Track: Computer Science & Tech
Offering tangible, real world best practices, this round table discussion covers how to engage both student and school in a thriving, sustainable coding and computer science club. We’ve brought together educators, parents and community leaders to share what has worked and how they have worked through hurdles to build their coding clubs. Every participant will walk away with action items developed to help them get started and succeed!
Presenters:
- Facilitator: Laura Cummings, Parent, How to Connect to Your School
- Table 1 – Preschool/Kindergarten: Terry Lawler, Educator, Burton Barr Library
- Table 2- Elementary/Middle School: Larry Cummings, Parent / Community Leader
- Table 3 – Middle/High School/No School Connection: Kelly Smith, Parent / Community Leader
- Table 4 – High School/College: TBA
- Table 5 – Adult Extracurricular: TBA
Biographies
Laura Cummings is the PTO President at Madison #1 Middle School, a visual and performing arts school in north central Phoenix. An experienced volunteer and event planner, she has lead efforts to launch successful new events, while raising funds to put extra books, supplemental materials and art equipment directly into the classroom. When she’s not at school, she works her “real job” as an employee communications consultant, helping companies translate complex topics into easy-to-understand messages so employees can quickly take action and contribute to their organization’s success.
Kelly Smith started an afterschool code club at the Mesa library in 2013 and quickly realized that kids are very interested in learning coding, especially when it’s informal, social and fun. He helped other libraries launch code clubs, and recently quit his technology job to work fulltime on Prenda, an ed tech company with the mission of free code clubs at libraries and schools everywhere. He currently works with over 80 code clubs in 5 states.