๐ง๐พโ๐คโ๐ง๐พ day-plan
๐ Energiser
Learning Objectives
Energisers are a big part of MigraCode`s culture! Even as adults, we all feel a bit shy and uncertain when we join a new group. But when we let ourselves be silly together, we start to feel more at home.
Start thinking of your own energisers - what would be fun for the group to do together one morning? Feel free to bring your own suggestions, and run them with the group!
In the mean time, here is a suggestion, in case you don’t have any other ideas yet:
๐๏ธ Options
Energiser: Telephone!
๐ Energiser: Telephone!
Learning Objectives
Arrange participants in a line or circle. This game works best with 5 or more players and must be played in person.
The first player whispers a message to the next person. Each subsequent player whispers what they heard to the next person. The last player says the message out loud.
Compare the final message to the original to see how it changed.
Set a timer for minutes per round. Play a couple of rounds with different starting messages and message passers.
Facilitator Check in questions
Guide participants to reflect on communication challenges and strategies:
- What happened to the message as it traveled through the group?
- What techniques did you use to remember the message accurately?
- How does this game relate to real-world communication challenges?
- What strategies could improve message accuracy in this game?
- Can you think of a work scenario where a similar communication challenge might occur?
Evolve the game
Introduce variations to increase complexity and challenge:
- Round 2: Use a more complex message, such as a short riddle or technical instruction
- Round 3: Allow each player to ask one yes/no question to the person who whispered to them
- Round 4: Introduce background noise or distractions during message passing
- Round 5: Split into two teams and race to pass messages accurately, comparing final results
๐ก Morning orientation
Learning Objectives
Planning during the week
๐ฃ To Do
๐๏ธ The Facilitator will:
- Assemble the entire group (all volunteers & all students) in a circle
- Briefly welcome everyone with an announcement, like this:
๐ฌ “Morning everyone, Welcome to another Saturday at MigraCode, this week we are working on Module X Sprint 3 and we’re currently working on {summarise what the topic of the week is}”
- Now check: is it the start of a new module? Is it sprint 1? If so, read out the success criteria for the new module.
- Next add one thing you hope to find out or learn about today.
โฐ The Timekeeper will:
- Announce the start of an activity and how long it will take (check everyone is listening)
- Manage any whole class timers that are used in an activity
- Give people a 10-minute wrap-up warning before the end of an activity
- Announce the end of an activity and what happens next
๐ Workshop: Developer Tools
Learning Objectives
Inspector Gadget
Prep
For this workshop you will need:
- Chrome with Devtools
- A ChatGPT account
- This Devtools Workshop page
- Someone to keep track of the timer for each activity
You’ve already used a little bit of Devtools in ITD when you used Lighthouse to audit your code. But there’s much much more! Devtools is an entire IDE (Integrated Development Environment) running inside your browser and it has hundreds of ways to inspect, test, and develop your code.
๐กExplore
Inspect the DOM
โ๏ธExplore
In groups of no more than five. Take it in turns to swap the driver for each section of this workshop
Inspect the page with Devtools.
Write down the answers to these questions:
- What is the name of the font used on the page?
- What is the CSS variable that holds this value? (Hint: variables start with
--, like,--paper) - What is the brand colour value (Hint: it’s set in a variable)?
- What is the brand colour value used for in the page?
- What variables hold CSS length data type values?
When the timer goes off, share your answers with the other groups. Paste them in a thread in Slack and go quickly to the next challenge.
So we’ve seen that fonts, colors, and spacing are often stored as CSS Variables, or custom properties. This allows them to be easily changed throughout a project by simply altering one value. Let’s experiment with this.
โ๏ธExperiment
- Set a whole class timer for 10 minutes.
- Inspect the CSS of the page with Devtools.
- Find the CSS Variables (hint: variables start with
--, for example,--paper) - Try changing the values of these variables and see how it affects the page.
- Some questions to answer. (Make a prediction about what you think will happen first, and then test it)
- What will happen when you click the value of
--fingerand pressup arrowten times? - What will happen when you delete the value of
--copy - What will happen when you change the value of
--spacetored?
