Roslyn High School teachers and students discussed their experiences Thursday with the district’s computer science courses, and the Board of Education Trustees wanted to know how to build upon their existing courseload.
Business teacher Jennifer Di Pietro, math teacher Brian Ciavarella and English teacher Larry Reiff were new to the computer science community when they began working with the district’s 21st century curriculum and now are a Code.org facilitator, a Computer Science Teachers Association of Long Island presenter and an Apple Distinguished educator, respectively.
“When we teach 21st century learning skills like computer science, we’re teaching skills that will translate into almost any career path: collaboration, problem solving, creativity, critical thinking,” Reiff said. “When we’re teaching them coding and use computers, we’re really teaching them these deeper skills, and our students have absolutely embraced that.”
The district currently offers four computer science classes in at Roslyn High School: Introduction to Java, AP Computer Science A, AP Computer Science Principals and App Inventor, the most recent course added this year.
Ciavarella began teaching in 2008 when the Java course was introduced and said the class has continued to grow, prompting the district to add the three courses in the last decade.
Ten years ago, Ciavarella said many of the students in the computer science classes were juniors and seniors, but now many younger students are taking the courses and running out of computer science options as upperclassmen.
Trustee Clifford Saffron asked the group what they could do to help the district grow its computer science program, including new classes, equipment and programs.
“It’s the Wayne Gretzky theory of education: ‘It’s not where the puck is, it’s where the puck is going.’ Education is the same way, Saffron said. “If you guys have a wish list of how we continue to develop what you collectively have put in place, what would it include and how could the administration support that? We want the best for our kids. We want to be cutting edge. We want to have what every other district wishes they could have.”
Sarah Pethani has taken all of the district’s offered classes and is a member of the Code Club, which began last year. Pethani said the group spends every first Friday of the month leading basic coding workshops through the program Scratch Jr. at Bryant Library to elementary and middle school students.
“Even though a lot of us haven’t used this program before, it’s really cool because we learn it from Daniel [Robbins] and then we teach it to the kids,” Pethani said. “It’s nice because you see these kids so interested in coding and they create these funny games or cool stories, and you get to see them create things and it brings you joy.”
Juniors Taylor Bracone and Justin Schiavo recently attended the Local Hack Day hosted by the Code Club, a 12-hour event targeted toward building a community of computer scientists with other high schools and colleges internationally.
The pair created a driving game with Construct 2, a program they had only used once before the event.
“The reason this was so meaningful to us was we don’t have a lot of experience with coding,” Schiavo said. “We went into AP Computer Science Principles this year, and we hadn’t taken any other courses. We both joined Code Club for the first time as juniors, and we really started to get into it. We were one of those people that came in with no idea what we were going to do, but we also were two people who stayed the entire time.”
During the meeting, the Board of Education also recognized the Roslyn Middle School Chorale for their performance Dec. 3 at MetLife Stadium before the Kansas City Chiefs played the New York Jets.
Conducted by Cynthia Feinman, the group performed The Star-Spangled Banner during the meeting followed by “You Will Be Found” from the Tony Award-winning musical “Dear Evan Hansen.”
