognized design-thinking process into your instruction?

For my project, I am going to implement the “Creative Play” design process. I think this one will
be best because we are going to be using Scratch.
Name of Design Process: Creative Play

Inspire The teacher will instruct students to brainstorm their favorite scene from
The Hunger Games. The teacher will provide an example of this. “My
favorite scene is when Katniss and Peeta are in the chariots at the tribute
parade.”. As a class, teacher and students will talk about their favorite
scenes and why.
Imagine The teacher will instruct students, on a blank piece of paper, to roughly
draw 3-4 scenes they liked the most. They must provide short
explanations for each scene and why it is their favorite. A discussion of
the most popular chosen scenes will occur as well. The teacher will also
inform students that Scratch has a limited number of Sprites and
backgrounds, so they may need to think of an “alternative world” of
sorts for their scene to occur. (The Hunger Games is based in the woods
but students may have their scene be in the ocean or the desert based
on what sprites they choose.)
Create The teacher will assist students with creating their scene using Scratch.
The scene has to be based on the book, not the movie. Students have to
have a good representation of the setting and the characters. The
teacher will let them choose different sprites. (Such as representing
Katniss as a cat and Peeta as a dog.) Students will just have to explain
why they chose these specific sprites.
Play Students will describe their Scratch scene, students are answering the
question “Why did you choose this scene?”. Students will also describe
what it was like using Scratch, “What went right? What went wrong?”.
Share The teacher will instruct students to share their codes and students will
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CCP – Lesson Proposal Template – Revised 08-10-2023
present their videos as well. Students will be competing for the “Best
Video”. (Winning will earn students a prize of candy, soda, etc.)
Note: Please use this table to list the steps of your design process and include a detailed description for each step
within the context of your Creative Computing Project.

Evidence of one or more computational artifacts (ISTE-E 6c)

This section should provide evidence of one or more computation artifacts developed as part the
implementation of the Creative Computing Project. This evidence should include one or more
photos of students project and a written description.

Below is a project example from my Spring 2024 First Block. The student chose to depict
the scene at the end of the book where Katniss and Peeta are running from the muttations.
Students had to describe why they chose which sprites to demonstrate the characters. I added
her descriptions below.
“For my project I decided on the scene where Katniss and Peeta are being chased
by the mutts at the end of the book. This scene is important because we get to see that Katniss
actually cares for Peeta. She thinks about him rather than just herself in this scene. I chose to
represent Katniss as a cat because I feel like her and Peeta’s relationship is very cat/dog like.
Katniss is the angry cat who doesn’t really like to be loved and Peeta is like a golden retriever.
that is why he is pictured as a dog. I have the mutt as a bear because the book describes them
as being as a big as bears with giant claws.“
Student submissions had to have two or more sprites that either talked or moved. Their
choices for the sprites had to have a description that explained why they chose these sprite(s). I
added a picture of their scene as well as images of the code for all three of their sprites.

Focus on process, not product (ISTE-E 6c)

What went well in your design process? What could be improved in your design process?
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CCP – Lesson Proposal Template – Revised 08-10-2023

In the Creative Play Design Process, Inspire and Imagine went very well with my
students. They did amazing work with sketching their designs and describing them. We hit
some bumps in the road when we got to actually designing the scenes in Scratch. 90% of my
students had not used the website before or had even used code before so I figured this would
be difficult. Many students had problems figuring code out and making all the moving parts
work together.
Next time, I will have a mini-project with Scratch first before using it for The Hunger
Games project. This will allow my students to experience Scratch before and get used to using
the website and writing code.
Once all of the projects got sorted out, the viewing of the videos was fun. Students
really enjoyed seeing each other's projects and voting on the best. Students ended up making a
guessing game out of it to see if they guessed the scene right.

Failure (ISTE-E 6C)

What type of failures did you experience with the project? This could include failures that you
had with planning and teaching your Creative Computing Project in addition to failures that you
observed with students.

In terms of failures, as I mentioned above, students had a hard time figuring Scratch out
because most of them have not used code before. Looking back, I should have had a mini-
lesson with writing code and using Scratch. I did show them as a class how to use the website
but watching something be done is completely different than actually doing it yourself. This
project took longer than expected because there is a learning curve with using Scratch. Once
students got the hang of it, it turned out okay!

Computational Thinking (ISTE-E 6c)

Using language such as abstraction, decomposition, pattern recognition, algorithms, and
debugging/testing, describe how you plan on incorporating computational thinking into your
creative computing project?

