There is a feeling when you are driving on the open road and just enjoying the flow of the traffic and you are just cruising and advancing at a constant pace, that is satisfying. Then, there is the feeling when you enter the big city, at peak traffic time, when you feel you are never arriving at your destination and then you are stuck behind a nice sweet grandma driving. Well, these are feelings I have gotten to know well in my teaching life. Throughout my 19 years of teaching Computer Science, I have had the opportunity to teach all divisions from K-12 and all of them have their rewarding and challenging moments. This year I was asked to teach 6-8. I have to say that I am in my first semester and I have gotten a huge sense of respect for Middle School teachers.

When you teach Pre-school or Elementary you feel like you are getting bright new brains that are waiting to be filled in with new information. When you teach High School, you get kids that are going through the maturity process of finally getting that what they do in this stage will determine what they decide to do for their higher education. And then there is Middle School, that limbo stage of it all. That peak hormonal stage where kids are confused about everything. Their priorities change not only every day but several times throughout the same day. This has made me change and adapt to the way CS should be taught.

I had never had to modify so many plans on the go as I have this year. You plan and plan and then somedays it is the best lesson ever and somedays it just not. So how do middle school teachers do it? I am relearning how to teach CS and I have a lot of help from my colleagues in the same hallway. They have been the best induction to teaching Middle School as no book or article can tell you how to best get these kids inspired or show their creativity like another teacher doing the same, does.

My kids have achieved amazing projects, but in the process, I have learned who has a crush on whom, who is now friends with whom and just a plethora of gossip that I did not know had to be now part of my information bank. It is amazing that they can be programming a Micro: Bit, creating a videogame using Scratch, designing 3D models, all while socializing and sharing their lives both in-person and digitally. I now have a new definition of multitasking. I have also learned that even if they are doing this, as long as they are working, everyone is happy! Thank goodness for headphones. One of the most wonderful things is that this is the age where they don’t hide their passions for something and if I am smart, I use these snippets to my advantage and plan lessons accordingly. Keeps me on my toes. This is a crucial moment when I can open their minds to all CS has to offer, I just have to move all the other clutter in their heads to a side.

So I might not be driving at 70 MPH as I was when I was teaching High School but while driving at 55 MPH I can see what’s going on in this big city called Middle School and how these kids are shaping their lives and finding themselves one CS project at a time. Once again, my biggest applause and respect to all those Middle School CS teachers out there.

Michelle Lagos

Representative at Large