Professional Development
The PiLa-CS project has translated our research into professional development. From 2020 to 2024 the team developed a course to support in-service teachers of Computer Science across grade levels and disciplines to ensure their instruction centered the experiences and language practices of emergent bilingual students. The team delivered aspects of these workshops to the NYCPS CS4All Exploring Equity in Computer Science professional development ecosystem and community.
The course was divided up into four levels to promote ongoing, cumulative teacher learning journeys over time, starting with examination of self and society, and then progressing into pedagogical strategies and design approaches aligned with equity-centered values. The course culminated in workshops to promote teacher action and advocacy.
These resources can be used and remixed under our CC BY-SA 4.0 license by individual teachers, professional learning communities, and other professional development activities.
PiLa-CS Teacher Professional Development Course: Language Justice, CS, and YOU
Overview
As educational settings increase in linguistic and cultural diversity, many educators wonder: How can I equitably teach bi/multilingual learners in the CS classroom?
This professional development sequence helps educators support their bi/multilingual learners, students who speak more than one language and who are learning English at school. The activities invite educators to grapple with theories that disrupt the political and social structures that create challenges for bi/multilingual learners. It also supports educators to notice and value how bi/multilingual learners use language and communicate in the CS classroom.
Level 1: Reflections on Own Experiences
Level 1 activities invite participants to reflect on their own experiences with language by interrogating systems of oppression that have traditionally constrained bi/multilingual learners’ participation in CS classrooms.
Level 2: Connections to the Classroom
Level 2 supports participants in making connections to the classroom and developing a stance that values their students’ diverse language practices.
Level 3: Code as Conversation
Level 3 introduces participants to an approach for designing and/or modifying CS units by embedding code and CS into conversations that their students— bi/multilingual and otherwise—are already having.
In Level 4, participants consider how the theories and approaches introduced in these professional development activities shape advocacy work to support building system-wide change.
Level 4: Action toward Systems Change
