Word Scramble with Python

Something that 6th graders will enjoy and will be successful at coding.  The code is clunky but it's a good opportunity for kids to find ways to improve it.

As always, provide an entry point for the kids to start creating the program, and then help them as they run into problems.

A lot of "education experts" have been parroting the mantra that struggle is good.  That's been the big fad in education for the last couple of years, as if it was an astonishing discovery that you want kids to be able to work hard at something without giving up.  Yeah, struggle and perseverance is good, but every kid has a different tolerance level for how much struggle he/she is willing to deal with.  The best a teacher can do is figure out a kid's "zone of willingness to struggle," and then stretch that zone a little bit each day.

I've seen kids spend hours trying to fix a problem with a program.  I've seen other kids quit within a minute of encountering a problem.  I didn't instill those qualities in my students and I have no clue what made them that way.  Maybe it's their parents.  Maybe it's their genes.  Maybe it's the coffee they drink.

If  I am working with a quit-in-a-minute student, I can ask a good question and then push him to go 2 or 3 more minutes. That's an improvement.  At least he's not a quit-in-a-minute student anymore.  Ultimately, though, every student needs to experience some level of success in a coding class, so I need to make sure every kid is making progress, even if I have to give him an answer. Struggle without success, for many kids, is a guarantee that they will never pursue coding (or math) at any level.