WEST ENGLEWOOD — Lindblom Math & Science student Nathan Petithomme spends Wednesdays teaching computer science to fourth- and fifth-graders.
The school’s staff has set aside Wednesdays as colloquium days, which allows students to work on personal and community projects. Nathan, 15, and some of his peers volunteer their Wednesdays to teach students from Nicholson and Henderson elementary schools things like computer coding, algorithms, looping and debugging.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool visited the school, 6130 S. Wolcott Ave., on Wednesday to observe how Lindblom students were teaching their younger counterparts how to code. Thirty to 60 students from each school come to Lindblom each week.
Claypool celebrated the “Hour of Code” with them. It’s a global computer science movement that runs Dec. 7 through Sunday. Students from Tonti Elementary had their celebration Monday.
Nathan said he came back for a second year because he was passionate about teaching and enjoyed putting together engaging lesson plans for his students.
“I just like interacting with them,” he said. “It’s just fun overall.”
His ultimate career goal is to become U.S. education secretary, so he plans on becoming a teacher, then principal. Working with students now is just the beginning, he said.
“Teaching is something I really like, and starting with them has really boosted my self-esteem to become a teacher," he said.
Principal Wayne J. Bevis likes that his high school students are able to teach the elementary students. The age gap is smaller, and the children are better able to relate to the teens, he said.
“There’s less pressure, less formality, and so the students learn better when they can relate to who is teaching them,” Bevis said. “They can relate to them and explain to them in the new lingo for the new generation that us as adults might not be able to do, so it helps build that bond.”
“It’s fun because it’s kind of like a game,” said 11-year-old Akila Rufus. The fifth-grader said it’s easier to talk to Nathan.
Mikayla Daniels, a 10-year-old fifth-grader, said she’s a fast learner and doesn’t like to quit.
“Sometimes it’s hard, but it’s mostly easy,” she said, adding that coding is “fun.”
“It’s about trying to get from start to finish,” said Mikayla.
Learning from her mistakes is important, she said.
“You make little mistakes ... but it’s easier to do the second time than the first,” she said.
Bevis said it’s a good for the Nicholson and Henderson students to get introduced to computer science at a young age.
“They’re getting exposed to it earlier so that eventually when they come to us for seventh-grade or high school, they already have that baseline so we can accelerate them even further. We love to push our students,” Bevis said.
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