I'm working on a course to teach programming. I would use BJC, but I only have one hour a week to teach. So, I decided to create my own curriculum.
Here is a link:
Page 12: "You've" shouldn't be capitalized.
Page 14: "Hats" and "Commands" at the beginning of a sentence should be capitalized.
Page 15: "Allows" shouldn't be capitalized. The four command blocks should be displayed unattached, not as a script. (As it is, the GLIDE doesn't do anything. :~P)
This is just lesson 0; is there more, or are you still writing? Oh, I see, WIP.
The following points aren't errors; they're points of pedagogic style that I keep trying to teach curriculum writers, with mixed success.
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"Let's." You, the author, are not about to do this exercise; you've already done it. Only the student is going to do it. Pretending otherwise isn't going to fool the student, and is, I believe, condescending. You and the student should never be grouped as "we," "us," "our," or "let's." Any use of "let's" should just be deleted; the others should be changed to "you" or "your" as appropriate.
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Don't try to convince the student how much fun the curriculum is. It should be fun, but if so, the kid will figure that out themself, all the more readily because not being put off by the self-advertising. So, no "fun," no "exciting," and no exclamation points unless they're warning about dangers. ("Don't write a project making fun of your teacher!" (Yes, that's a use of "fun" that isn't self-advertising.) "Don't divide by
if A and B might be equal!")
Even curricula written by pros sometimes fall into these traps, but amateurs take this tone all the time. To me it reads as fearful: "They won't like it unless I spice it up." Spice it up by choosing examples that are fun, not by saying they're fun.
Tell a story about Hairy Potter and Barber Streisand...
Thanks. I fixed the grammar mistakes. (I think I make the same style mistakes whenever I write essays. (No wonder I always get a D on writing assignments! (My teachers never told me that!)))
Nice. I'll add them (w/o a background) to the project.
Did they tell you about figuring out where to put commas by reading the sentence out loud and listening for pauses?
Make sure not to leave out the scissors in the picture of Barbra getting a haircut!
They did, but I'm kind of embarrassed to read things out loud. Did I put some in the wrong places?