Reflection
When the timer goes off, set a new timer for 10 minutes to share your answers with the other groups.
Grid Inspector
Next, let’s see how the page layout is handled. Modern websites use the CSS Grid for layout and you can manipulate grids with Devtools.
โ๏ธGrid Editor
- Set a whole class timer for 10 minutes.
- With Devtools, locate a grid element on the workshop page.
- Activate the Grid Badge in the Elements panel.
- Use the Grid Editor to try changing the layout.
- Go straight to the next challenge!
Lighthouse
It’s important that software works and that people can use it. Lighthouse can help you write code correctly by pointing out your errors. But even better, it can teach you to fix the errors.
โ๏ธAudit
- Set a whole class timer for 10 minutes.
- Run a Lighthouse audit on the workshop page.
- Look at the results and identify the issue.
- Now, how will you fix it? Click on the error. Lighthouse explains what is wrong and provides a link to a detailed explanation on why it’s wrong, how serious it is, and how to fix it!
- If you have time, fix the error, but in any case, once the timer goes off, paste the link to the detailed explanation page into the workshop thread in Slack.
- Go straight to the next challenge, after which we will spend some time discussing what we discovered.
Hover for more
In fact Devtools is a great teacher. In the Styles panel, hover over any CSS property to get a quick definition of that property. Click ‘Learn More’ to go straight to the MDN page for that property.
If the explanation doesn’t make sense to you, ask ChatGPT (a generative AI) to explain it further.
โ ๏ธPlausible Hallucinations
Remember: Generative AIs are regularly confidently wrong; it can be helpful, but never trust it over Devtools.
If something doesn’t make sense, or seems confusing or maybe wrong, it’s better to ask friendly humans in Slack.
โ๏ธExplore and Explain
- Set a timer for 10 minutes.
- Select
<main>in the Elements panel - Hover over the ruleset attached to main in the Styles panel.
- Copy the Devtools explanation and ask ChatGPT to explain it, like this:
Please explain this to me like I'm a beginner learning HTML and CSS.
Determine a grid item’s size and location within the grid by contributing a line, a span, or nothing (automatic) to its grid placement. Shorthand for ‘grid-row-start’, ‘grid-column-start’, ‘grid-row-end’, and ‘grid-column-end’.
- Come back together as a large group.
Reflect
โ๏ธReflect
- Set a timer for 5 minutes.
- Spend five minutes discussing what you will share with the rest of the class about your experiments so far. What was a surprise to you? What will you use regularly from now on? What confused you? Elect one person to represent your group.
- Set a timer for 20 minutes.
- Popcorn round the representatives and share your findings. We’re not done yet so keep to time.
Many ways of examining the same thing
So we’ve explored the Elements panel, the Styles panel, and the Lighthouse panel. There are many many more panels, and they all expose a different way of interpreting, interacting with, or understanding the same code. Computer systems frequently do this. It’s a mistake to think that the way you use a website is the only way it can be used. Bots, crawlers, screenreaders, integrations…there are many and various consumers of your code, so it’s important to make sure you construct it properly.
For example, you have just looked in the Elements panel. This is not really your HTML, this is the DOM, an API the browser builds using your HTML. An example of how the DOM is different from HTML is that JavaScript can change what’s in the page - this changes the DOM, but doesn’t change the actual HTML. The DOM isn’t the only API it builds. Let’s look at another one right now!
Reflect
โ๏ธDevelop Your Skills
- Set a timer for 10 minutes.
- Discuss how your team will work on developing your skill with Devtools. Make your goals SMART. For example, you might audit a website you have built already with Lighthouse and improve its score using the guides. You might schedule a study group where each person researches and then teaches the group about a different panel in Devtools.
- Write down your learning goals with Devtools on a piece of paper and sign it underneath. Elect a new person to represent your group.
- Set a timer for 10 minutes.
- Popcorn round the representatives and share your commitments.
And that’s it for today! We have covered a lot, but remember, as developers, we are lifelong learners. Always be curious and don’t be afraid to explore new tools and concepts. Soon we’ll dive even deeper into Devtools, so make sure to keep exploring.
