Lesson 0.4: Snap! Self-Portrait

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • Create a simple “program” in Snap! to describe themselves.

Materials/Preparation

Pacing Guide

Duration

Description

5 minutes

Welcome, attendance, bell work, announcements

5 minutes

Introduce Activity

35 minutes

Getting to Know You lab

10 minutes

Debrief and wrap-up

Instructor’s Notes

1. Introduce Activity

  • Play Introductory video of Snap! put together by Jens Moenig

    • This video helps to explain to students the power of Snap! while still being approachable as a Block Based Programming Language.

  • Tell students that today they will explore Snap! and use it to create a “self-portrait” program.

    • Emphasize that the goal of today’s lesson is not for students to develop a deep understanding of any of the features in Snap!. Later lessons will teach them everything they need to know. For now, they should just explore, figure out what they can, and put it to use however they see fit.

    • Tell them they will create Snap! accounts so they can save their self-portraits and share them.

    • Give them the link to the Student Experience Survey (or the handout if you’re doing it on paper). Tell them that answering these questions will help them to think about themselves and give them some ideas for their self-portraits.

  • Spend just a couple minutes demonstrating how to open SNAP, create sprites and scripts, and run programs.

    • DO NOT go into detail– the specifics of Snap! will be covered in much more depth in unit 1. The goal here is simply to give students enough of a starting point to be able to explore and try things out on their own.

  • Show students the lab handout and read through the instructions.

    • Point out the places to write answers to the written questions in parts 1.2 and 1.3.

    • Draw special attention to the list of requirements for the self-portrait program in part 1.4.

    • This is an excellent opportunity to tell students that all labs in this course will look like this, and that they should get used to reading instructions carefully.

2. Student Experiences Survey

  • Instruct students to complete the Student Experiences Survey

  • Students should answer every question and “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” are okay answers.

    • Remote Guidance: This can accomplished remotely by setting up a digital form or using a quizzing tool in your LMS or Remote Classroom.

  • Optional

    • If you have a digital camera available, you can take photos of the students for use in the Snap! self-portraits.

    • Doing so will give a level of personalization to each student’s project.

    • You will need to provide students with a location to download their photo.

    • In addition you need to walk students through the process of importing a costume from the file menu. Do that as part of the instruction tomorrow.

3. Activity

  • Instruct students to complete the “Getting to Know You” lab.

    • Make sure they understand what your expectations are for student Snap! account names.

    • Verify that every student has an account.

  • For part 1.3, you can either assign pairs or allow students to pair up on their own. If students are allowed to choose their own partners, take care to ensure that no one is excluded. If you choose to assign pairs, try to partner students into groups that are heterogenous by ability or background. Try to pair students who do not normally interact.

  • If the class has an odd number, form a single group of three.

  • Optional

  • If you have a digital camera available, you can take photos of the students and have them use their picture as the costume to the sprite. Doing so will give a level of personalization to each student’s project. You will need to provide students with a location to download their photo. In addition you need to walk students through the process of importing a costume from the file menu.

4. Save and Share

  • Instruct students on how to Save their projects and what they should be named.

  • Instruct students on how to Share saved projects so that they are able to be viewed by others.

  • Here is a great video of how to share a Snap! program - https://youtu.be/VHts_QAp3XU

    • This is how students will submit projects to the teacher.

5. Debrief

  • Ask each student to identify and describe one feature they discovered in Snap!. Keep a running list on the whiteboard or projector.

  • If the students build a pretty comprehensive list, you can use this as a chance to go over a brief roadmap for the course.

  • Ask students what they enjoyed about working with Snap! and what they disliked.

BJC Lecture Suggestions

BJC Video Suggestion: BJC Lecture 4: Functions

Accommodation/Differentiation

  • Allow students to use whatever resources they need, including instructors, peers, and web searches if necessary, to create their programs. The goal of this lesson is exploration and exposure, not mastery.

  • For students that are hesitant or unwilling to engage, point out some simple, useful features (like basic drawing and the Say block) to get them started. Remind them that complexity or “coolness” are not important for this lab.

    Say Block

  • If you wish, you can add a second day to this lesson for students to share out their programs on a volunteer basis. Work with your classroom teacher and/or school IT staff to determine the best way for students to be able to present.

  • One simple option is to have volunteering students share their projects with you, and then show each one in turn on the teacher computer/projector.

  • Have a plan for collecting or accumulating the students’ programs, which you can then use to get to know your class!

Forum discussion

Lesson 0.4 Snap! Self Portrait (TEALS Discourse account required).

This Lesson was designed by J-Mag Guthrie, TEALS Volunteer, Texas