#CASChat – Top Tips for PGCE Students

In October I hosted a #CASChat with Top Tips for PGCE Students. Usually, after a #CASChat the conversation is put into a Storify for people to catch up on or look back at. Unfortunately, Storify is shutting down in 2018, so in order to preserve the conversation, I’ll be summing it up here.

I apologise in advance for not retaining the original tweets, but it would have taken me far too long to copy them all over one-by-one! Instead, I’ve produced a brief summary of answers to each question with links to further resources.

Welcome to tonight's #CASchat, where we'll be talking about top tips for Computer Science PGCE students! pic.twitter.com/GNti1EYBBR

— ᑕᒪᗩIᖇᕮ ᗯIᑕᕼᕮᖇ 🧟‍♀️ (@GirlGeekUpNorth) October 10, 2017

Participants were asked to introduce themselves with a gif that summed up their PGCE year. Here are the best gif responses!

Answers included:

• #caschat on Twitter
• Computing at School forums
• Your local CAS Hub
• Twitter
• Bett Show
• Exabytes
• Picademy
• STEM Centre
• Wikipedia
• Raspberry Pi Foundation
• Free online courses such as Codecademy
• CAS Tenderfoot Units
• Cambridge MOOC
• CAS Regional Conferences
• YouTube

Answers included:

• Use kinesthetic learning
• Unplugged activities
• Contextualise the topic, make it relevant to the real world
• Teach with ICT
• Don’t provide immediate answers, ramp up challenge
• Weird and wonderful demonstrations
• Flipped Learning
• Pair/group work and research
• Bring physical equipment into the classroom
• Open-ended creative projects
• Bebras Puzzles

Answers included:

• @CompAtSch and #CASChat
• @HelloWorldEdu and Hello World Magazine
• Technology news feeds
• @MissPhilbin
• R/learnprogramming and R/programming on Reddit
• @CSTeachingTips
• @csteachersorg

Answers include:

• Pitch for the most able and scaffold to support other students
• Crib sheets
• Teacher intervention
• Scaffolding code – from complete code, code to extend, code from scratch etc
• Make sure extension work provides new challenges
• Flipped Learning
• Paired Programming
• Help videos
• Seating plans for supportive pairs

Answers include:

• Local CAS Hubs and CAS Conferences
• Teachmeets
• Volunteer at your local Code Club
• PGCE Whatsapp group
• Visit schools
• Facebook Groups – ICT & Computing Teachers, KS3 Computer Science (UK Teachers), GCSE Computing, OCR KS4 Computer Science, OCR Computer Science GCSE (9-1), OCR Computer Science (Alevel)

Answers include:

• Make it interesting
• Classroom management software
• Positive praise for good behaviour
• Clear expectations
• Instructions on screen
• Demonstrations for low-ability students
• Show students you love the subject
• Challenge students
• Carefully considered seating plan

https://twitter.com/GirlGeekUpNorth/status/917842178721894400

Thank you everyone again for helping me survive hosting my first #CASChat – tons if useful tips for PGCE students AND qualified teachers! pic.twitter.com/0I7bI0ngPe

— ᑕᒪᗩIᖇᕮ ᗯIᑕᕼᕮᖇ 🧟‍♀️ (@GirlGeekUpNorth) October 10, 2017

I’d also like to add in everyone who participated in this #CASChat! Including your host, GirlGeekUpNorth, the facilitator, CLCSimon, and all the participants;

@AlwaysComputing, @KJSICT, @K0mputR, @MsBClarke, @MrFurbank, @MrHeadComputing,
@TEKNOTEACHER, @Mr_Comp_Sci, @claireg0, @SouthSeftonICT, @DdR333, @PiVangelist,
@scottturneruon, @debs_hogan, @JWoollard, @TeachAnshi, @EllieMMU, @suesentance, @MrLauLearning,
@iamJamesHannam, @mberry, @JWoollard, @computingdawn, @catherinelliott, @J0C89, @mrjoeholmes,
@BitbyBot, @catherinelliott, @ICT_Echo