This week, Sean & Kelly discuss how they are using Python to teach robotics in middle school, including the hardware and software it takes to get students thinking about how robots sense, process, and move in the world. With coronavirus precautions in place, our traditional approaches to robotics competitions through organizations like FIRST Lego League have been put aside. We're using this as an opportunity to get back to basics and teach students about sensors, servos, Python code, and more.
Sep 30, 2020•31 min•Ep 50•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Kelly and Sean interview Philip Guo, associate professor of cognitive science at UC San Diego. As a grad student in 2010, Philip created Python Tutor (https://pythontutor.com), the most widely-used program visualization tool for education. Using this tool, teachers and students can write Python programs directly in the web browser (without installing any plugins), step forwards and backwards through execution to view the run-time state of data structures, and share their program visua...
Sep 22, 2020•44 min•Ep 49•Transcript available on Metacast Let’s take a look at the tools we’re using in our classroom for the 2020-2021 school year to teach Python for middle school students. From IDEs to flash cards, coding challenges to Colab notebooks, and micro:bits to eBooks, we’ll look at what we’re currently using and how each one contributes to the learning experience of our students. Episode Outline Importance of variety in Lessons Motivation Increase Focus/Keeps classroom live and Active Combat Boredom/Avoids dullness Demonstrating concepts i...
Sep 15, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Ep 48•Transcript available on Metacast Let’s take a deeper look at how we teach students about one of Python’s most venerable data structures: the list. For many learners, the list is the first data structure that they encounter and it can be tricky to understand at first. Episode Outline: Start with clear goals for topic Why are we teaching this? Backwards by design process What do we want the kids to do? What should students know when we’re done? Are the objectives differentiated? Can students demonstrate more advanced understandin...
Sep 01, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep 47•Transcript available on Metacast Kelly and Sean discuss many of the upcoming changes for a school year heavily influenced by COVID, distance learning, hybrid/flexible classrooms, and prioritizing health and safety over content. Episode Contents: Wins of the Week Main Topic: The Upcoming School Year Integrating New Ideas Safely Teaching Physical Computing PyBites / CodeChalleng.es Flipped Classroom Using Reflection Choice Boards Routines and Rituals Teacher Self Care Setting Realistic Expectations Follow @TeachingPython (https:/...
Aug 28, 2020•49 min•Ep 46•Transcript available on Metacast Ever had one of those moments where you thought you did something but then found it unfinished months later? Here's an episode we recorded back in May about how to keep your distance learning fresh and new. We're calling it the Lost Episode. New episodes are coming every Tuesday starting on August 18! In this episode, Kelly and Sean talk about ways they keep their distance learning sessions fresh and engaging for students. From refresher exercises to virtual classroom management, we've got some ...
Aug 16, 2020•54 min•Ep 45•Transcript available on Metacast As teachers around the world move into online teaching and learning, we must consider ways to modify our way of teaching. Writing and communicating in an online learning environment, while making connections with your students, is a very important first step. This is the second episode in a two-part series. Video can help students connect with the concepts and provide an opportunity for teachers to engage and add opportunities to connect with their students. How will teachers adapt their teachin...
Apr 27, 2020•1 hr•Ep 44•Transcript available on Metacast As teachers around the world move into online teaching and learning, we must consider ways to modify our way of teaching. Writing and communicating in an online learning environment, while making connections with your students, is a very important first step. This is the first episode in a two-part series. How will teachers adapt their online writing in order to communicate and engage learners? What materials will teachers develop to ignite motivation with students? How will connections and comm...
Apr 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Ep 43•Transcript available on Metacast “Resilience in teachers is key for creating quality classrooms and schools. The opportunity for becoming resilient originates in how an educator makes sense of irritants, interruptions, and unexpected events, because interpretation dictates actions. By cultivating resilience, teachers can fulfill the intentions that brought them into the teaching profession.” Elena Aguilar In this episode, Kelly and Sean invite Elena Aguilar to our show for a little twist of conversations. Elena Aguilar “Elena h...
