Girls Are Changing The World
I'm a web literacy mentor because I believe it's important for girls to feel empowered and tell their own stories. Everyone's story is valid. DIVERSITY ROCKS. The sameness of remaining passive consumers is boring & unsustainable!Girls are changing the world.
My NYC studio is a random mess of story elements we collage together & sometimes digitize to make Gifs, stickers, drawings and zines. We co-created zinethis.org & (@nycBookNerd) on instagram to share the stuff we make stay connected.
We chill. Together we co-create stories. We storyboard.
As we tinker we're building community & learning to code a little at a time. We're having conversations, nurturing creative thinking skills & having FUN.
We're making #GIRLPOWER through storytelling.
We experiment offline with paper circuitry, pens, paint, cardboard & online with digital tools, platforms, games & apps. I think we can all agree that learning how to code might be a useful thing to know in a world filled with digital objects & 'always on' platforms. Teaching girls to code has become a priority for organizations like:
- Girls Who Code
- Girl Develop It
- Black Girls Code
- Made With Code from Google
- Girls Teaching Girls to Code
- and also: Ladies Learning Code
As a picture book artist fascinated with digital storytelling, I'm continually trying to upgrade my coding skills. I first took a class at The School Of Visual Arts. It didn't take. But I didn't give up…I tried Code Academy. That didn't take either. I kept trying.
It wasn't until I began my code adventure with Mozilla's #TeachThe Web MOOC in June 2013 that it began to click because it's project based learning. It's a great place to start if you are a visual learner-and who isn't? ; ) Here's some of the things I created during my first MOOC.
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Some of my web literacy badges issued by Mozilla. |
My #teachtheweb Thimble Page: Making Makerspaces
My #teachtheweb Remix Project: Inanimate Alice Postcard
My humble advice:
- 1. Don't give up.
- 2. Start where you are, at whatever level.
- 3. DIT. Do it together with a friend, family member or peer.
A Few Resources To Get You Started Teaching Kids To Code
- Mozilla Webmaker Mozilla is "a global community dedicated to teaching digital skills and web literacy. Start remixing the web and earn some badges.
- Code Academy An education company teaching the world to code.
- Mark Blair's AWESOME #HourOfCode Resource Page
- Robo-Boogie A really fun app designed by Code Club. Pick a robot and make it dance by manipulating the code.
- Khan Academy Hour of Code Tutorials
- My Pinterest Board Apps, games and other resources for teaching kids how to code
- Computer Science Unplugged A collection of free learning activities plus a free ebook download.
- Robot Turtles Board Game Dan Shapiro Kickstarted and created this board game for his kids.
If you're still wondering why kids should be learning to code read:
- Programming Power? Does learning To Code Empower Kids by Ben Williamson
- This Is Why Kids Need To learn To Code by Doug Belshaw
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