Embracing My Beginners Mindset: Avoiding Overthinking

November 5, 2014November 5, 2014 Teacher Learns to Code programming, resources, ruby, ways to learn beginner mindset, coding, computers, discovery, disequilibrium, edtech, Education, education trends, languages, learning theory, learning to code, overthinking

Hello. My name is Lauren and I’m an over-thinker…I’ve been learning to program for 29 days.

I commented this week that it seems like the Ruby tutorials I’ve been working through are getting harder and it’s taking me longer to figure out write the code that’s prompted. I have recently realized that half of the time I’m completely overthinking, which just makes me laugh at myself.

For example, I spent 25 minutes trying to solve one particular prompt, trying all angles of writing the code only to result in error message after error message. I stuck with it, miserable yet determined, and eventually realized that I had simply read the prompt wrong. The prompt was to add some code before the print command, and I was adding the code after. It turned out that I had correctly written the code the first time. Rather than going back and re-reading the instructions, I just spiraled down the rabbit hole…my code getting more and more complex with each try.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. I’ve noticed that the fewer angles I examine, the faster I’m able to complete the prompts. This is interesting to me, because it does not feel natural at all! Continue reading →

Programming 101 or Programming ADD?

October 20, 2014November 7, 2014 Teacher Learns to Code Denver, experiments, Java Script, languages, Logo, ruby, ways to learn ADD, beginner mindset, coding, coding resources, JavaScript, languages, Logo, meetup, programming, programming 101, programming languages, ruby

I’ve been at my self-challenge of learning to code for a few weeks now. I figured it was time for some self-reflection on what I’ve actually been doing, because I’ve been doing a lot of different things including online tutorials, human interaction, reading, and self-reflection. Part of me feels really good about what I’ve been doing, and part of me feels concerned that I’ve going about this in the wrong way. Is this how it always feels when you decide to learn something completely foreign and hard?

So far, I’ve played with lots of different strategies for learning. I really like bulleted lists, so I’m just going to make a whole bunch that detail my attempts at learning to code:

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Try Ruby

October 6, 2014November 6, 2014 Teacher Learns to Code languages, ruby, ways to learn languages, learning to program, rails, ruby, ruby on rails, vygotsky, zombies

Ok, so about a week ago I decided to just start Googling how to learn to program. Ruby is a programming language that everyone says is “really easy” (I have a suspicion that my definition of “really easy” is quite different from those who say this) But, I think I’m going to start my programming adventures by learning Ruby. First, because of the “really easy” comments. I figure that even if it’s super hard, it has to be less hard than other languages that are not often described as “really easy”…SEE? I can think logically! I’m also wanting to learn this one because my husband knows it and likes it, so he will be a good person to ask questions to when I feel stuck.

I found this super cool sounding thing called Rails for Zombies, where you learn to program by creating program like Twitter, but for zombies. Awesome, right? I like Zombies! So I clicked on it, and it told me that if I was unfamiliar with Ruby, I should do an online Ruby tutorial first, and suggested tryruby.org. I’m all for suggestions, so clicked over and started playing with it.

The site page says: “Got 15 minutes? Give Ruby a shot right now! Ruby is a programming language from Japan which is revolutionizing the web. The beauty of Ruby is found in the balance between simplicity and power.”

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