Ideas for Student-Led Tech Teams

1. Tech Contest- At first, students may not be very enthusiastic to be involved in a "tech team". A contest might grab their attention and get them excited about helping the school and working with technology throughout the school!
2. Coding Workshops or Maker Space- This should be very informal, relaxed, and open to all students. Reserve an hour or two in a classroom or your auditorium and invite students to come and learn about coding, robotics, or STEM creations. A great place to start is with block coding using Scratch or Hour of Code.
3. Coding Choice Activities- If you are looking for a more controlled and organized environment
4. Student-Led Tutorials- Start by asking teachers and other students what programs they want to learn how to use. From those suggestions, students can create tutorials, either videos or online presentations, demonstrating step-by-step how to use these programs.
5. Teacher Workshop/Tech Expo- Organize an event for your school district for parents, teachers, and administrators to present and teach some of the tools that your tech team members created tutorials for. Here are two ways of organizing this event:
1. Presentations: Students can demonstrate how to use these program is sessions. Attendees can choose sessions they want to attend in different classrooms throughout the school.
2. 1-on-1: Held in a bigger room, (such as a Library/Media Center, Cafeteria, or Auditorium), tables and chair should be set up around the room, each table for a different program.
6. Basic Troubleshooting- Either an hour or two after school or during a lunch period, members should be available to help teachers with their school devices or a specific program.
7. Teaching Lower Grades- Though this may require a little bit of planning and you might need to wait for approval from your school district, taking your team on a trip to visit and teach lower grades is a great way to get younger kids and teachers excited about computer science and using technology in the classroom! This should be done at the end of the school year to allow the team to develop lessons and tutorials and practice teaching them.
8. Digital Citizenship- Through online games, such as Minecraft EDU and Second Life, students can interact with others, reinforcing vital digital citizenship concepts in an online game.

Luke Ferrell
8th Grade Leader and Founder
Bayshore Tech Team