More
Inspect web pages as you use the internet. Do this all the time! What font does Youtube use? What about CSS Tricks? Hackernews is still using tables - what’s wrong with this?
Try changing the style and content of some websites. Make your favourite website bright pink. Make the BBC News page tell people about something great you did. Send a screenshot of something cool you changed to your cohort’s Slack channel.
There are crash courses in Devtools all over YouTube and Udemy etc. Find a useful tip and share it in your class channel.
๐๏ธ Related
Optional structured activity: Pair Programming
๐ง๐ฟโ๐ง๐ง๐ฟโ๐ง Pair programming
Learning Objectives
- Switch between driver and navigator roles after
- The “driver” is the person typing on the keyboard, just thinking about what needs to be written
- The “navigator” reviews what the driver is doing and is thinking about to write next
- Don’t dominate - this is teamwork
โ Time’s up! Take a break! Make a cup of tea. Good job, partners!
๐ง๐ฟโ๐ง Study Group Development
Learning Objectives
This time is set aside for you to work together in small groups to make progress on your coursework and objectives. You should have brought at least one ticket from your backlog to work on and ideally have prepared at least one question to get mentor support on.
You can also choose to do structured activities to consolidate your objectives for this sprint. Your learning journey belongs to you. Think about what you need to do to achieve the objectives for this sprint and how you can use this time to work towards them.
If you are working on a Pull Request, this is a great time to get real time code review from your peers and mentors. Remember to use the GitHub interface to comment on the code and ask questions so your work can be tracked.
๐๏ธ Options
Optional structured activity: consolidating SQL
๐ Optional structured activity: consolidating SQL
Google Sheets SQL Showdown: Team Quiz
Welcome, spreadsheet warriors! Today, we’ll be putting your Google Sheets SQL knowledge to the test in a team quiz.
Work on Google Sheets queries, test your knowledge on selecting and filtering data.
Collaborate with your teammates, discussing approaches and problem-solving together.
Apply your SQL knowledge under a time limit, simulating real-world scenarios.
Requirements
Quiz Leader:: The quizmaster needs to prepare the questions, guide the quiz, and keep the energy high. Sample questions are provided below, but you should set your own. Anyone: trainee or volunteer can take this role. Prepare your quiz questions and answers in advance.
Timekeeper: Keep track of time for each round to ensure the quiz runs smoothly.
Assemble Your Team: Get into groups of 3-4. Teamwork makes the dream work!
Paper & Pen: Prepare to write queries and discuss strategies WITHOUT using a computer.
Friendly Competition: Complete the challenge with a positive and collaborative spirit!
The Challenge
This workshop will be divided into rounds, each presenting a Google Sheets SQL query. The scenarios will target various SQL functionalities available in Google Sheets.
You will write your answers on paper, not on a computer. Close your laptops. You may use this printed Google Sheets SQL CheatSheet to help you.
Round 1: Getting Data: Practice using SELECT statements to find and get information from a sheet.
Round 2: Conditional Queries: Let’s try something harder! Use WHERE clauses and conditional statements to filter data.
Round 3: Advanced Arena: Challenge yourselves. Try using multiple conditions or advanced ways to filter data.
Bonus Round (Optional): Feeling confident? The quiz leader may do an extra round with an example spreadsheet. Really pushing your problem-solving abilities.
Acceptance Criteria
Participation is Key: Be active with your team! Discussing questions and contributing ideas throughout the quiz.
Show SQL Skills: Work together to plan correct Google Sheets SQL queries to solve the problems!
Teamwork: Collaborate effectively and communicate your solutions clearly within your team.
Let the Games Begin!
Remember, effective communication, teamwork, and friendly competition are the keys to success!
SQL Showdown: Team Quiz Extravaganza - Example Questions
Round 1: Data Retrieval (10 minutes)
Scenario: You’re working with a Google Sheet containing product information.
Question 1: Say what you see
Write a query to select all product names and prices from the ‘Products’ sheet.
Question 2: WHERE are we going with this
How can you change the query to only show products with a price greater than $50?
