
A Refactoring of the Self
Alright, this is my first entry in my blog.
Today marks the last day of the front end course of The Iron Yard, and I feel the need to review for myself (and also for you), some things I’ve learned and found out about myself. I will also review some insights into my style of learning, my ability to handle this new workload on my brain, and a coming-of-skill story into the mastery of new languages and avenues of thinking.
It is absolutely crazy how quickly the time has gone, how many people i’ve grown to love, and how much i’ve both learned and grown as a person. This coursework is really intense, but the challenge is totally worth the long workdays, my lethargy at the gym, and my weekend coding sessions. I revel in each puzzle I solve, each loop I accurately write, and I am just generally proud of myself. I’m not gloating here — I have a lot to learn and I still make silly mistakes sometimes.
I was a teacher in my “life before.” I worked for LISD proudly for two years, working with high school students in the Art 1 setting. I worked with kiddos of all sorts of skill levels. Some of them were interested in the subject and some were not. The differences in culture were stark — some kids had two parents, some kids lived in extended stay hotels as their primary means of shelter while others enjoyed massive castles, some knew how to speak english and some did not. I enjoyed the challenge of meeting each student at their level and did my best to spark creativity and bring about interest in the arts as best I could. A lot of kids really enjoyed my company. I hosted four clubs to reach the kids most in need of my help: Anime(for the nerds), LGBT(for those in need of support), a de-stress club(we worked issues with anxiety, deep breathing exercises, and practice mindfulness), and an Art club(because, art). I did not want to leave, but I needed to for myself. Interview me if you want to learn more~
As a teacher with a degree, the art of pedagogy and both lesson styling and scaffolding in learning come second nature. My teachers at TIY are incredible. Their teaching style is a lot like mine, actually. They lead us through the new content, answer questions and give lots of examples. Next, they let us practice at our new skill, and eventually these skills add up to greater breadth of understanding. New complexity of projects can be found when you apply multiple skillsets. They employ a lot of pair programming, which I love. I enjoy both working alone or with teams, and the atmosphere is not at all competitive. I feel open to ask questions and receive help if i’m stuck, but I try to do it myself first. I continue to be in awe of the patience of my instructors as they navigate the subject matter and somehow translate the content, on the fly, to each of us so we can all understand it at our current level of knowledge. It’s bananas!
My fellow students and myself began our adventure in the worlds of html and css. After learning to style pages, we started JavaScript. JS hit me like a train on the first day. It was hard, it made little sense, and its need for each and every detail made it difficult to type that I thought I needed to. I switched tactics. I practiced with each individual component and reviewed and reread each piece of documentation I was given and found until I understood things in parts: divide, then conquer. Finally, I was making calculators in the DOM, creating nested for loops, and appending children to pages with template literals. I learn something new each day in great leaps!
Today, we learned about using Mocha.js for testing, about Test Driven Development, and the method of Red Green Refactor. RGR makes a lot of sense to me — write it, get it working in tests, and then you refactor it to make your code the best it can be. It sounds a lot like my times making artwork or drawings. I begin with a sketch — something rudimentary — I have a final goal in mind but I might not know exactly what all of the moving parts will entail. Next, I build and get it to about where I want it. Does the drawing work? Does it make sense anatomically? If the drawing is just right, I might decide that the drawing is the best it can be OR that it might need additions like an extra lock of hair or a background for style. Is there a way to elaborate on a detail or a gesture to enhance the overall character or flow of the drawing? In code I would ask: can I make this faster or cleaner? What more can I do to make this the best it can be?
With my study at TIY, I hope to be a better person than I was yesterday. I look forward to the challenges presented, to the next long afternoon seated and coding, to the next mild bout of frustration… I love it!
