How did you get into CS?

I kind of stumbled into computer science. I was having a conversation with my coordinator at the time and mentioned that my kids had gotten into doing Scratch coding (I had gone to a summer camp at the library and they were very excited about it) and my coordinator was like, ‘Well, that means you’re gonna be writing our lessons for Scratch!’ so I kind of fell into it that way. My background was in early childhood education (library media) so I’m self-taught when it comes to computer science and actually learned a lot from my own kids. I stepped in because there was a need and found I really enjoyed it. After a year or so of working within the county, I moved into the Elementary Computer Science Coaches Program through MCCE, had a lot of success there as well, and made some connections. So that's my backstory; I fell in love with the work and love seeing how successful students can be when they're doing computer science.

What are some successes and challenges you’ve experienced along the way?

To be successful today in any job you must have the ability to problem-solve and think critically in order to assess problems and find solutions.  I learned this at an early age working with my father and grandfather renovating houses, working on engines, and solving any problem that came across their path. My Google in the ’70s was my father, grandfather, and uncle. Not all students have this opportunity, but a Computer Science class, which is now accessible to all students in our district, provides the opportunity for every student to enhance their problem solving and critical thinking skills. If we can teach a student to “learn how to learn” and equip them with some grit, they will be successful in whatever career they choose.

Describe something interesting about CS in your district that you have learned about CS

I was part of our county script process, trying to get good policies in place. Just last year, our county was involved with a pilot study through MCCE for computing in early childhood and I was part of that process, which was great; I'm still waiting to see what the data shows about computer science and computational thinking in early childhood. 

One of the challenges for me personally has been not having any formal training in computer science. However, there are so many resources out there I don't feel like being self-taught is much of a barrier at this point, because you really can learn a lot on your own.

Another general challenge is that I feel like (at least where I'm working) computer science is kind of its own field at the elementary level; we're embedding a lot of computer science and computational thinking, but being able to have CS as a standalone entity at the elementary level is a challenge. There are so many opportunities by high school, but it would be nice to see a stand-alone experience for students at the elementary level and also have CS infused in early science.

What do you find compelling about CS? 

I love seeing the success that my students have had. Sometimes students who struggle in other areas of education do so well when it comes to computer science and computational thinking! And as a mom, I’m super excited for the opportunities that my own children will have moving into CS. My oldest in school is a freshman at UMBC pursuing computer science and there are so many different tracks available- AI, cyber, web development- the field is just blossoming. The options that are out there for students have exploded within the past 10 years.

What’s going well for you now? What are you excited about or looking forward to?

We've been putting a lot of emphasis in our county on computational thinking in early childhood, and that's something I'm very excited to see develop. This summer, I participated in MCCE's early childhood computational thinking training at Hood College; it was exciting to see some of the work that's being done with very young learners, getting 3 and 4 year olds to really understand and have the computational thinking skill set that’s going to continue to grow. We're working to have those computational thinking and computer science experiences within the library classroom in preschool. Not necessarily on a screen; they're unplugged doing KidBot, but it's really building capacity around computational thinking and that's exciting. Seeing the littlest ones learning is always fun.

Do you have any advice, suggestions, or resources to share with people who are teaching or learning CS?

CSforALL is great, and there are lots of different trainings available through MCCE; there are so many resources now for free training opportunities and curriculum that didn’t exist 10 years ago. And don't be intimidated! People hear ‘HTML’ and are like, ‘Whoa, you're taking me over the edge!’ It might sound intimidating, but it's really approachable. If our 4 year olds can do it, adult learners can, too. So I would say just hop in; the water's fine.

Any other thoughts or stories?

This isn’t really about me, but I have a colleague who goes to Puerto Rico every year over the summer to work with students doing computer science. They've taken Bee-Bots and other codable robots and done code.org activities with students who might not get those opportunities during the regular school year. It's really exciting to see people going out and sharing as much as they can, working to bring CS to our underprivileged and underrepresented groups, because it’s important that computer science really is for ALL. I'm always inspired by my colleague’s work and it's exciting to see the legacy that’s being left for students.