Round 2: Conditional Queries (10 minutes)
Scenario: The Google Sheet also has a ‘Sales’ sheet that stores information about sales.
Question 1: AND the plot thickens
Write a query to get the product name and sales amount. Filter out sales where the quantity sold is greater than 10 AND the price is less than $100.
Question 2: OR is it?
Update the query to show sales where the product category is ‘Electronics’ OR the cost is over than $500.
Round 3: Advanced Arena (10 minutes)
Scenario: We have a ‘Customers’ sheet, containing customer names and their sale history.
Question 1: LIKE a pro
Write a query to find all customers whose names start with ‘A’ and have made a sale in the last 30 days.
Question 2: ORDER in the court
How can you change the query to show the top 5 customers by total sale amount, in descending order?
Bonus Round: Real-World Scenario
Scenario: The marketing team wants to identify top customers for a targeted campaign.
Challenge:
Write a query to find customers who have:
- Made over 3 purchases
- Have a total spend of over $1000
- Whose last buy was within the last 60 days.
Remember: These are just examples. You can change the difficulty and questions based on the group’s experience.
The winning team ๐
Take a victory lap and eternal glory in the CodeYourFuture Hall of Fame. May the best Google Sheets SQL warriors be victorious! ๐๐ฅ
Optional structured activity: know your computer
๐ Optional structured activity: know your computer
Know Your Computer
“Know Your Computer” focuses on how to perform regular tasks on your computer. In this workshop you will use basic Linux commands in the terminal. The goal is to reduce your fear of using the terminal.
Pre-requisite
To be able to do this workshop you will need a computer with a Linux shell running on it. If you already have a Mac or an Ubuntu operating system or any other Linux distribution running on your laptop, then you are fine. If your laptop is running on Windows operating system, download and install Git Bash for Windows. Code Your Future does not support Windows, so you must install or dual boot Linux to take our course. But to do this workshop, you can just use Git Bash. Once installed, open git bash and you should be able to perform the tasks below.
Tasks
You must use the terminal and Linux commands to complete each challenge. You must not use your GUI! Hands off the mouse! ๐ฑ๏ธ
- Create a folder called
my-shoppinginside your Documents folder. - Then create a file called
my-list.txtinsidemy-shoppingfolder. - Write the following items to
my-list.txtfile:
1. Tea
2. Pasta
3. Coffee
4. Milk
- Create a new folder called
my-new-shoppinginside your Documents folder. - Now move
my-list.txtfrom yourmy-shoppingfolder to yourmy-new-shoppingfolder. Yourmy-shoppingfolder should be empty after this step. - Copy
my-list.txtfrom yourmy-new-shoppingfolder back to yourmy-shoppingfolder. After this step, both folders should contain a file calledmy-list.txt. - Now add the following line to
my-list.txtfile that is insidemy-new-shoppingfolder:
5. Sugar
- Display the content of
my-list.txtfile insidemy-shoppingand the one insidemy-new-shopping.my-list.txtfile in my-shopping folder must have 4 items while the one insidemy-new-shoppingfolder must have 5 items.
Resources
To help with this here are resources you can refer to: freecodecamp.com, Guru99, CLI-Treasure-Hunt.
Wrap
You are done for the day. Take a moment to reflect on what you have learned and achieved.
Stand in a circle and share:
- ๐ your name
- ๐ช๐ฝ one thing you are proud of today
- ๐ท๐พ the task you are going to work on next
- ๐ one thing you need help with
Give yourselves a round of applause. Now you have earned your rest. Usually people go for a cup of tea or a pint after class. You are welcome to join and wind down together.
โ Optional: Socialise!
Learning Objectives
At MigraCode we learn as a community. You’re going to be spending the coming months with the people around you. After that, they will form part of your professional network too.
We encourage you to spend time getting to know them! This is optional. But after class, we encourage you to do something like:
- Go sit in a nearby park together.
- Go to a local cafe for hot drinks.
- Go to a nearby bar.
- Or any other ideas you have!
Make sure everyone who wants to join in will feel welcome wherever you go (e.g. a lot of people might not like drinking or being near alcohol).