Art Class Series

12 weekly art class sessions
Class descriptions and registration links by the day of the week below.
Please send an email to Allen if you have any questions.

Have you ever wanted to design your own furniture or spaceship model? Create your ideal superhero or imaginary animal and turn them into an animated cartoon? Develop a personalized symphony using digital tools? We are pleased to launch our first after-school class as part of our new Digital Arts Studio! Digital Arts Studio is a new program for the next generation of budding artists and creatives to focus on digital design using cutting edge tools. Flex your creative skills as no coding is needed for Digital Arts Studio. For this inaugural small-group class, students will learn the foundations of 3D graphics using Blender, a 3D computer graphics software toolset. From that foundation, they’ll add color and depth and move progressively to more complex shapes and designs – trees, snow people, pizzas, houses, and so on. Bring your best creative visions and ideas and learn how to make them a digital reality!
Recommended Ages: 10-13

Code Class Series

12 weekly code class sessions
Class descriptions and registration links listed by the day of the week below.
Please send an email to Allen if you have any questions.

The AI era is here! Python is now more popular than ever in real-world applications, such as artificial intelligence and data science. This class is for students with no prior coding experience or just learning how to type on a keyboard. Students will use a Python platform to explore fundamental concepts, develop general problem solving skills, and enhance logical thinking skills. Then it will dive into fun projects that engage creative thinking and more coding. Students will learn Python syntax (loops, variables, line structure, etc), function calls, Cartesian Coordinates, and more!
Recommended Ages: 10-13

Everything's about the web these days! In Web Development we will dive into all the the base web technologies like HTML/CSS and JavaScript. Technologist will earn the basic coding syntax, data types, variables, loops, and conditionals along with how the internet and file transfers work, and get your pages uploaded to our servers for public viewing!
Recommended Ages: 10-13

Don’t just play games, make them! Our popular game design class teaches creative coding in a fun way using MIT’s popular “Scratch” platform. Scratch uses drag ‘n drop blocks that allow students to assemble their code quickly and get to the fun part - making games, playing them, and unleashing their imagination and creative instincts! Game design is a fun w

Junior Code Class Series

We designed a junior code class for our youngest technologists. This code class will mainly focus on keyboarding skills and basic computer science fundamentals using drag 'n drop logical concepts. Your younger technologist will stay engaged with interactive online tools and entertained through games and stories. Space in the Junior Code Classes are limited, so reserve your spot today! One class per week. $399/12 class sessions.
Recommended Ages: 6-7
Please send an email Allen

Sunday Code Classes

12 Sessions for $399
3/9-6/1 (no classes on 3/30)

Register our Sunday code classes for your technologist here.

Tuesday Art Classes

12 Sessions for $399
3/11-6/3 (no classes on 4/1)

Register our Tuesday code classes for your technologist here.

Wednesday Code Classes

12 Sessions for $399
3/12-6/4 (no classes on 4/2)

Register our Wednesday code classes for your technologist here.

Thursday Code Classes

12 Sessions for $399
3/13-6/5 (no classes on 4/3)

Register our Thursday code classes for your technologist here.

NOW HIRING!

Do you enjoy teaching and watching kids' eyes light up? Are you a decent competent coder? Our social and immersive method is a great way to get our next generation ready while being able to have fun with technology yourself. Apply today!

Please send an email with your resume to Allen

Congratulation Shreya!

We are delighted to share that Nancy Pelosi named one of our students, Shreya Aghi, winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge in our district, California’s 11th District!

Shreya is an 8th grader in San Francisco and has been with the Coder School for __ years. Her winning app, Teen Tobacco Termination, was mission driven: to inform teenagers and their loved ones about the dangers of smoking and vaping, and how to get the help they need. To teachers who are reading this, this app is just what you need to do a lesson for your teen students on the health risks from tobacco use!

Shreya describes: “I was inspired to create Teen Tobacco Termination through my work with BACR (Bay Area Community Resources), focusing on tobacco cessation among teenagers. As I have witnessed peers in middle school being drawn into their first cigarette or vape, I recognized the significance of the issue. Vaping and smoking are increasingly concerning among adolescents, and it’s crucial to inform them about the risks before they get involved.”

