by Linsey Taylor, Librarian at Carpenter Elementary in Nacogdoches, Texas
In the winter of 2017, there was an article in the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel newspaper about the (Half) Hour of Code club I do in my library. I was super excited to have my school in the paper for something positive. Having it be about something I was doing was in the library was an added bonus. After reading the article, Dr. Lauren Burrow an Assistant Professor in the Elementary Education department at Stephen F. Austin State University emailed me asking if I'd be willing to demo my Code Club to her future teachers.
I didn't really know what to expect during our time together. So, as any good teacher does, I wrote down some things I wanted to highlight about our club and planned to be flexible. During this brainstorming, I decided to ask six of my Code Club students to join us. I wanted the kids there to help teach the college students.
I chose six students who had never missed a club meeting. I also selected a range of students from GT to high functioning Special Education. I wanted my students to experience being the ones who know the most in a situation. I also wanted the college students to see what a student with an IEP could do if given the chance.
My initial plan was to highlight a few points about my Code Club and how I knew nothing about code when I started. I wanted to show the college students www.code.org, have them create an account, have my students walk around and help and show the college students where they were at on their own courses. Everything went as planned until I turned my students loose.
I didn't really know what to expect during our time together. So, as any good teacher does, I wrote down some things I wanted to highlight about our club and planned to be flexible. During this brainstorming, I decided to ask six of my Code Club students to join us. I wanted the kids there to help teach the college students.
I chose six students who had never missed a club meeting. I also selected a range of students from GT to high functioning Special Education. I wanted my students to experience being the ones who know the most in a situation. I also wanted the college students to see what a student with an IEP could do if given the chance.
My initial plan was to highlight a few points about my Code Club and how I knew nothing about code when I started. I wanted to show the college students www.code.org, have them create an account, have my students walk around and help and show the college students where they were at on their own courses. Everything went as planned until I turned my students loose.
My Special Education student immediately broke the college students into groups and picked the college students that she was going to work with based on the color of their shirts. She took control, showed them the website, helped the college students create an account then started walking them through the courses.
I was shocked! She took control and became the teacher. She did not hesitate. She used her manners and her polite words. She was a different student than I had ever seen. She was in her element. This was exactly what I wanted the college student teachers to see!
I was shocked! She took control and became the teacher. She did not hesitate. She used her manners and her polite words. She was a different student than I had ever seen. She was in her element. This was exactly what I wanted the college student teachers to see!
When Dr. Burrow and I did an informal sit-down evaluation after our two sessions we were both thrilled with the way the demonstration went. In the past when Dr. Burrow taught a lesson in a college classroom setting on code her students left evaluations saying they didn’t think coding had a place in their future classrooms. They were frustrated and their confidence was low. After our time together the college students wrote evaluations that stated they thought about integrating coding into their classroom now but were still a little uncertain about how to go about doing that. Their frustration level was lower and their confidence increased.
My students learned they could be leaders, they had the knowledge to share with others, and they wanted to continue to teach others. They realized they were a part of something to be proud of. Some of them also learned that they could shine in different educational settings even if learning was hard for them.
My advice: Collaborating can be hard. So if someone contacts you say “Yes!” Have your students lead as much as possible. This isn’t my club, it’s their club. I wanted them to shine. Which leads me to this--- expect the unexpected. I did not expect my students to take over the way they did. They were awesome! Also, reach out to others, don’t wait for them to reach out to you.
Dr. Burrow’s advice: Always be looking and listening. If she hadn’t read the newspaper that day we would have missed this awesome opportunity. Leave time to actually talk with your community partner and acknowledge their contributions. Share the partnership success with your students so they have an incentive/a model to partner with community members when they are teachers.
This started out as a Service-Learning Project for the college students but it turned out to be a reversal of Service-Learning. Typically, the college goes out into the community and shares their knowledge. This time the community taught the college students. This collaboration model could be used with any topic that students know more about than college students. The sky’s the limit!
Because of this collaboration, Dr. Burrow submitted a proposal to the International Association for Research On Service-Learning and Community Engagement Conference. It was accepted and in September 2017 Dr. Burrow and I presented a lighting presentation at IARSLCE in Galway, Ireland. All because I said “Yes!”
Linsey Taylor has been an elementary teacher librarian since 2013. She graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Master of Library Science in 2002. She also graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Hearing Impaired Education. She has been a member of Texas Library Association since 2013. Taylor has presented at various conferences and trainings as well as has an article published in Teachers Net Gazette. She started a LEGO club, a book club and a code club at her current school. The code club took her to Ireland to co-present at the International Association for Research on Service-Learning Engagement conference. Linsey Taylor lives in Nacogdoches with her husband, their daughter and their lovable black lab.
Linsey Taylor has been an elementary teacher librarian since 2013. She graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Master of Library Science in 2002. She also graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Hearing Impaired Education. She has been a member of Texas Library Association since 2013. Taylor has presented at various conferences and trainings as well as has an article published in Teachers Net Gazette. She started a LEGO club, a book club and a code club at her current school. The code club took her to Ireland to co-present at the International Association for Research on Service-Learning Engagement conference. Linsey Taylor lives in Nacogdoches with her husband, their daughter and their lovable black lab.
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