Summer School

After spending nine summers advising at orientations in Texas and California, I enjoyed my summer off last year. I was starting to plan our summer of swimming, library trips, and travel when a fork in the road appeared. I took that fork in the road and found myself back in school for a teaching credential. This means student teaching for summer school. I am out of my comfort zone, but I am learning so much. I am team teaching a 5th/6th grade combination class with a STEM theme. We are covering computer science/coding, hands-on math, animation, and engineering. So far, my highlight has been learning about binary and then turning around and trying to teach it. It was neat to see the kids get it and build on their learning. My coursework is online, so I have to keep up with readings and assignments. I just have one more paper to finish this weekend for my third module.

A 4th grader programmed this robot disco.

The beebots are really neat because they can work with a range of ages. The older students programmed and raced them through more challenging courses.

A colleague taught about patterns earlier in the program, which helped the students see the patterns in binary code.