I don’t know about you, but originally I was skeptical of “The Hour of Code” global movement. As a first year teacher, the idea of using intervention time for my students to play “coding” games on the Chromebooks sounded absurd. There were way better things to be doing i.e. learning skip counting or working on ways to develop fluency- ya feel me?
This past summer after my first year of teaching, I visited a sweet friend in New York City. My friend had received a degree in Management Information Systems and always considered herself to be an anomaly: a girl in the computer sciences department. When I asked about work, she began explaining to me how throughout her education, she felt that she should not be the person who does the coding. ‘What?!’ I thought to myself, ‘How can that be possible? You’re so hard working and good at learning!’
Then, I was overwhelmed with my negative feelings toward coding. I asked her, “How do you feel about students learning code in school?” She responded enthusiastically that she thought it was great. I argued that students were just “playing” and not successfully coding using any real coding language. My dear friend encouraged me to think of it positively. I began to think: How different would my life be if as a student, I had been exposed to coding or math and science and felt like I actually belonged?
It’s true- students who are beginning to develop a basic understanding of coding language while receiving it in a minimally intimidating and very accessible, fun fashion will have an advantage. My opinion was forever changed.
I attended CAMT in San Antonio, Texas this summer. There, the very first keynote speaker, Nicki Newton (Twitter: @drnickimath) , discussed “Challenging Spaces of Marginalization in the K-5 Math Class: Who’s Not Learning and Why?”. Want to know what went through my mind during her presentation? I thought about how many quotes and pictures of successful, diverse women I had in my classroom. The answer: one woman. I was ashamed. Thankfully it’s a great one. It’s Cathey Seeley’s poster idea from her book as shown below.
As a result, I spent the rest of my morning trying to find quotes from awesome, diverse women that are in the science community (and Rita Pierson) while creating posters with Adobe Spark (it’s incredible). It was a tad difficult finding quotes from women that felt classroom-wall appropriate. So I’d certainly appreciate your help if you know of other great quotes!
I am sending these off to be printed with Snapfish this week. Only $25.52 for 3 new posters that may help my female students feel like they belong. In my book, that’s a small price to pay!
I am now working on finding photos of the women who are quoted and I know I need to get this bad boy (or shall I say bad gal? (; ) printed!
Please comment if you have any helpful ideas or please share any quotes or info about other women you know in science and math!
Education with Meaning 