Monkey see, monkey do ...

Flipping the learning process (for example, using a recorded example of a concept to replay) is a natural fit to teaching computer programming, meaning, often it's easier to "get" language how and why by watching an expert program a real solution. A Mark Guzdial ACM blog post about the risks of intuitive learning for CS beginners really makes the case for "strong instructional scaffolded guidance", a fancy way of saying, using code samples to guide first time programmers through to mastering early projects is really the way to start the whole process. In fact, as a professional programmer, my work team operates this way, too. We archive tricky code in a small searchable database that we query to use for future projects. In a recent ACM Communications article (Feb 2015) about the need for researching how we teach CS by using tenured computing education researchers, this excellent point is made:

"...some may say our existing system produced successful computer scientists, so why should we spend this effort pushing the efforts to K-12? Our current flawed system has produced fewer successful computer scientists than it could have. As Warren Buffet stated generously, one of the reasons for his great success was that he was only competing against half the population."

Along these lines, free online resources for shadowing other folks gaming/programming are out there! Check out Twitch to watch gaming (includes kid friendly platforms like Minecraft, Clash of Clans, and Super Mario), and this collection of coding in action resources here.

And, real life mentors are the way to go, too. I recently joined Lean In, an online mentor directory founded by Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, and created a K-5 teaching CS circle for folks to share/ask questions about teaching kids programming, or to ask questions in general about coding. Feel free to join mine and check out other circles, too!