Apr 06, 2020•1 hr•Ep 42•Transcript available on Metacast Python for Parents or so you want your child to code? Sometimes it just takes a few creative ideas and a short amount of time to make some fun little projects. Sean and Kelly, with the help of Anthony Shaw and his lovely daughters, ‘ Zebra’ and ‘Jaguar’ have a little fun with this topic! The Shaws’ help us to dive into the topic of #pythonicparenting. Together we discuss things that a parent can do to help your child have the same passion for coding as you do. Or at least some interest! Whether ...
Apr 01, 2020•41 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast With our campus closed due to COVID-19 and distance learning in full swing, Kelly and Sean discuss the brighter side of all these sudden changes to education. The sudden shift to distance learning for much of the world has introduced more than a few challenges, but many opportunities arise as well. Kelly and Sean talk about the importance of using online tools to capture attention, to shift learning from synchronous to asynchronous delivery, and even how to ask questions of your students that en...
Mar 28, 2020•38 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast Kelly and Sean stream their show on Twitch as the world moves to quarantines and distance learning. What does this mean for teaching and coding? Learn about the things we took home from our classroom and how we are planning to teach in this new COVID-19 quarantined world.
Mar 20, 2020•51 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Trying to find an easier way to get students excited about programming? Feeling stuck with the PyGame library? Paul Craven, maintainer of the Arcade Python library joins us to talk about using game design to teach programming. Arcade is a easy to use Python library that lets you quickly create games using OpenGL and a simple API that's perfect for beginners. Better still, the Arcade library includes a wide variety of sample programs and comprehensive documentation that is written for new program...
Mar 02, 2020•41 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast It's not always easy to be a Python teacher. Whether it's trying to find the right words to explain something, handling severe frustration, building perseverance, or losing students while coding together, Python teachers are facing problems beyond just the code. Sean and Kelly discuss five of the things that frequently go wrong in the classroom and how we handle it. Helping the naturally gifted- keeping up; keeping them learning Developing the vocab that allows students to solve problems Losing ...
Feb 03, 2020•52 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Peter Chan is a 4th grade teacher in Quebec, Canada. In addition to using Python in his classroom, Peter also employs maker techniques, math exploration, and English language skills. Kelly and Sean talk with him about how Python can be used as part of a decentralized teaching style where students are more self-directed and have more agency and control in their learning direction. Special Guest: Peter Chan.
Jan 12, 2020•55 min•Ep 36•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Kelly and Sean explore the idea that everyone should learn to code-- not to become a programmer but for so much more! How do we continue to foster an interest in coding for those kids that are not so interested in computer science?
Dec 18, 2019•39 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast In celebration of the great retail holiday of Black Friday, Kelly and Sean share their holiday buying guide for computer science teachers, including 3d printers, #PythonHardware, and books. Also this week, Bob and Julian from the PyBites website are making their Newbie Bites 40% off, with half of the proceeds going to the Teaching Python podcast! Check it out on their latest newsletter post (https://mailchi.mp/pybit.es/pybites-black-friday-2019)
Nov 28, 2019•16 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast Kelly and Sean interview Eric Matthes, author of Python Crash Course (https://amzn.to/2Okgzr3), about how he began programming, what led him to teaching, and the important lessons from Python to be learned both inside and outside of the classroom. This episode is sponsored by Real Python. As a special offer for listeners and friends of the show, you can get a free copy of the video course Cool New Things in Python 3.8 (https://www.realpython.com/teachingpython) when you visit realpython.com/teac...
Nov 25, 2019•56 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Kelly and Sean embark on a journey with Twilio Developer Evangelist Kevin Whinnery using TwilioQuest to learn more Python in the classroom. What is TwilioQuest? Learn to code and lead your intrepid crew on a mission to save The Cloud in TwilioQuest (https://www.twilio.com/quest), a PC role-playing game inspired by classics of the 16-bit era. Free forever, and available now for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Players will learn how to code in Python, set up a developer environment, use Git to...
Nov 20, 2019•44 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast Can you belive it's only been five years since Alexa launched? Or that identifying birds in photos was considered a hard problem (https://xkcd.com/1425/) for machine learning? In this episode, Kelly and Sean discuss plausible trends in machine learning, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and data science that we may see in schools by 2024. We focus on 5 areas from microscale in the classroom to macro across the entire educational system. Trends in the Computer Science classr...
