Preface

When I started this amazing quest, I never thought it was going to take me so far and so deep into teaching, learning and develop so many things about me. I learned about growth minds. I learned about my own learning philosophy and how I can help my students to become better in their academic and personal life.

This huge and amazing journey started on March of 2019. It has brought me endless learning, infinite opportunities to grow and a huge warm in my being.  As a teacher and as a person I learned to take small steps to make solid steps. I was able to apply my learnings and share it with my students and my colleagues. I learned how to try my best to make a difference. A difference not only in my classroom, but also in our community. This journey has been one of my best experiences I have ever had.

I am grateful for being part of this amazing project and to have all the support hat I had. The people that helped me learn and grow, always knew what to say and how to be by my side. They made me feel welcomed and valued and for that, I am deeply grateful.

The title of this piece is The Sum of all the Parts. I named it like that, because it is as simple as that. This project started on March of 2019 and concluded on May of 2020. As my reader, I am honored to share with you this sublime experience. Please tag along into my humble narrative, while I try to transmit the passion and excitement that I went through mission. Without further ado, let’s start.

The Beginning

On March of 2019, I was invited to participate in a hush-hush project where Apple was involved. Later on, I learned that it was not only Apple, it was also Lamar University, Houston Community College and of course my school district Alief ISD. 

It all started on March of this year at Houston Community College. Once there, I was surprised to see many other teachers from my same district and from other Houston school district. Everything was pointing to an excellent beginning. Once we settled down, the project was explained and laid out to us and by then, my heart was crazy pounding and my mind going wild. But, what was this amazing project?

The Project

Apple and Lamar University had been working for a while now to bring technology and digital learning to every student around the country. The project’s main purpose is to teach students the 21^st Century Skills by using iPads and Apple learning software to develop these skills and create problem solvers and critical thinkers.

The whole project was presented to us in an amazing way. Apple staff explained us how the project was going to develop, its parts and steps and how it was going to work. As part of this process, we participated in activities where positivity and respect were the main characters.

As the meeting continued, and more information was given, more I got excited. Hearing all the plans, all the steps was just an amazing experience. Then, the icing of the cake came: Apple granted a scholarship to work on a master’s degree or a Ph.D. with Lamar University. This was just mind blowing and I was immensely happy for what I was being part of. It was just the beginning of something amazing and it just started.

Code Camp

After March gathering, we met again at HCC for a whole week training. At the beginning, we didn’t know what training was going to be, but as it was unfolded to us, it was just mind blowing. It was a training where we were going to learn to code, Apple learning software and be part of a real-life challenge. Once again, I was vastly excited and looking forward for this whole week.

As for the training, it was divided in two interconnected parts: One part was focused on learning how to get the best from an iPad while learning Apple software. The second part was about solving a real-life situation by creating an app as a team. Both parts were as exciting and interesting as they sound,

Part One: Technology as a tool to learn and create.

In this section, we were trained by very bright and amazing Apple staff. They taught us how to use iPads and different Apple apps, where creativity was always in use. We learned how to draw and make animations. We used an iPad pencil to draw and create our own portraits. We also were able to create a short video using Pages, Clips, iMovie and Keynote. The whole process was mind blowing. It was so easy to create a video that it was unbelievable. In matter of minutes, we created a 24 second video with sound and visual effects. The iPad and the app were so friendly that after learning the basics, we were able to figure out a lot of amazing features. Here is our video.

The mission of this training was for us teachers to be able to do the same with our students. We learned on how to drive our students’ creativity into a fertile soil, where the sky is the limit.

But creativity was not the only thing we learned. We were exposed to coding. We learned the basics of it, and we were able to see our own creations. In this section, we used Swift as coding language and Swift Playgrounds to see and experiment in a digital environment what we were creating.

At this point, I have to say again that I was speechless. I already was surprised how Apple apps were extremely friendly to explore our creativity, but seeing this same flexibility in coding was just unbelievable. Apple managed to teach coding in a super interesting and fun way.  Coding used to be something difficult and hard to understand. But now it is more friendly and approachable. Two characteristics that are needed to learn it and teach it. For this, my mind was over excited. Now, let’s go to part two.

Part Two: Real-Life Challenge Project

On the second part of our training, we were presented with real life situations from real clients. These clients were companies and government offices. They had a problem needed an app to help them solve their situation. We heard the clients and after creating our team, we chose a client’s challenge and develop an app for its needs. At first, the challenge seemed quite impossible, since none of us knew how to code an app, but then we learned that we had to be the creators of the app, but not the coders nor it had to work. We just need to create a dummy app that would solve our client’s problem.

We had the opportunity to listen to several clients and chose one. There were several clients. One was a hospital that needed an app to follow up with their patients. There was a local government chamber of commerce representative from the City of Houston that wanted to attract more patrons to local restaurants by using an app. The City of Sugar Land EMS response team was there too. They needed an effective system to keep control of inventory and consumables during a crisis like a city flood. These reports should be accurate and reliable so they could later be submitted to FEMA. As a team, we chose them. It was interesting and challenging.  We were eager to start and see our final product. We couldn’t wait until our presentations.

Friday came, and as always, everything has to come to an end. On our last day, we presented our apps and all of the teams did great. The clients were pleasantly surprise. I even heard they wanted to acquire the ideas they were presented. As for us, our client loved our app and we were happy with how our app looked. It was an amazing experience and we were part of it.  

By the end of the day, we said our goodbyes and we left with our next challenge. Emulate the same coding camp in our students during a whole week. And the story continues. I left with a huge smile and nervous of what was going to happen.

Student Coding Summer Camp 2019.

