I remember a time when I worked as a math tutor at a community college. Someone who knew of my writing asked, "are you one of those writing people who does math?" I guess I was, and still am (up through basic algebra, and then you can count me out).
I love math because it is concrete. Problems are like puzzles. I can approach them from a variety of directions, but if I solve them correctly, the final solution is the same regardless of my method. When I teach math, I frequently instruct my students in how to use multiple methods for solving the problems. While I want my students to at least learn how to use the different methods, I ultimately let them choose their preferred method, provided they can show their work or explain their process.
I need math and other concrete thinking in my seemingly abstract life, because at least once I solve a problem, my work is done. With parenting, teaching, and writing, I never know when I am finished. And, for someone like me, who questions and/or doubts herself often, having some concrete/fixed closed-ended results helps keep me grounded.
A couple of years ago, I learned about Hour of Code (Hour Of Code) and discovered the power of writing simple code to accomplish a task and solve problems. This week's book, one of several connected to the "Girls Who Code" movement (and the first book that made me aware of "Girls Who Code") brings coding to life off of the screen or in unplugged mode.
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How to Code a Sandcastle Written by Josh Funk; Illustrated by Sara Palacios; (c)2018 Viking (Publisher)
Meet Pearl, a young girl who chooses to spend her final day of summer vacation building a sand castle. Since past building attempts flopped due to a variety of events beyond her control, such as a "shark attack" and "flying saucers" (not as bizarre as they sound, thanks to the illustrations), Pearl is determined to achieve success with the aide of her robot, Pascal, following "code" or a set of instructions that a computer can understand.Telling Pascal to only build a sandcastle" means little to a robot. Pearl realizes that if she thinks like a coder and breaks the large task into smaller tasks that make sense to Pascal, then together they can accomplish her ultimate goal. Pearl also realizes that each instruction needs to be clear and specific, such as where to build. Without parameters, Pascal might build too close to water or not even in the sand. At times, such as when gathering sand, Pearl recognizes the need to use a "loop" or a way to repeat directions multiple times without having to write them again and again (similar to how we may do 5x7 instead of using repeated addition of 5+5+5+5+5+5+5). Pearl continues to learn about the importance of specificity when Pascal attempts to fulfill tasks without limits. When she tells him to gather "fancy decorations" for the sandcastle, while she gathers seashells, Pascal grabs a lifeguard tower complete with lifeguard, a pacifier, and other items he comes across. This leads Pearl to implement "if-then-else" conditions so Pascal will consider if each item meets certain criteria to collect or if he needs to then search for something else.
When all finally appears good, another unforeseen event occurs. Rather than viewing this as a failure, Pearl remembers that she already wrote the code, so she doesn't need to start over. She only needs to identify where the problem occurs in the code and then add a fix.
Once Pearl finally achieves her goal, she realizes there is no stopping her from building more.
How to Code a Sandcastle is a book that makes the basics of coding accessible and relatable to real-life off the screen. The humorous illustrations along with the clear writing together make the story not only fun to read, but also educational. While I love learning to code on a computer or tablet, I appreciate having a non-technology tool that can help me introduce coding to others.
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To being grounded,
today and tomorrow,
~Tamara
