Continuous Improvement

8th Light Apprenticeship - Day 20

The week of client training has come to an end. It’s been great working with Felipe to teach ten students Java. We built up a good rapor with the class, and everyone, including us, enjoyed the experience.

I’m pleased I was able to contribute some new ideas into the running of the course. I’ve listed a few below:

• I suggested that after the exercises, we could let the students do a show and tell of their code. Plugging their laptops into the projector, the pairs had to present and explain their work. This allowed the class to view different solutions for the same problem, introduced the concept of peer reviews, and got the students used to demoing. After they received praise and constructive critisism.
• Every day we got the pairs to do the Prime Factors kata. I happened to mention a randori style kata I had once done. We decided to use this format, where there is a driver and navigator at one keyboard, and one person rotates out, receiving a new partner every minute. The first time we received comments that the students found it hard as they felt pressured coding in front of everyone else. The second time we did it, they enjoyed the team support and got the time for the kata down by a third.
• In order to keep mixing the pairs, thus exposing the students to code they had not written, I suggested we used a ‘pairing-game’, which also acted as nice wake up after lunch. You think of items that go together, like salt and pepper, ketchup and mayo, left and right. Stick one word on every persons back, then get them to figure out who their parter is, only by asking questions that can be answered with a yes or no.

Here is what I have learnt:

• You need to be inventive in order to explain the same concept in multiple ways. Some people are technical, others more visual. You need to be patient and explore different angles until the student understands the concepts you are teaching.
• When the students are stuck you need to ask the right questions to get them to realise what they have done wrong.
• It’s important to praise the small victories. When you are learning to code for the first time, every small step counts. It’s easy for people to get frustrated (coding is hard!) so it’s important to keep motivation and the sense of achievement.

This time a few hands went up when we asked who was a professional at the end of the course.

Now we have to let them fly. From here, their success is largely up to them, but they have had a good start. I’ll be back to help coach them through their group project. I can’t wait to see who soars. I hope no one falls from the nest.