Over a million teachers have participated in the hour of code, a global movement to provide opportunities for students to experience coding, to engage in computational thinking. In my current educational role, I have witnessed hundreds of students coding during this annual event, nearly all in classrooms in which the teacher has little to no experience with computer science and/or coding platforms. It is inspiring to observe teachers take a risk and invite students to engage in an activity at which they themselves have never attempted. But even more compelling is my origin story with the hour of code. Because it was not as simple as I would have anticipated.

Relying on the Wonder of Kindergarteners

My hour of code origin story: The hour of code challenge was in its infancy, not nearly the phenomenon it is today. I had learned about the movement a week prior and decided to accept the challenge. As a teacher, I would have jumped at the chance to provide my students with this opportunity. However, as an instructional coach, I needed to sell it to the educators I served. Coding and computer science were foreign concepts to our school site. Technology integration in the classroom itself was just beginning to develop. I felt that it was important to do all I could to ensure that this experience would be a success. However, I realized that the last thing I needed as a new coach was to frustrate students and teachers.

I made a decision to tap into the natural curiosity and resiliency of our youngest students, five and six year old kindergarteners. In watching these students on the playground, I had witnessed their problem solving skills as they negotiated rules for the games they created together. I smiled each time they asked their teacher question after question regarding the content they were learning in the classroom. Surely they would welcome a new challenge.

Honesty is Key

Before even viewing the hour of code activities, I walked into a teacher’s classroom full of the enthusiasm that mimicked that of her kindergarteners. “I want to try something new next week, but I need a class of students. Is there a time I can come work with your students for about 30 minutes?” I exclaimed. The teacher was interested but understandably hesitant. “What do I have to do? How would I prepare?” she asked. I assured the teacher she need not do a thing. No prep, no instruction, on her part. All I asked is that she observe student learning as I facilitated the experience. I added, “This is new for me too. We will see how it goes!”

It is vital that we model risk taking with those we serve, whether they be educators or students. When we are honest with others about our uncertainty as to the results of an innovation, we promote an environment that focuses on process, not product. We dispel the myth of instant results and send the message that improvement requires risk, reflection, and refinement.

Facing Frustration

The day came for me to introduce coding to the class of kindergarteners. At the time, I had never used code.org. The students had limited experience using iPads. This would be their first experience in a 1:1 environment, one student per device. To be honest, I wondered if this first experiment with hour of code would flop.

I provided a quick whole class run through of how the code.org platform would work, passed out an iPad to each student, and waited nervously to see the results. Students were frustrated. Most were not yet able to read the commands on the blocks of codes they were to program, others were still struggling with number sense and found it difficult to determine number of steps to code the sprite to move toward a goal. I frantically moved from table to table, encouraging students with phrases such as “keep trying” and “try a block and see if it works”.

I considered what I saw as a failing lesson and wondered if these frustrations could have been prevented with a small group setting, pair programming (2 students per device), and/or kinesthetic activities leading up to the activity. As a teacher, it was not comfortable to see the students struggle. As a coach, it felt demoralizing to feel like a lesson was failing in front of a teacher.

The Resiliency of Kindergarteners

As these emotions flooded my mind, I stopped for a moment to observe the students themselves. And I was amazed. While I felt that I had thrown these learners into the deep end, providing them an activity beyond their reach, they were embracing the challenge and partaking in problem solving skills I had not even suggested to them. I witnessed students working with the learners next to them to debug the code they had tried. Some students got up to physically walk and count steps, in order to determine how to code the program to achieve a desired goal. I heard students, who were not yet able to read the words “move left” and “move right”, noting that the “l” in that word must mean “left”, and the “r” in the other word must mean “right”.

The students’ curiosity of what the blocks of code would cause the program to do, the immediate feedback of the program, and students’ desire to reach a goal prompted collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and creative problem solving. And the work was led by the students themselves. It was not a teacher directed activity. I had provided a quick 3 minute introduction to the platform and then allowed the students to explore on their own.

It was the students themselves that rose to the challenge. They had more faith in their abilities than I had myself. In the image below, these students’ pride shines on their faces. As a teacher, I had been frustrated that the students would not complete the activity, that there would not be a final product. This was the case, as the students pictured had programmed less than five commands. But the students reminded me, by their actions and excitement, that learning is a process. It is our resiliency and ability to work together to problem solve that equals success as a learner.

Teachers & Coaches: Let the Students Lead

I will never forget that first day of hour of code with kindergarteners. As a teacher, I learned the power of taking the time to stop, observe, reflect and learn from the students I served. I turned my focus away from my teaching and instead noticed methods of learning that students had discovered themselves. My role flipped. Rather than providing individual support to students, I encouraged them to learn from one another. As a coach, these kindergarteners taught me the value of trusting the power of students to impact teachers. If I had coached this kindergarten teacher solely outside her classroom, in the staff lounge or during prep periods, she would not have had the opportunity to witness this example of student problem solving that exceeded our expectations. In class coaching is a powerful tool. The kindergarten teacher who witnessed this first hour of code experience noted with joyful surprise, “They are trying to read the word “right”, and they figured it out! And did you see them teaching each other the directions “right” and “left”? These kids are capable of so much more than I had realized!”. Sometimes we have to see it to believe it. But in order for this to happen, we must be willing to take a risk and trust our students.