Girls Who Code offers free virtual summer opportunities & grants

 

As seen in the Nic News Weekly (Nicolet Federated Library System) Friday February 3

"Did you know Girls Who Code offers free virtual summer opportunities? We provide the virtual teaching team, tech access and need-based grants for students who qualify, and a supportive sisterhood where students can make life-long connections."

Learn more at https://www.nfls.lib.wi.us/ideas/girls-who-code-offers-free-virtual-summer-opportunities-grants.

Initial Application deadline February 15

Girls Who Code - 100 Clubs and Counting!!

We're so excited to share this milestone with you:  Girls Who Code officially has 100 free coding Clubs in Wisconsin!  

However, we're not just sharing the good news. It is a call to action - let's keep this momentum going and give even more Wisconsin girls the opportunity for a career in technology. Please join the many libraries in Wisconsin who have Girls Who Code clubs and gain access to all of the following:

• Girls Who Code's completely free coding curriculum & tutorials!!
• Options for both 3rd-5th and 6th-12th grade clubs.
• A $300 Clubs fund for each Club, free t-shirts, and free fiction books for our 3-5 grade Clubs.
• 6th-12th grade club members work together on a group project that positively impacts their community. 
• No computer science experience required to facilitate a club!

Just submit the Club Application and you'll get access to all of our free resources and curriculum. The application is non-binding, so even if your club doesn't launch this fall you can sign up to access Girls Who Code club lesson plans and tutorials!  If you'd like to learn more, feel free to sign up for one of our informational webinars as well.  Please help us spread the word - we are just getting started!

Megan Cindric

Regional Partnership Coordinator - WI, MN

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Email: megan.cindric@girlswhocode.com

Still Time to Submit Those Coding Programs for YSS's 12 Months of Coding

Hello! We would love to give more librarians the chance to have their coding programs highlighted in this awesome resource. The due date is now Sat., Apr. 14. Below is information about the resource as well as the link to the submission form. *Reminder that you do need to be a YSS member in order to be selected.* You will be contacted by Fri., Apr. 27 if your coding program will be included in the final resource.

Share your coding ideas and knowledge! The Youth Services Section (YSS) of WLA is creating a resource and program list for our 12 Months of Coding initiative.  No matter how small your budget or how big your library, we need program suggestions from everyone!  We are looking for a wide variety, from no tech to high tech, so please share your favorite coding programs with your colleagues from around the state. If you have a program idea to submit, please follow the link and fill out the application form no later than Sat., Apr. 14: https://goo.gl/forms/ltnMYsrEVQXOcpnt2

Thank you for sharing your expertise with other Wisconsin youth librarians! If you have any questions, please email Caitlin Schaffer at cschaffer@cooney.lib.wi.us or Julie Kinney at julie.kinney@co.marathon.wi.us.

Coding Initiative in Wisconsin Public Libraries

Are you coding curious?  The Coding Initiative in Wisconsin Public Libraries webpage has been updated in response to the needs and interests of Wisconsin public library staff.

The updated webpages offer:
-  An interest inventory-brief quiz to identify your specific coding interests
-  Searchable and sort-able resource list of coding essentials
-  Concrete guides for eight coding topics,including coding basics, coding events, and finding coders.

You can also sign up to join the coding email list, or simply provide feedback on what else you'd like to see.  Whether you are just dipping your toe in, or taking a deep dive, you can enjoy these new coding resources!

Check out the webpage HERE.

You Too Can Be a Mighty Coder and Coder Coach!

Sometimes we feel overwhelmed when a new type of program pops up that we feel we have no particular skills in. But, as youth librarians, we can't afford to only program in our skill and interest areas. That would only serve a portion of our community's kids. However, we youth librarians are famous for researching and dfiguring out how-to's to make sure kids have opportunities to discover and learn while having fun at our libraries.

Coding is an area that more and more libraries are offering popular programs for kids. And many of the people planning and hosting the programs would never claim any special coding geek-itutde. If you are feeling a bit of hesitation, try these great resources to help you feel mighty and wow your patrons!

Does Coding Feel Like the Scary Monster Under Your Bed?
In this blog post from IFLS' Keeping Up with Kids blog, Kathy Larson from Bloomer shares her experience of going from fear to fearlesslessness thanks to an amazing website.

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Coding Go Down
This slidedeck from the fall WLA 2016 conference by the WI Dept of Public Ed library team, has great info and resources as well as tips to help you feel mighty.

Wiscode Literati
Begun as an IMLS funded project by an iLead team in 2015, this site has a bunch of helpful ready-to-go programs to make you mighty.

