Our newsletters highlight a variety of people, organizations, and resources that are doing work to broaden participation and expand equitable and engaging computer science and STEM opportunities. We are honored to work in this space along with so many talented and passionate individuals and want to help bring attention to their work.
Reflection - #DaunteWright #BlackLivesMatter
The Code Savvy organization would like to express our grief and outrage at the killing of Daunte Wright that took place Sunday in Brooklyn Center. Brooklyn Center is among the communities our Code Savvy programs serve as part of our mission to promote equitable access to Computer Science to all children in Minnesota. As an equity-focused community organization, Code Savvy denounces racism and oppression in all forms. It is therefore with solidarity, that we offer our heartfelt condolences to Daunte Wright’s family, friends, and everyone impacted.
If you would like to support the family and the community you can contribute to the family’s gofundme and any of these Brooklyn Center community services.
This Week’s Spotlight and Project-Inspiration Theme: April is Poetry Month!
April is “Poetry Month”. We won’t be spending the entire month focusing on poetry, however we did want to take a week to explore the connections between poetry and programming. While they may seem different at first, the two share many foundational components. Read on to find out more!
This week’s focus is “Connections between Poetry and Programming”
April is “Poetry Month,” when many students in schools focus on poetry. Students may practice skills such as structure of different types of poems, choosing intentional words, and using proper punctuation. While it may not seem that programming a computer and writing a poem are similar, they actually have quite a bit in common!
There have been papers and articles written about the connections between writing and programming, with a consensus that strong writing skills help develop strong programming skills. Both writers and programmers have to take abstract ideas and translate them through written language. Both tasks require following rules and structures in order to communicate effectively. Strong programming and strong writing also both require an artistic, creative mindset to be successful.
There is even much to be said about writing strong code so that other human programmers can understand it as well, not just a computer! Programming often happens in collaborative teams with teammates helping one another find bugs, think of ways to accomplish goals more efficiently, and tackle new problems together. If other people can’t understand the code, it is difficult to work together. That is why strong writing skills can help develop strong programmers. This month for poetry month, we encourage you to help students to see their code from a more creative and artistic point of view in order to be the best programmer they can be!
As you are practicing your own coding skills, you could try a fun project that connects coding and poetry, such as this Poetry Generator from the Raspberry Pi team. Or you could use Scratch to use animation to bring your favorite poem to life. Be sure to share whatever you come up with!
Share Your CS to Go Projects!
How to Share: We invite CS to Go with Code Savvy participants to consider sharing your projects publicly with the Code Savvy and greater #MNCodes community via video with Flipgrid. We can’t wait to see what you create! Please be sure to follow online safety guidelines and get adult permission before sharing. You can find our Privacy Policy here.