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layout: post
title: Why teach
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> Why are you applying to The Flatiron School Pre-College Summer Academy Teaching Fellowship? (<300 words recommended) *

My Coordinator at Scripted, <NAME>, recommended the program to me and I'm interested for a number of reasons. I've been teaching with Scripted for most of this year and I really enjoy it. I've taught a number of different topics over the years from pottery and glassblowing, to dance, to computer science. There's something about the successful transmission of information that is exhilarating. 
Teaching is also really difficult. I've recently started reading more about the craft of teaching (TLC anyone?), and have been successfully applying those lessons to my teaching. I like crafts, I like learning more about a material (clay, movement, cs, information) and as such teaching is a wonderful combination of my passions. So, when Becca recommended the Flatiron program it seemed like a perfect way to professionally explore a field that I know I love.


> Describe your background with computer programming, and with teaching/working with students (if any, regarding both teaching and programming). Feel free to include links to syllabi for classes you've taught, applications you've built, etc. (<250 words recommended)

I studied CS in college and worked for Microsoft for a couple of years after school. I ran and taught at a Ceramics studio for a number of summers where I taught kids aged ten to fifteen. I have TA'd glassblowing classes in Seattle. I currently am the primary developer for my own startup and did a lot of backend work on my previous two startups [bandpass.fm](http://bandpass.fm) and [Shuhari](http://shuhari.io). Shuhari was also an idea I had for a more structured way of learning that came from my own experience teaching myself multiple disciplines including Poi for which I subsequently created a [syllabus](http://poi.shuhari.io)



> The ability to think in a structured way, both creatively and quantitatively, to solve complex problems is an important element of being a successful developer. Can you tell us anything that demonstrates your abilities in that realm? (anything from standardized test scores to experience playing a musical instrument counts). (<250 words recommended)<commit_msg>1st draft<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: Why teach
image: hand.jpg
---

> Why are you applying to The Flatiron School Pre-College Summer Academy Teaching Fellowship? (<300 words recommended) *

My Coordinator at Scripted, <NAME>, recommended the program to me and I'm interested for a number of reasons. I've been teaching with Scripted for most of this year and I really enjoy it. I've taught a number of different topics over the years from pottery and glassblowing, to dance, to computer science. There's something about the successful transmission of information that is exhilarating. 
Teaching is also really difficult. I've recently started reading more about the craft of teaching (TLC anyone?), and have been successfully applying those lessons to my teaching. I like crafts, I like learning more about a material (clay, movement, cs, information) and as such teaching is a wonderful combination of my passions. So, when Becca recommended the Flatiron program it seemed like a perfect way to professionally explore a field that I know I love.


> Describe your background with computer programming, and with teaching/working with students (if any, regarding both teaching and programming). Feel free to include links to syllabi for classes you've taught, applications you've built, etc. (<250 words recommended)

I studied CS (and Sculpture) in college and worked for Microsoft for about three years after school. I ran and taught a Ceramics studio for five summers where I taught kids aged ten to fifteen how to throw and work with clay, and I have TA'd glassblowing classes in Seattle. I am currently the primary developer for my own startup and did full stack work on my previous two startups [bandpass.fm](http://bandpass.fm) and [Shuhari](http://shuhari.io). Shuhari was also an idea ([and philosophy]({% post_url 2015-02-26-shu-ha-ri %})) I had for a more structured way of learning that came from my own experience teaching myself multiple disciplines including Poi for which I subsequently created a [syllabus](http://poi.shuhari.io). I love teaching and learning, I think about it frequently, and I would welcome a more formal introduction to it.


> The ability to think in a structured way, both creatively and quantitatively, to solve complex problems is an important element of being a successful developer. Can you tell us anything that demonstrates your abilities in that realm? (anything from standardized test scores to experience playing a musical instrument counts). (<250 words recommended)

I think I aced the SAT's but that was so long ago. I played the clarinet for many years, I've taught myself a ridiculous number of things, and I'm very good at breaking down sometimes hard to explain topics like throwing pottery on the wheel into very clear discrete steps. 
A story that I get a kick out of comes from an engineering contest back in college. We were asked to create a structure out of toothpicks and marshmallows, while maximizing for height. However, each toothpick and marshmallow had a cost. The winning team would have the highest height-to-cost ratio. I looked carefully at the objective and the materials, and realized I could split the toothpicks with my teeth and insert one into the other (Robin Hood split arrow style) to make a very tall narrow thread of connected toothpicks.  We used three toothpicks as a tripod base connected with a marshmallow and carefully balanced the spire vertically out of the marshmallow. Some people accused us of cheating, but we just hacked the challenge. We didn't break the rules.  
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