Meet and Greet (CS in Science)

Hi Karen. I actually remember doing that as well. It was great fun and I know our students today will find the same excitement we did!

Hi. My name is Kathy and I am on my 27th year of teaching. I taught in the classroom for about 16 years before I became the Instructional Technology Liaison for King George Middle School in Virginia. Our school has participated in the Hour of Code each year. I am excited to bring back my new knowledge to the science teachers.

Hello! My name is Heather Clarkson. I have been a STEM teacher for over 20 years (yikes!). I currently teach ā€œtechnologyā€ to students in grades K-8 at a private school in NW Indiana but close to Chicago. I am fortunate that my principal support all my ā€œcrazyā€ ideas to do all kinds of ā€œinterestingā€ projects with students. I teach basic Office skills to my primary students and begin to do coding activities with student at about 4th grade. I am so excited to be part of this project to really think about how I can further combine math and science in my classrrom with cs primciples!

I am also brand new to coding and more than a little reticent about this. How has it been working for you in your classes? Gary

I am Oluremi (Remi) and I teach 10th grade Chemistry at North Dallas High School in Dallas Texas.

Hello,
Iā€™m Don Mullen, an 8th grade physical science teacher in Stafford County, Virginia, with 18 years of experience. Iā€™m looking forward to ā€œmeetingā€ many of you on this forum, and some of you later this summer in person. The vast majority of my students have enjoyed the ā€œhour of codeā€ sessions over the past two years. I am hoping for the same level of enthusiasm from students when they blend computer coding with the physical science curriculum. If that happens, I will consider this course to be a major success!

Happy summer to all! Iā€™m ILONA WARNER and I currently teaching 8th grade medical physical science at River Heights Intermediate in Eastvale, California. Iā€™m entering my 12th year of teaching science. I love learning new things and hope that this program/coding in science unit will be a fun and innovative way for my students to learn science.

Hello,
My name is Eric, I teach 7/8 th grade project based science in Phoenix, az, this is my 17th year and I did coding when I was younger and have some experience with scratch.

This is going to be a new experience for me to, Iā€™ve never codded before.

Iā€™m Rebecca I am a 6th grade science and Math teacher and was assigned to teach a new coding class although I have never coded before. I will have plenty of support, but I am appreciative to get some training so that I am not going into it totally blind.

I am currently teaching technology education at Powhatan Junior High School. Next year will be my 28th of teaching. I began as a special education teacher, then moved to a science and math position, then just 7th grade math and now in the technology department. I am looking forward to learning this summer at the CodeVA sessions.

Hello,
I am Christy Tenney. This year will be my 6th year teaching. I have taught kindergarten and first grade before teaching fourth the past 3 years. Next year I will be teaching middle school (7th and 8th) grade coding and STEM classes. I am very excited for this new experience. Last year I completed Course 2 of Code.org with 75 fourth graders. My students learned a lot and were very excited for this experience everyday. I look forward to learning more about Code.org and incorporating more of it into my classroom.

Hi everyone,

My name is Shynise Stiff. I will be entering my 3rd year of teaching. I am currently a 7th Grade Science Teacher in Dallas, TX. Next year, I will be integrating the CS in Science curriculum with my classroom. I am new to the CS community but I have a great interest in learning more!

Hi,

My name is Josh Pollack. I have been teaching middle school physical science in Marshall, VA for the past 3 years and enjoying every minute of it. I am a career switcher and understand the importance of simulation programs which are used extensively in the reinsurance industry. In my relatively short time teaching, I have discovered that middle school students learn better in a hands on learning environment so I am eager to include programming into my curriculum.

Nice to meet you Shynise! I too am relatively new to teaching and the CS community. I think programming will provide another way in which students can access content. For 7th grade, perhaps simulating ecosystems and food webs might work well. A limiting factor for me will be access to computers at my school. Do you have classroom computers? Cheers JOSH

Hi.

Iā€™m Autumn Honts! I created the STEM program at my middle school from the ground up! I have been teaching for 5 years and have truly found a place where my ā€œweirdnessā€ and excitement are fully embraced by the administration and the school board. I love it. I work in Mathews, Virginia at the middle school - it is the only one we have! We are a very small district!

I have used Code.org from the beginning - school wide! It has been a huge success. I have used the more in depth units with my STEM kids and now, we will have an advanced STEM class that needs another challenge! Iā€™m thinking that modeling and simulation will offer that challenge!

Happy Summer, yā€™all!

Hey Karen!!

I live in Richmond and work in Mathews County, VA. It is nice to see other folks from VA! :slight_smile: I hope you and your family made it through the recent storms unharmed!

-Autumn

Hi. My name is Tabitha Oā€™Neal and I have been teaching science for 17 years. Most of those years have been teaching integrated science at the middle school level. I am currently teaching ICP and advance science in 8th grade in Westfield, Indiana. I love this age and I love teaching science! Although I have taught in a 1-to-1 program, I have no experience with coding. Iā€™m looking forward to this opportunity to implement CS into the curriculum. I think my students and I will love it!

Hi Rebecca. Coding is new to me, too! But Iā€™m looking forward to learning and I feel better knowing that I am not the only ā€œnewbieā€ to coding. :smile:

Hi Josh,

The ecosystems module and the ground water module are both topics covered in Texas standards for 7th grade science, so Iā€™m lucky to get to try multiple modules with my new kiddos.

Unfortunately, I have shared access to computers. However, Iā€™ve been working with my principal to apply for grants. EdWeb (home.edweb.net) has been a great resource. My District Lead just recommended Adopt-A-Classroom too. Hope that helps.

Best,
Shynise