I feel like I’ve learned just as much about teaching in this second week of class as I have in the last four years of in-class teaching!

There’s just something about being taught by a professional, instead of trying to figure things out on your own in the dark. Wearing sunglasses. And winter gloves.

Moreover, whereas I was slowly learning random bits of theory behind teaching based on my experiences (read: mistakes) in the classroom, now I can apply the theory I’m learning in class to the classroom. It’s a much more sensible process that I wish new teachers could start with, instead of waiting to get to graduate school to learn. Why don’t principals gift How People Learn to all new teachers?

Inspired by reading How People Learn, I went ahead and googled “how people learn to code” and found an academic paper “Learning and Teaching Programming: A Review and Discussion.” I felt the same reading that as I did reading How People Learn: they describe all the experiences and mistakes I’ve had in the classroom and more. I find it encouraging to discover that researchers understand my experience. They get me! They really do!

I feel like I could fail the remainder of my graduate career and still find the entire endeavor worthwhile just because of this past week.

By the way, I’ve written a three-page essay reflecting on my personal experiences with learning, understanding, and conceptual change, all of which are major concepts I read about this week in the first three chapters of How People Learn.

Oh, and I’ve included a description of my worst teaching moment in that essay. Uh…enjoy!

* not a real hashtag

References