Professional development:
Creative Coding Cohort
April 4, 11 and 25, 2024
Thursdays 4:00 - 6:00 PM
- Three live virtual sessions
- For grades 5-12 educators & administrators
- 10 PDPs upon completion
- Program fee: $150 per entry, or 2-for-1 when registering in pairs.
Cohort-based learning
You will learn to code with fellow teachers on the same journey and have the opportunity to collaborate, share ideas, and support each other.
Easy to use platform
We will learn Javascript using p5.js, a free, web-based visual editor with a library of pre-written codes. It will get you coding & feeling confident quickly.
p5.js was created with accessibility and inclusiveness in mind; a perfect tool for you and your students to harness creative coding in the classroom and beyond.
Interdisciplinary approach
Beyond learning to code, we will also practice computational reasoning and design thinking to build strong problem solving skills for both you and your students in any subject areas.
- Math and Science teachers – integrate coding for data visualization, representing a solution visually, or showing some phenomena.
- Art teachers – have students design digital works.
- Librarians and Makerspace teachers – design projects for students to have other means to express themselves.
- ELA and Humanities teachers – design projects for students to tell stories and take various perspectives visually.
- Special Education teachers and counselors – facilitate projects in which students can visualize how they can solve a conflict or handle a difficult situation at school.
This program is also directly applicable to Computer Science and Technology teachers.
Personal mentoring
To help you succeed in transferring what you’ve learned into your classroom, we offer an optional 30-minute checkin with an instructor post program completion to support you in course integration.
You will also have access to weekly virtual office hours in our online Slack community.
Scaffolding style curriculum
**This program is an excellent introduction for teachers interested in pursuing a Digital Literacy and Computer Science endorsement.
- Week #1 (April 4, 2-24)
2D drawing. Design thinking: empathize. - Week #2 (April 11, 2024)
Color + text exploration. Design thinking: define. - Week #3 (April 25, 2024)
Interactivity + movement. Design thinking: ideate.
Reusable lesson plans
Every lesson, exercise, and project from the program can be reused in your classroom.
You will also finish the cohort with a course outline or project that you can implement with your students immediately.
AceraEI Slack community
Just because the program is finished doesn’t mean you have to stop learning & growing! All of AceraEI’s course & program participants are invited to join our online community on Slack. Stay in touch with your program colleagues while expanding your network of like-minded educators for discussions, resource sharing, collaborations and inspirations.
Lead the charge
As part of the AceraEI community, you will be the first to hear about new initiative & courses, beta test our newest programs, and help guide what we build next.
*AceraEI is an approved DESE Professional Development Provider in Curriculum & Instruction – General, and Science and Technology/Engineering
Program instructors
Sarah Zuckerman, Director of Education and Innovation
Sarah is a graduate of the Arts in Education program at Harvard. Prior to her work in education leadership and program design, she was an art teacher in K-12 classrooms for 10 years, and has received numerous awards for her work, including Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Urban Scholars Fellowship and the Sontag Prize for Urban Education, and has had works published by Education Leadership, Ed Week, and Americans for the Arts.
Irina Uk, Education and Innovation Program Manager
Irina is a graduate of the Technology, Innovation, and Education program at Harvard. She has been teaching Math and Creative Computing in formal and informal settings for the last 14 years. She also has worked in EdTech and is very passionate about making educational technologies accessible to teachers and students.
Program details
Attend and participate in every session, and then complete the final project and course outline/ project plan to receive 10 PDPs in Curriculum & Instruction – General, and Science and Technology/Engineering.
AceraEI is an approved DESE Professional Development Provider in Curriculum & Instruction – General, and Science and Technology / Engineering.
Total program cost is $150, due upon registration.
** Refer a colleagues, and each participant will receive a 50% discount.
Program fee includes:
- Three virtual live instructions.
- Digital handouts & reading materials.
- Project & lesson plans that can be reused in the classroom.
- Weekly virtual office hours of Slack.
- One 30-minute personal mentor session within one month of program completion.
We understand that life happens. If you need to miss a session for any reason, let us know ASAP and we should be able to get you up to speed on the content.
Cancel your registration on or before May 15 for a full refund.
Acera: The Massachusetts School of Science, Creativity, and Leadership is a K-12 school founded in 2010 to offer hands-on, STEAM-rich learning in an individualized and question-driven environment. All of AceraEI’s curricula have been developed and pilot-tested with Acera students. Visit the school online at aceraschool.org
Acera Education Innovation – AceraEI – is our public outreach division. AceraEI partners with teachers and school/district leaders to cultivate a love of learning in students through choice, voice, agency, and hands-on STEAM learning in public schools.