My first programming class was when I was 17. It was also my teacher’s first time teaching a programming class. It was in Java and we used a library called Karel J. Robot, which felt like it was aimed at much younger kids, and I remember having a hard time matching what I was learning from the separate textbook and what I was building with Karel J. Robot. I also remember that a lot of my classmates were taking the class because they knew they’d be able to play games online for a whole class period. What I’m trying to say is that it was not the best programming class ever.
Whether or not I learned Java is a little unclear, but what I did learn is that programming was interesting and powerful and I loved it. I also learned a second lesson, which took much longer to surface, but that was that you don’t have to be an expert to teach something. That even just knowing enough can make a huge difference and change people’s lives.
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