Sam’s coding success story

Sam is a Grade 6 student who is identified with a learning disability.  Since the beginning of the school year, he has been intrigued and inspired by my coding classes—so much so that he asked for a coding kit for Christmas.  At times, Sam finds his class work to be challenging. He becomes easily overwhelmed and sometimes shuts down.  However, during our coding classes with micro:bits, he is a fully engaged and active participant in all of the coding adventures in our makerspace.  Sam’s mother even commented on how much grit and perseverance he had when working on his at-home coding project.

Sam was so excited to complete his coding project that he asked if he could present his robot to his classmates.  During his presentation in our makerspace, he spoke with confidence and explained in detail the code that instructed his robot to move and pick up various items.  Sam was a proud coder who beamed with self-confidence!

He has learned to embrace failure when coding and is now more willing to take risks when developing his computational thinking skills.  Sam discovered an academic interest worth pursuing, where he can meet with success and feel good about himself as a learner.

This is exactly why I do what I do as an Adaptive Expert in Technology and Coding!

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Jennifer Long is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert,  Special Education Specialist, and Adaptive Expert in Technology and Coding with the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario. Follow Jennifer on Twitter here: @JenniferL.

Learn how you can integrate micro:bit into your teaching with free resources from the Microsoft Educator Community. To discover our full array of devices and edtech tools, visit microsoft.ca/education. Access our training providers for free professional development at your school or in-class edtech sessions for your students.

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