This month CSTA Iowa shines a spotlight on Wendy Bailey. Wendy is a Computer Science Integration Coach for Fort Madison Community School District.
CSTA Iowa Spotlight on Wendy Bailey
District/Organization: Fort Madison Community Schools
City: Fort Madison, IA
Describe your teaching position or role:
I made the exciting leap into Computer Science last year, after teaching First Grade for 29 years! I was a half time Computer Science Integration Coach and half time 4th-6th grade Computer Science teacher. This year my coaching position is full time. My focus will be on helping teachers integrate Computer Science across all subjects. I will be able to provide resources, help make connections between what is already being taught and Computer Science, and go into classrooms to do coaching cycles that will focus on student learning.
What 's your favorite CS concept or lesson to teach? Why?
I love to teach about using computational thinking to solve problems. "Computer Science" can be an intimidating sounding subject, but when you break computational thinking down into decomposition, pattern matching, abstraction, algorithms, and debugging, teachers and students can see that these are things that they are already doing. Using the curiosity, creativity, collaboration, communication, problem solving, and persistence needed to do all of those things will help prepare students for the ever changing workforce.
What 's your favorite CS resource? Why?
Two of my favorite CS student resources right now are Scratch/Scratch Jr. There are so many ways to connect across the curriculum, and they give the students a way to produce something that makes their learning come to life! I recently attended a STEM Scale Up program on micro:bits and am excited to integrate them with Scratch this year!
Why did you join CSTA & CSTA Iowa?
I joined CSTA to have a support group in my new venture in Computer Science. I have gotten so many good ideas and resources from the CSTA Conferences that I've attended!