Nov 11, 2019•47 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Kelly and Sean speak to Reuven Lerner about how to teach adult learners and people switching to Python from other languages. Reuven is a corporate trainer of Python and Data Science. He helps developers around the world learn how to code in Python. As fellow teachers, we dive into the similarities and differences of teaching adults versus students. What works? What is new and interesting? Our guest, Reuven Lerner, is a full-time Python trainer. In a given year, he teaches course...
Nov 05, 2019•56 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Kelly and Sean are joined by Brianne Caplan (https://www.briannecaplan.com) from Code Your Dreams (https://www.codeyourdreams.org) and Gabrielle Rabinowitz (https://twitter.com/gabriellerab) from the BridgeUP: STEM Program (https://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/bridgeup-stem) at the American Museum of Natural History to discuss K-12 Python Education that happens outside of the classroom. Special Guests: Brianne Caplan and Gabrielle Rabinowitz.
Oct 28, 2019•48 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast Has it already been a year of learning and teaching Python for Kelly and Sean? In this episode, our co-hosts talk about the things they wish they knew a year ago to make their Python journey even better. 10 Things We Wish We Knew Before We Started Python Don't Be Afraid of the Unknown There's Never Going to be Enough Time Reading Error Codes Simple and Slow beats Complex and "Correct" Read a little. Code a lot. Projects Really Work You Have to Teach To Someone Reach out to the Python Community D...
Oct 20, 2019•34 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast Isn't it surprising how much repetition goes into the job of teaching? What if you could use Python to automate that and focus on the work that adds the most value for your students? Or at least eliminate the boring teaching stuff like transferring grades or setting up iPads. With thanks to Al Sweigart and his book, Automate the Boring Stuff With Python (https://automatetheboringstuff.com/), Kelly and Sean look at how teachers can leverage Python to speed up or eliminate the most boring and repe...
Oct 04, 2019•43 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Kelly and Sean discuss how their philosophy of teaching helps them to design their daily curriculum for the course.
Sep 03, 2019•49 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast What are the best editors for teaching in Python? In this episode, Kelly and Sean examine a variety of different environments for students to learn to code Python. Should it be online or local? Paid or free? Simple or full-featured? An editor or an IDE? Here's what made our list: Mu Editor (https://codewith.mu) Visual Studio Code (https://code.visualstudio.com) PyCharm Edu (https://www.jetbrains.com/pycharm-edu/) python.microbit.org (https://python.microbit.org) Repl.it (https://repl.it) Jupyter...
Jul 17, 2019•34 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast Many teachers give advice to parents on how to keep kids engaged during the summer. Sean and Kelly take their own advice and apply it to teachers and professional development. In this episode, we discuss how to avoid the “Summer Slide” and what we are doing to keep on learning.
Jun 27, 2019•31 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Kelly and Sean both agree that reflecting on your teaching is vital for our growth as educators and learners. In this episode, they take a few moments to reflect on their year, their lessons, their learning, and their progress. “ Learning without reflection is a waste. Reflection without learning is dangerous.”-Confucius
Jun 20, 2019•38 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Kelly and Sean talk to freelance educational consultant Meg Ray. She was the founding Teacher in Residence at Cornell Tech (https://tech.cornell.edu/impact/k-12/) where she was responsible for the implementation and design of a coaching program for K-8 CS teachers in New York City schools. An experienced middle and high school computer science teacher and special educator, Meg directed the design of the Codesters (https://www.codesters.com) Python curricula for middle school stu...
Jun 20, 2019•52 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Sean and Kelly chat with Karen Hildebrand and Teresa Vallotton from FarmFemmes. These two ladies are using technology to inspire the next generation of farmers. By offering one-day tech camps, and hosting international students, Karen and Teresa hope to bring a new life and meaning to an agricultural career. Their hope is to bring their “technical knowledge and a relateable voice to showcase the unique ways women can contribute to agriculture in the 21st century.” Dr. Karen Hild...
May 28, 2019•36 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast 
