Introducing Technology In Your Classroom

Why Coding is Important

Incorporating Social Emotional Learning into the curriculum through coding

Why Coding is Important | CodeMonkeyThe following is a guest blog written by a CodeMonkey Teacher Ambassador Our school has recently embraced Social Emotional Learning (SEL). SEL as defined by the Committee for Children "is the pro

How Code.org Changed My Life

Code.org changed my whole career. In the recent 60 Minutes episode, Hadi could have been talking about me. I taught middle school computers for five years, and then high school computer applications and business, for ten years. The first year The Hour of Code was released my high school students tried it. I was hooked and so were they. In my class there was a female senior who had no idea what she was going to do after graduation. After just one Hour of Code she declared she would go to the local community college and learn computer science. Right there, on the spot, I decided that getting them interested in computer science in high school was too late, and I put in a request to be moved to the elementary school the following year, where they didn't have any computer classes. It has been life changing. I now teach computer science in grades 2 - 5. I have taught approximately 450 students per year, and I have trained at least 100 teachers over the past ten months as a CS Fundamentals facilitator. I am also a Tynker Blue Ribbon educator, Code Monkey Ambassador, and littleBits Certified Lead Educator. Coding changed my life and in turn, I am hoping to encourage the love of coding in my students and other elementary school teachers.

Why all Students Need to Be Creators Not Just Consumers

When I was a child I would go with my mother to her weekly hairdresser appointment, she would have her hair washed and curled and then she would sit under the hairdryer for what seemed like hours. During that weekly visit I would bring books, dolls, notebooks, crayons, and pencils. I would read, imagine, and create. Today, I see babies as young as a year old at the supermarket watching videos on their parent’s cell phones. Whatever happened to books, toys, paper and crayons? We are raising our children to be consumers, not creators. READ MORE

Paige Besthoff: The ‘How’ of Teaching Coding Early

21st Century Teaching vs Old School Learning

Today I covered for a regular classroom teacher. The class was studying a battle in the American Revolution, Language Arts vocabulary, and the area of a cube. None of the students wanted to listen to me. No one wanted to do the workbook pages. I read the text in the Social Studies book. I made it sound as interesting as possible. I gave them my own interpretation. I made real world connections. It was time to complete the worksheet. No one had any clue how to answer the questions. They didn't pay attention to a word I said. READ MORE