About Teacher Spotlight: The concept of “students first” is at the heart of everything we are and do at CodeWizardsHQ. We know students learn best when they interact with a talented teacher. We conscientiously hand-select the very best coding teachers, ultimately hiring only the top 2% of applicants. Every month we go behind the scenes to tell you more about one of our amazing teachers. This month, we bring you, Ivann Grande!
Who/what inspired your career choice growing up?
When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, my mother won a raffle for a new computer. I was always playing with it and doing whatever I could with it. It just so happened that my elementary school was doing a career day event where we selected a career we would like to pursue. We dressed the part and had our photo taken as a reminder. When I learned about what computer programmers do, I realized that’s the career I wanted. Fast-forward to when I was 20, I went into college and lost sight of my genuine interests from when I was younger. I worked at a warehouse where I met a coworker (Erik) who was an amazing programmer. He motivated me to pursue the computer science field, and since then, I have worked hard at achieving a dream that I had long forgotten.
What has been the most rewarding part of working at CodeWizardsHQ?
My kiddos, hands down. Most of my students have been following me now since the beginning. It has been an incredible experience seeing them grow and develop not just their programming skills, but their life skills as well. If I can make just a small impact on what my students pick up throughout their academic career, then that’s enough for me.
What is your vision for the future of coding and kids?
I hope that coding can be made available to all kids and schools as a basic course. Every bit of tech around us utilizes some form of programming and preparing kids now will only benefit them in the future regardless of their career choice.
When you aren’t working, what do you enjoy doing (hobbies)?
I have quite a few random hobbies. I have over 15 instruments, and I enjoy wood carving, hiking, traveling, gardening, photography, watching movies, board games, long-boarding, baking, and programming. I always enjoy picking up new hobbies any chance I get. Currently, I started poking around into game development, and I’ve grown to like it.
If you could have one teacher super-power, what would it be?
If I had just one teacher superpower, it would probably be the ability to teach any topic the best way on the first go. Most teachers understand that different students learn in different ways and that sometimes requires us to teach in multiple ways for one class so that every student understands. If I could know from the beginning which way to teach a specific topic to all of my students, then students would have more time to put that topic into practice rather than trying to understand the topic itself.
What do you think is the most important thing about working with a company that teaches coding to kids?
Times are constantly changing, and I think it’s important that a company dedicated to teaching kids something as fast-paced as coding should be open to new and exciting changes as well. Being able to incorporate new technological advances into the company can ultimately improve the experience kids have when learning to code.
