‘I’m not an undergrad, I’m an elementary school teacher.’ Why I took 15-112 a CS course at CMU
^As heard at CMU. This past month I confused quite a few undergraduate students.
Lets think back to late teens, undergraduate student Erin, who always wanted to have fun, enjoyed school, enjoyed “learning” but never really wanted to put the work in to learn. The Erin who lived life for the social event of it and never really knew how to hone in her energy to push beyond the surface. She wanted to learn, she wanted to get good grades but didn’t know how to, nor did she really want to have to work for those grades.
Then some misfortunes happened, in a number of different ways, as they do and she began to walk a little tougher, like she had something to prove and dedicate a bit more of that boundless energy to her life goals, things turned around and she had something to be proud of. Things began to pay off in the water and she was able to “retire”proud of the work and effort she put into her last year, but there was one chip she could never break off her shoulder. That chip was Number Theory.
I’m glad I dropped number theory, becuase doing so altered my course and steered me in the direction of what I’m finding to be my true passion but I’ve never been PROUD of dropping number theory, and I’ve never truly been proud of taking a course. Or the work or dedication I put into studying. There’s always been a little part of me that neglected dropping number theory, a part that’s always felt like I have something to prove.
Fast forward from 2010 to 2016 and that feeling remains in the back of my head, and probably always will. But, now I can say that I’ve put my heart and soul into learning.
This past August I started my first big girl job. I put my big girl pants on and go into my “office” everyday. A revolving classroom of 800 students ranging from 5 – 11 years old, where I’m tasked to teach them “Digital Literacy” a term, which I’m still not sure I fully have a handle on what all it encompasses. But I do know one thing, I know it is my goal to provide them all with a basic understanding of programming and computer science and excite them to use technology “to create, rather than just consume”.
This is a super exciting place to be in the world of education. I’m tasked to prepare our students for their future, what could be more fun than that and it is FUN. A ton of fun, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was lacking some sort of validity in claiming I am preparing our youngest learners to understand programming and computer science, computational thinking, when I’ve never taken a CS course before. Now, I’m NOT saying to be a great teacher of these skill sets you have to take a CS course. I’m only saying ME, I, Erin Cawley, personally, felt like I needed to.
So I did.
But as in everything I do, as my mom would say. I didn’t just do, I jumped in head first to what I found out later is one of the top 5 CS classes in the world. I elected to take Carnegie Mellon’s 112 course. Their, as they say, ‘immersive’ introduction to programming.( Think wanting to learn a foreign languages and instead of taking a classes for 4 years, just moving to a country that only speaks that language and trying to survive.) In a matter of 6 weeks I learned everything from a for loop to OOPy, this course is condensed for a typical 16 week semester and the intensity was heighten for our 6 week summer version.
Was it challenging?
Yes. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done. period.
(I was a D1 athlete! I biked to DC, I can do anything – HA HA HA my brain laughs as it pulses in pain 2 weeks into the course!)
Was it worth it?
Yes. My body deteriorated to an even less muscular skeleton of myself and my brain fought me with headaches and complaints every step of the way, but I made it, and I couldn’t be prouder.
Electing to take the 112 course, the course all CMU undergraduate students know (was compared to cross fit in one account, something everyone knows everyone that is doing it and they can’t stop talking about how hard it is but how much they love it.) taught me a number of things.
Humility — After I cried to my 18/19 yr old CAs when I worked on a HW problem for 6 hours and was so close to being correct, but because I couldn’t figure out one spacing issue and AutoLab scored a 0.
Resilience — No matter how much I felt like a failure, no matter how few hours of sleep I got, I woke up the next morning and went at it again, as it truly was my only option.
The generosity of others — The CAs, my classmates and professor at CMU were some of the most brilliant and kindest people I’ve ever met. I can’t tell you how many people spent hours working with me to understand different concepts, that community sets CMU apart and is something I will always be thankful for. AND Ben, he was by my side through it all, providing support, guidance, knowledge and most importantly encouragement every step of the way.
What Learning is all about — I tell my students on a daily basis to keep trying, to embrace failure and enjoy the challenge but I can’t say before this class I’ve ever done that with my learning. Athletics, sure! but embracing the pain of learning? Not that I can remember, Thats something I always found an excuse to run away from, but not now. Not this course.
I gave it 100% and it gave me 200% back.
I couldn’t be more thankful for what I’ve walked away with, and I’m not just talking about the really cool game I made for my students (which you should check out by the way! If you’ve made it this far in my ramble you might as well see how all the hard work paid off!) but the deeper knowledge of what I am capable of, if I put my mind to it, that’s what I am really thankful for.
-Thanks for rocking my brain CMU-
“How great it is when we come to know that times of disappointment can be followed by joy; that guilt over falling short of our ideals can be replaced by pride in doing all that we can; and that anger can be channeled into creative achievements… and into dreams that we can make come true.” -Mr. Rogers
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