Sowing Seeds Librarian
Emily Zorea at Brewer Public Library, Richland Center has blogged extensively about what she has learned and tried in coding. She gives readers confidence that you too can do coding programs! This post gathers her notes on the UW-Madison iSchool CE course on coding. You can also read about other programs she has tried by following her "coding" tag on the blog.

What great resources or programs on coding have YOU tried?

STEAM Programming on a Budget

Photo from Sowing Seeds Librarian blog

Emily Zorea, Brewer Public Library's Youth Librarian, stepped out and presented her first solo session during the recent WAPL conference. Richland Center is a city of approximately 5,000 people in a fairly rural area of southwest WI.  A warm, friendly and supportive speaker who speaks comfortably without notes, Emily not only shared her tips on creating reasonably priced STEM content but also how libraries in smaller communities can really engage kids with science and coding. She engaged the audience and solicited ideas from their experience as STEAM programmers as well.

Emily recently began blogging at Sowing Seeds Librarian where she uses her blog to detail programs she's done. The blog serves as an archive for her programs as well as a how-to for interested readers. She has also been involved in WI DPI's Coding Initiative classes and generously shares her notes to help all of us become more comfortable and knowledgeable about coding with our community kids.

Attendees left with a ton of doable ideas. Her presentation slides speak for themselves. You can access them here at her blog.

Both Emily Zorea and Emily Sanders (whose TAB programs were featured last week on the blog) are new youth library presenters at Wisconsin state conferences.  We hope their presentations inspire YOU to take the leap, put together a program or panel and share your journey at a conference. New voices and perspectives (irregardless of age) are always welcome!  The YSS board, who always puts together an incredible stack of conference programs, is waiting to hear from you.

Check out other WAPL youth program reports from the April 27-28 conference (links will be highlighted when published):

• This is a Not a Hit Zone: Promoting Healthy Kids and Safer Communities at Your Library - Dawn Wacek, Dana Johnson
• It's Not Just the Facts, Ma'am!": Creating and Marketing a Dynamic Youth NF Collection - Marge Loch-Wouters
• Flip the Children's Space: A Face-Lift for Kids - Susan Queiser, Patricia Becker
• Teach and Be Taught: Teens in the Library - Emily Sanders
• YSS Leadership Meeting
• Return of the Notable Books Report - Leah Langby etal
• Sound Learning: Read-Alongs Enhancing Literacy Development - Sharon Grover, Jamie Swenson
• All Play Literature Engagement for Public Libraries - Ashlee Kunkel, Valerie Edwards

Stop here at the WAPL conference website for all the session handouts and slidedecks.

Last Day for the Wisconsin Hour of Code.

Dear Wisconsin Public Library Community,

 

Anyone can code. A child playing Scratch. A teen playing Minecraft. An adult trying to invent an app. An employee trying out a new workforce skill. Anyone can code*.

 

Forget the stereotype of a dude sitting silently at his computer, empty bag of chips and cans of soda on the desk, the lines of code reflecting off his glasses. Coding is for all ages, genders, abilities, and interests. More than strings of numbers, coding is about computer science, collaboration, programming, creativity, and more. Coding is for everyone--curiosity is the only requirement.

 

Still not sure about coding? That’s ok! The Public Library Development Team will lead the way on a multi-year exploration of coding and help answer who/what/how/why questions with help from WisCode Literati and other partners.

 

The Coding Initiative in Wisconsin Public Libraries will:

• Provide awareness about coding concepts, such as problem solving, algorithms, etc., and coding opportunities, such as library events, professional learning, etc.
• Help libraries understand how learning to code can benefit local communities
• Identify schools and community partners with whom libraries can partner
• Showcase ways in which library staff can code to create or improve tools and software that can directly benefit the library

 

Wisconsin is not alone in the coding arena. The American Library Association (ALA) recently announced “Libraries Ready to Code,” a nationwide examination coding activities in public libraries and schools. Through this project ALA, in partnership with Google, “explores coding activities from the earliest ages through high school.”

 

The Coding Initiative in Wisconsin Public Libraries will officially roll out in September 2016, so stay tuned for updates and bookmark the project website: http://dpi.wi.gov/pld/technology/coding-initiative.

 

In the meantime, we are looking for 20 public library sites to host a free screening of the 2015 documentary “CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap” in which filmmaker Robin Hauser Reynolds explores the reasons for the gender and minority hiring gap among software engineers.

 

Take this BRIEF survey to show your interest in hosting a screening as well as your curiosity about coding in general. Random survey participants are eligible for a FREE coding prize!

 

Thanks for your consideration,

 

Ryan Claringbole, Library Technology Consultant

Tessa Michaelson Schmidt, Youth and Inclusive Services Consultant

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Public Library Development Team

 

*We mean it.  Anyone can code, and everyone in our state is encouraged to give it a try during the Wisconsin Hour of Code, May 16-27, 2016.