Coding for Kids
Valle Lindo SD Codes Their Way to College and Career Readiness
Posted in Coding in the Classroom, College and Career Readiness, Featured School, Ideas and Tips, School, Teacher Feature
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Valle Lindo SD Codes Their Way to College and Career Readiness
Valle Lindo is a small district located in the San Gabriel Valley in the city of South El Monte, California. One of the oldest districts in California, Valle Lindo was incorporated as a district in 1863. This guest post was written by Ryan Bonde, Teacher/STEM Coordinator for Valle Lindo SD.
Why Coding?
STEM education is a priority for our district because we know the future of our students’ education will be in those fields. Our students need the opportunity to experience computer programming from a young age to prepare them for the jobs that will be available to them when they complete their public education. We also believe that coding should be incorporated into every classroom, and Tynker provides us with that opportunity to help bridge computer programming and our content curriculum. We are in the beginning stages of implementing Tynker in our district; student feedback so far has been extremely positive, and we are excited about our implementation.
The Valle Lindo Difference
Our district is progressive, and we constantly strive to stay one step ahead. STEM is the future and present of education, and we want to ensure that our students leave our district prepared to be successful in a 21st century learning environment. Our administration has made it a priority to develop our STEM curriculum and provides support to ensure that our students are getting the STEM education that they require. STEM is seen as a gateway for learning, exploration, and creativity, which are all higher level thinking skills that we as a district are trying to incorporate in our curriculum on a daily basis.
“Tynker allows for our students to prepare for College and Career Readiness by teaching them the basics of coding and moving onto the more complex coding languages.”
Valle Lindo students hard at work in the computer lab
Valle Lindo believes that computer science and coding are imperative for student success in the future. Careers in STEM jobs are growing and will continue to grow at a rapid pace. Career fields that were once not incorporating computer science have now begun to use computer science in one way or another. It is our job as educators to ensure that our students have the tools necessary to succeed in a 21st century career, and computer science education is one of the most important tools that our students can carry with them into the future and beyond.
How does Tynker fit in?
Our district has just begun rolling out the Tynker program on our campuses. For this school year, we are basing our STEM education around Tynker with hopes that our classroom teachers will begin utilizing the projects that Tynker offers within their classroom curriculum. Tynker allows for our students to prepare for College and Career Readiness by teaching them the basics of coding and moving onto the more complex coding languages. Our students are given the opportunity to learn through a student-friendly interface that both engages and accelerates their computer science education.
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