First Day at ABGC

The Boys and Girls Club in Albany was somewhat disorganized, but it was better than I had expected. Two of the computers didn't have internet connections, so we needed to copy the CSDT directory to the desktop on those computers so we could use the programs. None of the computers had Java installed, we did not have administrator privileges to do so, and no one at the BGC was able to give us privileges. They told us they would be able to have the password for us by Thursday.

The students we were working with were scheduled for outdoor time after our program, so it was difficult to get them to pay attention. The A/C in the computer room was also off, making it very warm as well. Since Java was not installed, we were unable to use the African Fractals applet like we had planned. We ended up introducing the kids to the Graffiti Grapher instead.

We ran through the history and culture of graffiti and did some of the Graffiti Grapher tutorials. Many of the kids seemed uninterested, and gave up rather quickly when they couldn't figure it out. They needed a  lot of coaxing to try and get them to participate. I think once we get to the point of creating various physical artifacts, the kids will become more interested than they are now.

All in all, we were not as productive as I had hoped for our first session, but it was more or less what I expected. Hopefully we can have all the bugs worked out by Thursday.

Tool Selection

I have decided on using the following Tools in the listed order over the course of the program:

Basket Weaver
Graffiti Grapher
Rythm Wheels
Programmable Graffiti Grapher
Pre-Columbian Pyramids

I chose these Tools based on a combination of the education standards for New York, how comfortable I was with teaching the various subjects, and what formed the best progression of math skills. I wanted to include both the original Graffiti Grapher and the programmable version so I could compare how the students react to each version.