Educator Spotlight – Meet Lori Truoccolo!

23 January, 2024

“After retiring from teaching in 2016, I returned to a first-grade classroom in 2022 to find that
Computer Science Standards had been added to the curriculum. My anxiety was real! “How
am I going to teach these standards when I have no idea what I am doing?”

Head and shoulders image of white woman with brown long hair, looking and smiling into camera. Text displays name and school division

“I quickly contacted my ITRT and to set up weekly computer science lessons using a team-teaching model. We started with coding emphasizing the 5 Cs of learning, collaboration, communication, creativity, critical and computational thinking. I am honest with my class regarding my intimidations when it comes to technology, and they love the opportunity to learn alongside of their teacher. Let’s just say that Mrs. T. is doing a lot of debugging, and this makes the class laugh.”

“I am honest with my class regarding my intimidations when
it comes to technology, and they love the opportunity to learn alongside of their teacher.”

“Technology can be intimidating, but when we are able to work together, help each other, and feel comfortable making mistakes, we are preparing a whole generation that will be “future-ready”. We are
currently working on typing skills using this software. It is exciting to see my students learn to type like the pros!”

– Lori Truoccolo, First Grade Teacher, Spotsylvania County Public Schools

Ms. T’s colleague had this to say in her nomination:

“Mrs. Truoccolo took it upon herself to learn more about Computer Science and co teach a CS lesson to her 1st grade class every week this year! Now her 1st graders know how to program, code, create algorithms, and have great computer troubleshooting skills. Because of her enthusiasm to get to know Computer Science better, the rest of her 1st grade team has jumped on board and their classes are now partaking in weekly CS lessons as well! Way to go!

“The teachers are all realizing that Computer Science CAN be taught to students as young as kindergarten and 1st grade and it can be used to integrate other subjects. In the videos provided, students are creating a “program” for their partner to follow in order to spell c-v-c words on a letter mat. After the students mastered this programming skill, they were able to program online at https://beebot.terrapinlogo.com/ to spell more words independently! We love that CS incorporates Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Citizenship into daily instruction!”

Want to celebrate YOUR favorite K-12 educator who’s doing great things in CS? Nominate them HERE!