Shiela Lee

About

Hi!

I have been teaching for over 10 years. I also enjoy coding. Both teaching and coding require patience, persistence, and creativity. As a dually certified special education and general education teacher, I strive to create an atmosphere that builds community, respects difference, and challenges students to do their best. Read more about my teaching in Projects and read more about tools I want to code in Tools.

When I am not teaching or listening to podcasts, I can be found reading female empowerment books to my 2 daughters.

My Journey

Journey Highlights

STEM (Computer Science) PreK-5 Teacher

#NYCSchoolsTech Award 2021

Computer Science Lead

Computer Science Teachers of America (CSTA) Equity Fellow

Developing equitable teaching practices and advocacy

Collaborating with other teachers to address equity in the computer science classroom

Math for America Fellow

Master Teacher Fellowship Award

Broadening my growth as an educator, contributing to a professional community, and elevating the status of our profession

MotherCoder Fellow

Member of the inaugural NYC cohort

Self-taught html/css/javascript

Special Education Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) Teacher

Orton-Gillingham Certified Instructor

Computer Science 4 All (CS4ALL) Teacher Trainer

Big Apple Award Finalist

Coding Teacher in NYC STEM Summer in the City

Taught visual programming (blockly language) via Tynker

Taught physical computing with BBC Microbit

Teachers College, Columbia University

MA in Curriculum and Instruction

Dual certification to teach students with disabilities and general education students grades 1-6

Fulbright Fellow to Teach English in Taiwan

Awarded favorite teacher on Confucius Teacher's Day

Started two special English classes for disadvantaged students

Co-taught English to grades 1-6 in a public elementary school in Kaohsiung

Grinnell College

BA in Philosophy

John H. Worley Endowed Prize in Philosophy

Projects

Whether I am learning about how to create low floor high ceiling math tasks for my students or guiding my students to give effective feedback to their peers on their coding projects, I am always learning and growing. In addition to teaching my students literacy and math, here are some projects I've done in my primary classroom that I'm passionate about:

American Sign Language (ASL)

Develops fine motor skills
Gives access to the deaf community
Supports spelling in early childhood

Pen Pal Exchanges in Taiwan, Kenya & USA

Broadens awareness of other ways of life
Promotes cultural exchange
Develops global citizens

Mindfulness Meditation

Brings attention to the present moment
Promotes self-awareness
Can help with self-regulation

Coding, Robotics, & Physical Computing

Develops logical thinking
Can be integrated across curricular areas
Builds persistence and problem solving skills

Tools

As a special education teacher, I am looking to build tools that are universally designed for learning (UDL) and that help teachers create an accessible and inclusive classroom community.

. . . I use UDL as a guide

I follow universal design for learning (UDL) guidelines outlined by CAST. UDL as a framework helps all students, not just students with disabilities or English Language Learners.

. . . I use a station tool

In my first foray into coding, I designed a tool for my classroom specifically for when I teach using the stations model. I developed this visual tool to help all students know where to go and what to bring to each station.

. . . I use digital portfolios

While I am working to develop my own digital portfolios hub to showcase student work, I currently use Seesaw. Seesaw allows me to create interactive lessons and to show and share my students work with each other.

. . . I use an interactive 100s chart

As I continue to learn how to code, I designed an interactive hundreds chart tool for my students to help them learn about patterns on the hundreds chart and to strengthen their number sense.