The summer camp was a blast for students and us teachers. It was superb to observe how students were from 0 to 100 in just 4 days. They learned to code a Sphero Bot, create their own cartoonish self-portrait, learn to use Keynote and Playground Swift and many other apps. They also learned to work in teams and communicate with each other. The camp was a complete success for both us teachers, our campus and our students. And just like we teachers did in our coding camps, our students also addressed a real-life challenge. As a whole team, students analyzed a situation inside their community and developed an app to solve that problem. I remember that one team decided to create an app for See Something, Say Something. An app that would allow to report a suspicious activity, submit pictures and text description with location included to the police. It was an amazing idea that could definitely help any community.

I also had the opportunity to observe the students’ engagement. Seeing how they were so immersed into their projects, into their coding and creativity was an astounding experience. Every day we ran out of time. The time flew by and they didn’t want to go home. Experiencing this was just amazing. But as always, everything must come to the end.

Even though our coding camp felt short it was a really nice experience; both for us teachers and for our students. We managed to go through the learning process and troubleshoot the technical issues related to the program. This marked the path for a successful beginning of the year with our students and I was eager to implement all of what I learned in the new school year.

The Journey Continues

The regular school year started, and my master’s degree process continued. During summer I was able to start doing research and learn from experts that support digital learning. I also understood the meaning of Growth Mindset and its difference with Fixed Mindset. At the same time, I started to emulate my summer coding camp in my classroom.

At the beginning, this was a little bit complicated. My teaching curriculum was not giving me enough time to introduce my digital curriculum. So, following my mentors’ ideas (Dr. Thibedaux and Dr. Harapnuik), I started with a small group and it was a very pleasantly surprised to see how it started to work.

As any new learning process, my learning curve was really steep. This was a new territory. Even though I was already using online apps and Schoology as my learning environment for teaching, this whole project was different, it had coding involved and this was really challenging, but very awesome.

The deeper I went into my readings and research, the more I learned about how coding and computer thinking can help to develop a series of skills that can make a person successful. Being able to incorporate this into my regular teaching, was sublime, and see how this thinking started to benefit my students was just perfect.

Before I knew it, November was here and I was already in Phoenix, Arizona. Apple took all of us there, and when I mean all of us, I mean ALL of the teachers that were in this program. Teachers from Alaska, Washington and everywhere else were gathered together. The positive energy in the environment could be felt and everyone was happy, excited and always with a smile.

During this trip, we continued with our training, but what was most surprising to me, was how Apple made huge efforts to invite us to a unique mindset. A mindset where we have the mission to give back to our community. To be thankful for what we have and that our community needs us just as much as we need them. Besides our training sessions, which were really awesome by the way, every day we had this guest speakers that left us speechless. What they did or are doing is a true hero work.  And once more, I could not believe that I was part of this unbelievable process.

Coming back from Arizona revitalized me and it helped me to continue with my project. Overall after everything I learned and the people I met. I met the founders of Girls Who Code. a non-profit organization that promote coding and computer science into girls. Thanks to them, I started an after-school coding club and it was just awesome. We had students from 5^th and 6^th grade and all of them were eager to be in the club. And just like summer camp, time flew really fast and kids didn’t want to go home. It was great.

Now, we are almost on winter break. My projects were starting to show its benefits. Students in my class and in coding club were starting to show signs of understanding coding and using both their creativity and their coding skills to create something. Also, the rest of the class started to join more and more activities. This gave them the chance to use different apps for my class assignments. As well, I started to see how they started to become more critical thinkers and problem solvers.

January and February were here. A lot of my students felt comfortable with technology in many aspects. They were already using diverse apps for coding like Tynker, Scratch and overall Swift Playground. They entered into the world of coding and they were liking it. I was witnessing how their minds and technological skills were growing. I was being their teacher in the areas needed, but I also started to became a facilitator, a guide into their own learning. It was amazing to see how their confidence grew and their mindset changed. They were happy, they were engaged, and they didn’t want to leave my classroom.

Sharing a personal experience that touches my heart a lot, is the following.

It was very common that at the end of their time with me, this happened:

• Me: “OK kids, time to go, have a nice day!”
• Kids: “What? All ready? I don’t want to leave!”

As a teacher, hearing this, is something priceless and unforgettable, Just like the next anecdote. In my classroom, I have my Success Wall. Colleagues recommended this to me so kids could see what they can aim to. It is a way to invite them to a growth mindset. In the wall I hang out my diplomas, certifications or recognitions that I have earned, like my Apple Teacher certificate, my Microsoft Innovative Educator certificate and my Sphero Edu badge.

So, one day, two of my students put their IDs there. At the beginning I didn’t understand so they said: “Yes, we have to be there, because we are your success too!”  When other students heard this, some of them even sat down to be in the wall. This has been one of my most precious memories that I can keep as a teacher.

Coming to an end

My school year was running smoothly. Things were starting to fall into their own spot and my students were growing. Unfortunately, the novel Coronavirus arrived into our country and into our city and things had to drastically change for everyone.

We are now on digital distance learning. For my students and us the change was not as difficult as many others, but still it was a challenge. My students were able to adapt quickly, they were used to digital learning since September, but I could always feel that some of my kids suffered more than others.

In my effort to keep them engaged and motivated, I tried my best to keep my lesson entertaining. Our online discussions were rich and meaningful, and our Zoom meetings were fun. I even started to learn by myself Minecraft for Education so my kids could learn with it and I am happy to share, that it was also a success. Not a huge one, but we manage to make it work and many students created awesome things.

Now, the school is almost done and this project as well. I can only say that it has been a unique experience that I want to continue to develop and keep learning, so our teaching and learning keeps growing, over all with what we are all living today.

Some projects from my students and myself.

Meebot and Swift!