Cody Project: Semester in Review Part 1 of 2
Dynamic Edge has continued its outreach program this year providing weekly after school technology classes for the students at Cody High School in Detroit. I (Bryan Emmendorfer, Sales and Marketing) head out to Cody each week and bring along with me a techie, a geek, or someone smarter than me in general, for some small class size, hands-on, interactive, sandwich fueled, non-classroom style, high level learning.
Background:
Cody High School in Detroit was chosen as a “turnaround” candidate by the United Way. It was split into four separate schools with specialized disciplines. Dynamic Edge got involved last year with the “Detroit Institute of Technology” section of Cody when Bruce heard about the project and decided to step up.
New This Year:
One change this year is that a teacher from Cody, Mr. Smith, has decided to get on board with the technology team as our staff liaison. He has already made life much easier handling things like spreading the word to students and getting permission slips signed for the field trip (more on the field trip later!).
Week 1:
Deb (Customer Experience Manager, and behind the scenes Cody Support) and I met with the students to get a feel for the things they wanted to learn, and how many students would participate. We found most of the regulars from last year were back, so we also gathered their feedback about last year. Oh, and we asked if they preferred pizza or Jimmy John’s. (The consensus was Jimmy John’s)
We talked about the direction they’d like to see the technology club take. The students agreed that they’d like the club to get more in depth and have more structure. We all agreed that we could learn more as a group if the same students showed up on a consistent basis, instead of having a random group each week.
Overall, we got great feedback from the students. They showed us that they were there to learn. It really made the time we were spending feel worthwhile to hear the students reflect on the last year of classes so positively.
Week 2:
The first technology lesson of the year played off of things the students would have learned last year, as well as problem solving skills. We also threw some competition into the mix.
Conroy (DE Consultant) made the trip to Detroit with me for his “Computer Practical Exam” lesson. He brought with him two old PC’s that may or may not have still worked and a couple tool kits. He set one computer on each side of the room, each with a big sheet of orange poster board facing downward.
He then split the group in two and gave these directions: They were to disassemble the computers and place each part with the correct corresponding part name on the poster board. After the parts were all labeled correctly, Conroy would approve, and they could start reassembling. First team done got Game Stop gift cards. Oh, and they got three life lines: One Google search, One “Ask Conroy”, and One “Phone-a-Friend.”
Conroy said “Go” and each team began furiously dismantling their machines with screwdrivers. We were surprised at how much they remembered from last year. They exhibited team work and problem solving abilities as both teams completed their machines at roughly the same time. But, upon inspection, one team didn’t have all the plugs connected properly, while the other did. So to the victors went the spoils. By far the most exciting and drama filled lesson we have taught thus far!
…continued in Part 2
-Bryan
