This is six class periods of steady progress. You are not expected to finish the whole CBA here. Work continues between sessions and after this stretch.
Across these periods you will keep building or curating, test as you go, and leave a clear trail of what you decided and why.
Open the plan and milestones you set earlier, and open the project or portfolio pieces you already have. If something is missing, ask your teacher or rebuild the missing piece from your plan before you push on.
This is a six-period progress guide (240 minutes total), not a single lesson. Students should not hear any implication that the CBA is finished by the end of these periods. Work continues between sessions. Put the six-period message on the board or opener slide as well as in the student text.
Start each period with a two-minute reopen: plan, current build or portfolio pieces, and the class way of saving. Have a recovery route ready for missing files (reopen from the school drive, rebuild from the plan, or pair with a teammate who has the shared copy).
Project teams (2 to 3) and portfolio students can sit in the same room; the check-ins below work for both routes.
Keep the permanent board strip visible for the whole stretch: Aim → Build → Test → Debug → Evidence, with the four debug questions under Debug (What do you see? Where is it? What will you try? Test or undo).
Also keep a one-line period-exit ticket on the board every period matching the Done-for-this-period bullets from the long build steps, so students see the exit criteria without reopening the full brief.
Your job across these periods:
- Build or curate against the milestones you already wrote.
- Test as you go, so problems show up early rather than at the end.
- Keep evidence of what you tried, what broke, what you changed, and why.
Use this evidence frame every time you stop a chunk of work (copy it into your notes):
Date: __ / Did: __ / Tested: __ / Result: pass or fail / Decision: __ because __
Write today's one-line aim now, then reopen your files and start.
Before the stretch
Put the class AI ground rules back on the board (the ones written earlier in the course). Remind students that any AI help must stay within those rules and be noted honestly when they document later.
60-second say-aloud (do not stretch this)
Evidence is not a neat essay: short dated notes, a screenshot of a bug you fixed, a user comment, a discarded idea. Teams: agree who owns which piece this session and when you rejoin to test. Portfolios: pick the next piece or gap and say what "better" looks like before you start. Then get them into files immediately.
Teaching tips
- Name testing as a habit, not a final stage: run it, try to break it, fix it, note what happened.
- For teams, watch for one person coding while others wait. Push a split of roles (build, test, evidence) that rotates.
- For portfolios, watch for pure collecting with no reflection. Each piece needs a short note on what it shows about their learning.
Suggested timing across six periods
Use the long build steps below as the spine. Insert a short whole-class check at the start or end of each period (two minutes): what milestone are you on, what will you finish before you leave, did you save.
Done for this period:
- one thing works better than when you opened it
- one test result written (pass or fail)
- evidence note someone else could read
- work saved the class way
Start of each period
Write today's aim in one line at the top of your evidence notes (for example: "get the login flow working" or "improve the Strand 2 website piece and add a short reflection"). Teams agree who is on build, test, and evidence this period. Reopen your files.
During the period
- Build or curate the next real piece of work against your milestones.
- Test as you go. After each meaningful change, run or review it. Try the happy path, then try one way to break it (wrong input, missing file, empty list, or a classmate who does not know the controls).
- When something fails, use the debug questions on the board strip.
- Leave evidence after each solid chunk:
Date: __ / Did: __ / Tested: __ / Result: pass or fail / Decision: __ because __
End of each period
Show one test to a teammate or neighbour. Rewrite your one-line aim if it changed. Teams rotate build / test / evidence roles. Save everything the class way.
You are not expected to finish the whole CBA in these periods. Steady, tested progress is the goal.
Suggested timing
This step covers roughly two periods of supervised build time. Circulate rather than lecture. Start each period with the one-line aim; end each period with save-and-evidence. Call the mandatory period reset yourself once per period (show one test, rewrite aim, rotate roles). Do not leave it as optional student reading. Put the Done-for-this-period bullets as a one-line exit ticket on the board every period so students see them without reopening the full brief.
Board strip (leave up all stretch)
Aim → Build → Test → Debug → Evidence. Under Debug keep the four questions visible: What do you see? Where is it? What will you try? Test or undo. Point stuck students at the strip instead of re-reading the full step.
Look-fors while circulating
- Teams with no shared plan for the hour: stop them and force a two-minute split of jobs.
- Students building without testing: ask them to show the last thing they tried to break.
- Empty evidence: "tell me the decision you just made in one sentence, now write it on the frame."
- Portfolio students polishing one favourite piece forever: nudge them toward coverage across strands and honest reflection.
Differentiation
Stuck teams: shrink the aim to the smallest piece that still runs end-to-end (one input, one result the user can see). Strong teams: add an external-user test (someone outside the team tries it for three minutes) and capture what confused them.
Pause the build. Look only at your milestone sheet and your evidence notes.
- Which milestones are done, partly done, or not started?
- What did testing teach you that planning alone did not?
- What will you protect in the next block of time so the important piece actually moves?
Adjust the plan if you need to. A smaller, honest plan you can finish well beats a huge plan you abandon. Write the adjusted next aim before you go back to the work.
Run this as a whole-class pause of about one period's opening, then let students adjust quietly. Keep it brisk: the value is in the redirect, not a long discussion.
Common pattern: students are busy but not on the critical path. Ask "If you only finished one thing before the next checkpoint, which one would make the rest easier?"
Collect a quick status from each team or portfolio student (on track / at risk / blocked). Unblock the blocked ones before the long build resumes (missing files, unclear roles, scope still too big).
Same loop as before: aim, build or curate, test, evidence, save. Use the board strip and the evidence frame you already know.
Done for this period:
- critical piece moved forward
- one visitor-test note (what confused them)
- evidence frame filled for each solid chunk
- work saved and opens from the shared place
- tomorrow's aim in one line
Start of each period
Reopen files. Write today's one-line aim (chase the critical piece first). Teams rotate roles.
During the period
- Chase the critical piece that unblocks everything else.
- Visitor test (once in this stretch). Swap devices with another pair or a portfolio student for about five minutes. Watch where they hesitate. Note one confusion and one change you will make because of it.
- Keep the trail on the usual frame. If you used allowed AI help, note what it did and what you checked yourself.
End of each period
Show one test (or one improved portfolio note) to a neighbour. Save and confirm the file opens from the shared place. Leave tomorrow's aim in one line.
End of this whole block
One decision I changed because of a test (about three minutes): each team or portfolio student names one decision out loud to a neighbour or in a quick whip-around.
You are not expected to finish the whole CBA in these periods. Steady, tested progress you can explain is the goal.
Suggested timing
This step covers roughly two further periods of build time plus the joins between them. Keep the reopen and save rituals every period so shared-device chaos does not wipe a week's work. Call the mandatory period reset yourself once per period; do not rely on students noticing the callout alone. Keep the Done-for-this-period exit ticket on the board.
Named beats that give this block its own shape
- Visitor test (~4 min, once in the stretch): call it yourself mid-block so the room swaps at the same time. Pair project teams with portfolio students where you can. Students note one confusion only; then back to build.
- One decision I changed (~2 min, end of block): quick neighbour share or whip-around. Keeps the second half from feeling like a silent repeat of the first block.
Coaching prompts
- "Show me the last test you ran."
- "What evidence would convince someone else that this decision was deliberate?"
- "What will you cut if time gets tight?"
Watch-outs
Feature creep on projects; endless rewriting of reflections on portfolios; AI-generated text pasted without understanding. Pull students back to the Features of Quality in student-friendly language: clear purpose, working evidence, honest process, work they can explain.
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