Educator Resources
Walk through example units co-created by researchers and teachers. Then use our resources to try creating your own classroom activities and professional development sessions!
Classroom Cases: Our Approach in Action
Looking for inspiration? Each of our partner teachers’ units below started a meaningful conversation with students by bringing together practices from computing, school disciplines, and community.
¡3...2...1… acción! Comparing Scratch to a Telenovela
In this unit, bilingual middle schoolers related Telenovelas (Spanish soap operas) to programming in Scratch to start conversations in CS and Language Arts.
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Created by Sara Vogel, Sarane James, Ashley Guílamo, Ana Rebeca Castillo, Christopher Hoadley, Laura Ascenzi-Moreno and Jasmine Ma.
Modeling the Impacts of Hurricane María in Puerto Rico
In this middle school bilingual science unit, students used computational modeling in Scratch to aid their discussions about a topic that hit close to home for students: Hurricane María.
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Created by Sarane James, Karen Silfa, Sara Vogel, Christopher Hoadley, Laura Ascenzi-Moreno, and Jasmine Ma.
Supplementary Resources
Plan your own unit
Looking to implement these ideas? Bring the PiLa-CS approach into your own classroom using the resources below.
Get to Know Your Students
Knowing the creative ways your students use language and technology will help you design a unit that builds on their talents and interests. Use this worksheet to help you reflect.
Use these planning worksheets to design your own “syncretic computational” units
Ready to design your own unit? The packet below will help you consider students’ communities, language practices, your content area, and real world applications of CS, all at the same time!
Strategies for Supporting Emergent Bilinguals During CS Activities
Incorporate some of these translanguaging and literate programming strategies into your activities to support and build on students’ unique language repertoires.
10 Blocks Across Languages: Program Multilingually in Scratch!
This resource features ten Scratch blocks with keywords written in the top languages spoken by NYC public school students. Post it around your classroom and have your students use it as a reference!
Remix Projects in Our Scratch Studio!
Get inspiration from our studio of multilingual, cross-disciplinary Scratch projects!
They include a project simulating an interview with a YA author -- with comments in Chinese, Spanish, and English -- and a game tracing the journey to school of a Burmese refugee in Spanish and English!
Reflect on your designs and practice
As you design and implement your syncretic, translanguaging CS ed activities, use this template to help you reflect on and evolve your practice.
Download PDF packet to cite and print
Professional Development
If you’re interested in joining future professional development opportunities we offer, or partnering with us to enhance your own PD, reach out to us: pilacs [at] pilacs.nyc. See below for links to our project’s work with other organizations and venues, and a list of our past PD engagements.
Outside PD Resources Supported by Our Project
Professional Development Engagements
December 21, 2021 and January 12, 2022 - EECS Level 3 - Revisiting Translanguaging: Starting Transformative Conversations About CS Ed Equity in My Context
November 22 and December 13, 2021 - EECS Level 2 - Revisiting Translanguaging: Starting Transformative Conversations About CS Ed Equity in My Context
July 12, 19, 22, 2021 - NYCDOE CS4All - EECS Level 1 - Exploring Equity in CS; A Translanguaging Approach to Computing Education - Embedding Code into Conversations With Multilingual Learners; Intersectionality & Racial Literacy
July 7 - August 16, 2021 - PiLa-CS Professional Learning Community Design Workshops
February 24, 2021 and March 24, 2021 - NYCDOE CS4All - EECS Level 2 follow up sessions - Translanguaging Stance in Action
November 4, 2020 - NYCDOE CS4ALL - CS Team Leads & Ingenuity Teachers - Election Day Follow-up
July 27-29, 31, 2020 - NYCDOE CS4ALL Exploring Equity in Computer Science, Spring 2020 (CS Team Leads & Ingenuity Teachers), A Translanguaging Approach to Computing Education: Embedding Code into Conversations With Multilingual Learners
June 24, 26, 30, & July 1, 2020 - DOE CS4ALL Exploring Equity in Computer Science, Spring 2020 (DOE Staff), A Translanguaging Approach to Computing Education: Embedding Code into Conversations With Multilingual Learners
January 30, 2020 - Cornell Tech Teachers-in-Residence, Train the Trainer
October 26, 2019 - NYCDOE CS4All Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration, Charlando con código: What conversation is this code a part of?
May 13, 2019 - P.S. 217, Participating in Literacies and Computer Science (PiLa CS): An Approach to Computing Ed With Emergent Bilinguals
August 13-15, 2019 - NYCDOE CS4All Summer Institute, What conversation is this code a part of? An Approach to Computing Ed With Emergent Bilinguals
August 7 and 14, 2018 - NYCDOE CS4All Summer Institute, Participating in Literacies and Computer Science (PiLa CS): An Approach to Computing Ed With Emergent Bilinguals