To begin this project, we will use decomposition so students do not get overwhelmed. I
am assuming most of my students have not used scratch or worked with code before. I will
start with asking students to describe some of their favorite scenes from The Hunger Games in
detail. This will give them an idea in mind for the scratch project. We will then move in steps
from there.
When we start sharing our project, I will also ask students if they see a pattern in all of
the projects or even just the winners. When asked their favorite scene, is there a pattern on
which ones were chosen?
Debugging and Testing will be very important with using Scratch. When working through
it, you have to see what components work well together and what doesn’t. I will be sure to tell
my students that it is okay to get frustrated with the program. It is always hard trying to learn
and maneuver a new thing!
ISTE Portfolio Question
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CCP – Lesson Proposal Template – Revised 08-10-2023

1. How do you provide opportunities for your learners to apply the components of
computational thinking?
Decomposition: We will complete this project in chunks. I will take baby steps with helping
students complete the project. We will start with brainstorming our favorite scenes from The
Hunger Games, work through a Scratch scene together, and then slowly start working on our
own scenes.
Pattern Recognition: Are there patterns when we are presenting our projects? Did we choose
similar scenes? Did most people choose action or high emotion scenes?
Debugging and Testing: While working on Scratch, students will have to continuously see if their
code is working.
ISTE NOTE 1: To meet this criteria you must show how you provide opportunities for your
learners to engage in the Design Thinking or Computational Thinking process, just presenting
on what it is, is not enough.

ISTE NOTE 2: Please specifically identify each of the steps of which process you identify in your
artifact, as well as how the details of the lesson/activity as it fits into the Design Thinking or
Computational Thinking process, in your artifact.

Nurturing Creativity (ISTE-E 6d)

Explain how you plan on intentionally modeling and nurturing creativity and creative expression
to communicate ideas, knowledge, or connections as part of your project. Consider using the 4P
framework (Projects, Peers, Passion, and Play).

ISTE Portfolio Questions

1. How do YOU demonstrate creativity and creative problem solving for your learners, and
how to you provide them with opportunities to obtain feedback and showcase their
final work?
The teacher will work with students to create the first Scratch project. We will complete
this as a class so they can see the different ways to troubleshoot and work through the
problems. To obtain feedback, students will show their projects to the class. Students
will also be posting their Scratch videos to a class website where they can share and
comment on each other's projects.
2. What opportunities are you providing for your learners to express their own creativity?
Students have to recreate a scene from The Hunger Games, but they can have creative
freedom of their own Sprites and the setting. They are basically doing their own
interpretation of a scene. I will explain to them that they are the director of their tiny
movie and they have creative freedom. As long as their scene makes sense and it
accurate to the plot, they can make any changes.
3. How do your learners share their work with others?
As mentioned above, students are going to share their videos in class. Students will also
be showcasing their videos on a class website. Each student will get their own tab that
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CCP – Lesson Proposal Template – Revised 08-10-2023
will have their video and a description of their “Director Choices'”. (Why did they
choose that scene, Why did they chose those specific sprites? etc). This website will be
posted on Google Classroom and parents will also be emailed a URL so they can visit as
well.
4. Do you provide opportunities for peer feedback?
Students will be required to share feedback with at least 2 other peers. They will need
to talk about what they liked about the scene as well as what they would improve. This
conversation will happen twice. Once during a peer review where students will share
their video with one another and provide constructive criticism. Then again at the very
end when we have “published” our final scenes. Students will comment on videos on
the website, like a blog posting.
5. Do you encourage this creativity using technology resources and/or tools?
With Scratch, they have to be creative with their interpretation. They can add new
things or have the sprites be different animals rather than just humans. Students also have free
will of what backgrounds they use and they are allowed to change how the characters say lines.
An example of this would be if a student had Katniss depicted as a shark, they may have her
scenes underwater. They may also have her say “glug glug” or have her eating fish instead of
berries in the scene.

Final Thoughts
Use this section for any additional reflection that you have about the Creative Computing
Project or how you see creativity could be better infused into the learning process. (2-3
paragraphs)

The Creative Computing Project was a great learning experience for both me and my
students. Using Scratch in my masters class as a student was a great learning experience so that
is why I decided to use it with my own students. I will have to say that writing code and using
Scratch is not easy, to some of my students it was, but trying new things and learning new skills
is something that is important for everyone.
Some of my students who had taken Graphic Design or the computer class at my school
had used Scratch before. But, most of my students had not used it. I had to explain to them that
using Scratch would have them writing code. Meaning, telling and instructing the computer to
do something, in this case, creating a scene. Many of my students were hesitant with working
on the website because it was something they had never done before. And as I mentioned
above, we did hit some bumps in the road. We did have to take more time than I anticipated
because we had to learn the ins and outs of Scratch but that is okay!
Overall, I am glad I chose Scratch for my project because it allowed me to make
mistakes and work through them with my students. Learning new things is not always easy and
that was a great thing to experience for both me and my kids. I think it helped us grow as a class
because we all had to work together.