Teaching

Our last class was the secondmost we've taught. Concepts for the students are starting to go beyond just the command line. We're starting to teach them basic ruby syntax and it's been interesting to see what that transition means.

First of all in a huge class like the one we have (14 kids) it's very difficult to keep everyone up with each other. We are sure to get the kids at least to the point where they can try getting return values, even if they don't get the right values or get none at all.

Mostly everyone did ok with the last lesson we did- we went into irb and practiced running methods on objects like .reverse. It was nice to see the kids eyes light up as they got strings returned to them backwards.

some more subtle issues are arising like, for instance that Nate can't explain anything clearly to the kids and so even taking a single step away from the most simple concepts means Nate is pissing off the kids with explanations that skip tons of steps, and that leaves me to fill in the gaps of their understanding.

at the same time I'm glad he's there to offer better explanations of things I don't know. He did a great gets.chomp example for the kids I don't think I would have had the presence of mind to bring up to them in that moment. It just sticks having to reiterate everything he says so they can digest it.

It kind of sucks needing to work with someone because of your own ignorance. I wonder if its the very working with someone that keeps you ignorant, or does their presence actually enable you to be in a position you otherwise could not even try to occupy and grow into? its a gray line. I have so much appreciation for him and we've had all of these discussions, but its definitely a lesson in working together and having a business with someone else. Figuring out who does what tasks (like, I don't want to be stuck doing admin work like making the syllabus all the time, which perpetuates my position)... its about empowering yourself such that you get to do some of the work that allows you to learn and grow. I don't want to fall into the typical female role of administrator/communicator/emotionally competent general manager while he gets to do all the tech, so I've been actively forcing that not to be the case.

I've attached the syllabus we wrote for the kids, I've been sure to respond to the head teacher with what she asks for promptly because I think this will be a great gig for us up to the spring and possibly more IT side work over the summer.

attachments

		last modified	size
	coding_syllabus_spring2019_copy.doc	Mon Apr 29 2024 06:47 pm	84K