Practicum Review

For my practicum I worked for Coding with Kids to teach kids code remotely. This was beneficial as a computer science major because I used my knowledge of code and was able to implement it into my job and apply it towards school concepts as well. I actually was teaching kids code in Java, which is the language that I used all throughout my high school career and within my freshman year. Although I used the same language, we used different platforms such as CodeKingdoms at Coding with Kids versus Eclipse at school. CodeKingdoms is quite interesting as it connects coding to Minecraft in which the kids are able to modify Minecraft elements. This means that students are able to code and then test it in Minecraft. I worked mainly with children ranging from 6 to 12 years old, and I worked with teaching them the fundamentals of a coding language and helping them become more comfortable within the coding platform. I worked remotely out of my bedroom so I would be teaching 3 hour camps during the summer from the comfort of my home. The goals of this company were to effectively teach kids code and specifically they used the ratings of the parents’ feedback to gauge how well an instructor was performing. This would come up from the quarterly meetings where the CEO would praise those who were doing well in terms of review.

A typical day would start when I check into the class around ten minutes before it would start. Then I would start the zoom around five minutes before we would start class. A typical class would consist of a warm up where we would recap the concept that we learned yesterday, then moving onto another concept lesson, a break in between, working on a project, and a recap. There are many ways that I create a warm up whether it is dragging the correct blocks to the correct definition or asking the students what block represents which and to circle it on the screen with the annotate option offered on zoom. I present the concept lesson by either providing examples with screenshots or moving the blocks themselves on the coding environment and explaining what it does and its purpose beforehand. Sometimes we would do a mini project where the code would only be a couple of lines and it would be able to demonstrate the purpose of that line within a small time frame. Then we have a break where the kids are able to do anything they would like, for example eat a snack, play games with the other students, use the bathroom, and more. Finally for the majority of the rest of class, we would work on a project that implements the code whether it is a game or simple conceptual project. For example in minecraft modding, there could be an example where we worked with modifying a stick to shoot fireballs and other projectiles in minecraft. Then finally before camp ends, I would also just have a little quiz where I would test the students if they remembered what we talked about in the class earlier. Then I would clock out after completing the necessary notes about class and an email to the parents about what we have worked on in class. A little after I would prepare for the next class if I had not earlier and I would also work on changing the curriculum depending on the pacing of the class itself. If I also have a private class or another class to teach I would go ahead and teach that as well.

The first day of camps and classes are a little bit different because we usually have to go through the introduction of the environment and usually set up whether the parents and students have prepared it ahead of time or not. So it would require much more work in terms of communicating with the parents and spending less time coding on the first day. By performing hands-on work, I was able to teach kids HTML, CSS, and javascript and I learned most of my foundational work of HTML/CSS during scholars. I only had to adapt to learn the curriculum itself and be able to comfortably use the platform we used which is Codepen. It is a lot easier than having to upload a file into terpconnect or now fetch to upload it to the internet. Instead Codepen simply allows the user to hit run and then the code will compile and the result would be printed onto the screen. However, teaching a course on HTML/CSS/Javascript has deepened my understanding and helped my knowledge grow. Scholars never forced me to connect javascript with the other two languages in order to add functionality for the user. We were able to send an alert when the button is clicked or count how many times a button is clicked. As well as that, with buttons I am able to create functionality such as sending the user to a specific link when it is clicked or adding tables and other things. SGC has helped me gain the fundamental knowledge however I learned more from teaching the curriculum. Through this experience I am able to adapt to different coding languages more efficiently and easily. Additionally learning java in high school and my freshman year has helped me teach the kids better in terms of being comfortable with java.

I have learned a lot about myself throughout this experience. I learned to not take a career path as a teacher. I learned to be aware of a company and how they treat their employees before working for them. I learned that I have a decent amount of patience regarding working with kids. I learned that I was a bad student for my teacher when we were online. I learned that if kids are starting to learn code now, then they would definitely be a lot smarter than me in the future. I learned that there are many different applications for code. I am grateful that this experience continues to help me exercise code throughout the summer and help me practice learning new code concepts or languages. I already am a computer science major so there is nothing more for me to do in terms of coursework except following the general path. But in terms of internships, I would like to work as a software engineering intern in which I can work with people my age, collaborate in person, and learn from other interns. I also learned that I definitely do not want to work remotely, through this experience I have learned that I thoroughly enjoy working with kids in person or at least working with others in person. I think this experience has also helped me become more picky about jobs. This experience however has helped me land a lot of interviews for internship opportunities in that the interviewer always has questions about this role and how it has impacted me. Although not everything about this job was perfect, I still am thankful for this opportunity.

I do not think I would recommend this to students who have low patience or cannot tolerate children as this is a role that works heavily with children. However, as an entry level job to tech, I would possibly recommend this role. This was my experience and it makes me look better in terms of understanding my role well enough to be able to teach it, and being skilled to communicate with the kids. However, for practicum, I think looking at those who worked in labs looks a lot cooler and more accomplished compared to mine.