Teaching Computer Science Requires A Lot of Creativity

Teaching computer science is unique in that it’s one of the world’s newest industries, so it’s based on valuable skills that you wouldn’t learn in traditional education. That’s why so many intensive courses and boot camps exist, to give people the opportunity to pick up new skills and potentially change careers.

But what about computer science education that is provided through primary education? To learn more about being a K-12 CS educator, we talked to Kelly Lougheed, who is the sole CS teacher at her school and often blogs teaching and posts examples of work online.

Before I taught computer science, I worked as a web developer and also a Latin teacher, so teaching computer science was a natural combination of the two! I started working in tech when I moved to California (as one does), but quickly missed teaching. I volunteered as a TA for programming classes and loved being in a learning environment again. Then, when I saw a job ad for a computer science teacher position at a local private school, I jumped at it!

I write a lot of coding tutorials, partially because I enjoy making CS accessible to others, and partially because it’s a future resource for my students and for myself, when I want to remember how I coded something previously. I blog (and Tweet) about pedagogy as well because as the only computer science teacher at my school, I’m always dying to start a conversation about teaching CS!

I think CodeHS and Code.org have some solid curricula for teachers who are just starting out. For teachers of any level, I recommend professional development with Upperline Code -- they have great pedagogy as well as a great curriculum. For students or anyone else who wants to learn more coding, I always recommend FreeCodeCamp.org -- they have some nice algorithmic challenges for beginners, and web development is one of the most fun areas of computer science (in my opinion)!

Actually, I’ve been able to preserve a lot of my normal class routines! I’ve been making videos for students to watch instead of giving direct instruction live, and then we meet up in Zoom to practice a new skill by pair programming on an activity or challenge. The breakout rooms in Zoom (along with the option to remotely control each other’s computers) have been instrumental to preserving the social element of the class.

I think Glitch makes collaboration easier for students, especially middle schoolers. Most students want to be the driver, and Glitch’s collaboration mode allows both partners to be the driver. On a survey I gave, the overwhelming majority of my middle school students said they preferred Glitch collaboration mode to traditional pair programming. I think there’s also some value in having them develop the communication and collaboration skills necessary for pair programming, but Glitch is a great option to have.

My high school didn’t have computer science classes when I was there, so the proliferation of high school CS classes is a huge change! I took my first CS class at the local college, and of course college classes are different from high school classes. I would say the main difference between the classes I took and the classes I teach would be the amount of collaboration. I remember spending most of my college classes working individually, but I try to use a lot of pair programming in my own classes so that students don’t feel alone in the struggle that computer science can be!

There are good and bad parts about being the only CS teacher. Of course, I would love someone to collaborate with, but I also have a great amount of freedom in my curriculum and the classes I teach. As for expectations, it’s actually more common that people aren’t that familiar with computer science and CS education. So I really appreciate administrators and other people in leadership positions who support computer science (even without knowing much about it) and trust me to teach the courses how I think is best.

*Check out Kelly on Twitter and Medium to keep up with all her new work and writing.