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Amy Lindgren

Connection to CTD

I have had the unique opportunity to engage with CTD as a student, an instructor, and a permanent staff member. My first connection to CTD was when my siblings and I participated in CTD programs and/or Northwestern University's Midwest Academic Talent Search (NUMATS, now CTD Assessment) testing as children. Our parents discovered CTD when our local school did not provide sufficient enrichment. They had to do extensive advocacy to get us services, and CTD was one organization that provided opportunities they felt we needed. I specifically remember attending the CTD Family Conference as a kid--it was inspiring to be in a space surrounded by students and adults passionate about things I was interested in. I also remember a more challenging, even "failed", experience taking an EPGY correspondence course back when distance learning took place via mail. Through that experience I discovered much about the way I learn best, and it was a true growth mindset moment. Now, I love online learning.

My next connection to CTD came when I was a graduate student in Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy (SESP). I was training to be an elementary teacher and had the opportunity to take a job as a teaching assistant for CTD's Leapfrog Summer Program. I loved it! After earning my teaching license, I continued with CTD as a teacher for both the Weekend Enrichment Program and the Leapfrog Summer Program.

After working as an instructor I had the opportunity to continue my talent development pathway at CTD managing programs. For the last eight and a half  years, I have worked full-time at CTD coordinating a range of courses both in person and online for the Weekend Enrichment Program and the Academic Summer Camp for PreK-Grade 6. I now create and implement the programs that meant so much to me as a child. 

Active Years

2000s, 2010s-present

Bio

I am currently a coordinator of advanced enrichment programs at CTD, working with weekend and summer programs for students age 4 through grade 6. While I develop curriculum and provide coaching to our instructors in all subjects, I am especially passionate about technology (robotics and coding) for the younger elementary years. As an elementary general education teacher, it always surprised me that we do not introduce computational thinking and technology until middle school, a point at which many students (especially those female-identifying) already feel STEM is not for them. Over the years, I developed this passion through my own learning pathway, first experimenting with updating existing CTD courses in topics like Scratch programming, teaching myself about some of the robots CTD used, and even participating in the pilot for CTD’s innovative early childhood robotics curriculum. During the 2015-2016 summers, I got to build out activities as a coordinator working on curriculum AND taught a pilot course to our students AND iterated some of the lessons that Ann Gadzikowski, former CTD Early Childhood Coordinator, ultimately published. My growing interest in technology inspired me to apply and get accepted to join the inaugural US cohort of educators to receive training and certification from the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

I spend lots of time coaching and mentoring our instructional staff in best practices to support high-achieving learners in our classrooms. In particular, I focus on how hands-on learning methods resonate with students and teachers alike because they allow us to meet students where they are. I am passionate about the role that critical thinking plays in hands-on learning. The learning experience is much richer when students are asked to consider open-ended deep questions and are challenged to think critically to determine new answers. You can apply critical thinking and hands-on learning to any subject area and any grade level, making it a truly universal instructional strategy! We provide opportunities for open-ended exploration of new ideas and it is quite rewarding to watch students discover a new interest or area of skill they never knew they had until they tried a CTD course in that subject.

Advice to Your Younger Self or Someone Considering CTD

Don't be afraid of getting the answer "wrong!" Learning is much more about experimenting and trying new things, and you will discover your best path through some of the scariest "wrong" answers you get along the way.