Teaching Teachers

Posted on Apr 01, 2016 – 11:38am by Launch

If you read our blogs or follow us on Facebook you will have noticed that we talk a good amount about the importance of STEM in the classroom. As both the government and schools are starting to incorporate subjects like coding more and more there is a large missing piece that many may have not considered. The teachers of today (most likely largely made up of another generation) need to learn these skills themselves in order to effectively teach. So, how does that work? How much does a teacher need to be taught to share that knowledge onto??? their students, our children?

A recent article in Fast Company did an excellent job in breaking down what it would take to teach our 3.1 million??? public school teachers to code. Finding ways to make the lessons accessible to teachers is key versus putting the onus on them and expecting them to use their own free time during the summer. Can one simply learn how to code solely from a computer? Sure! There are self taught individuals who are incredibly impressive out there. However, this is not the point we are trying to make. Schools are being pushed to teach children “just enough” so that they have a solid foundation of code like any other subject in their school’s curriculum. It would be impossible for every single student in the US to become a master or uber proficient in every single subject they are taught. Coding is no different. Some skills come more naturally to some in one area over another. Learning code is something that should and could be taught similarly to math, science, English, Spanish or history! A teacher does not need to be a PHD in a specific subject in order to be a successful teacher of others. “Learning how to code is certainly not an easy task, but it pales in comparison to learning how to teach” (Adam Enbar, cofounder of the Flatiron School).

How do you think it is best to help our teachers learn how to code? We would love to hear your thoughts!