I grew up with a Commodore Vic-20, then we bought a Commodore 64. When I left for college my parents bought me a computer that had the first WYSIWYG, Ami pro (AKA Lotus). Besides my vast knowledge of 1980’s dos commands I have no formal education in how computers work or how to program them. My teaching experience consists of 21 yrs in the Catholic School system. Most of that time I taught 7-8th-grade Religion & 9yrs of prealgebra. For the past 4 yrs I have been teaching “computers.” I have ZERO experience teaching computers. The first 3 yrs I primarily parts of a computer, internet safety, typing, and how to use Microsoft products. This year I have been teaching primarily from the code.org curriculum for grades 6-8. 1st-5th graders also spend at least one quarter learning fundamentals of code. My students are excited, behavior issues are no longer a problem, and students have asked if I would offer a summer class so they could finish their projects. If I did not take a chance and attend the week-long summer professional development through code.org my classes would still be focused on consuming technology instead of creating it. Thank you code.org!