Teen Tobacco Termination includes an info page with visual data and expert statistics, interactive images, quizzes to test the user on the info page content, and resources for getting help or getting involved. Shreya created her app in Visual Studio Code and Repl using Python, a language she was already familiar with. She employed the PySimple GUI library to add elements such as buttons, text, images, and graphs to create a structured layout for the user. She also utilized the Pillow library so she could change properties of images, and the web browser library to add links to external resources.

Congratulation Shreya! 2

Coach Edward, who guided Shreya through her journey to victory, applauded her maturity and focus. “Because her background was pretty strong, doing something of this magnitude was easier. I think because frankly she’s very mature already, it meant I could easily give her parts of the project to work on, on her own, without needing to worry about checking up on her every week.” At the outset, Coach Edward encouraged her to write out the entire idea of what she’d like to do, without worrying about what’s possible, so they could decide on the core features she wanted then weed out the less feasible things. Because Shreya already had a strong foundation in Python, much of Coach Edward’s instruction was helping her deploy her knowledge in new ways. How do we make the graphic interactive? How do we get the carousel up and running? How do we get the GUI up and going? How do we get the screens set up? In addition, they worked on writing efficient and clean code with better algorithms that wouldn’t slow the system. “It was fantastic working with her and it’s still fantastic working with her, especially seeing how much she’s grown over the past couple of years.”

For Coach Edward, that’s one of his favorite parts of teaching – witnessing his students’ development. He reflects with amusement on other students of his who are moving a lot faster now. “I saw you when you were here three years ago when you were a lot younger and you didn’t even know how to type on a computer, and now, here we are!”

Congrats to Shreya and Coach Edward. We of course can’t wait to see what they do next!

Coder Game Winner Serena

1st in SF and 4th Nationally.

Serena, 7th grader at Proof School. Serena has been with us since January 2021.

- I first got interested in coding when I was introduced to programming robots to follow an obstacle course in school.
- I enjoy using processing and Python turtle to create different drawings.
- I like to play tennis and listen to music in my free time.
- If I could code AI to do anything, I would code it to create a system for driverless cars.

Coder Game Winner Jax

1st in SF and 4th Nationally.

Jax, 7th grader at San Francisco Day School. Jax has been with us since August 2022.

- I first got interested in coding when I went to a coder school camp.
- I really love the feeling when I accomplish a task that I had previously struggled with, whether it is creating a game or making a school project. I really enjoy making a working system in code and doing things I couldn't otherwise.
- I like playing basketball, and playing tennis with my sister.
- I would code it to read and translate my handwriting into text. My handwriting is terrible.

Coder Game Winner Adrian

2nd in SF, 11th Nationally.

Adrian, 9th grader at San Francisco University High School. Adrian has been with us since November 2021.

- I first got interested in coding in 3rd grade when we had a teacher introduce Python turtle to us. I spent hours playing around with it!
- I enjoy the problem solving aspect of coding. There are always many ways to solve a coding challenge, and each way has a different logical answer.
- I like watching and playing sports. I play baseball for my high school team. I love to take my dog out to the park or for nice walks.
- I would code AI to create recipes and help cook in order to make it more fun and to allow you to try new things.

Coder Game Winner Caitlin

3rd in SF, 12th Nationally.

Caitlin, 11th grader at Raoul Wallenberg High School. Caitlin has been with us since June 2019.

- After attending one of the Coder School summer camps, I was amazed at all the possibilities that coding opened up and I wanted to learn more.
- I enjoy solving problems and creating useful applications. I also like how there are many ways you can approach a problem, which allows for a lot of unique solutions.
- When I’m not coding, I like playing badminton and hanging out with friends :)
- I would code an AI to help study for tests and exams that would be tailored to each user’s learning styles.

Meet Coach Nic!

Coach Nic fondly remembers his dad bringing home a “Frankenstein PC” with Windows 97 and then playing a Toy Story 3D game on his dad’s lap. Not only was this fun for Nic, it got him interested in technology and learning about the integration of art and music into video games. And so began his technology journey into coding.

Coach Nic particularly enjoyed his computer science classes at SF State that emphasized building from the ground up. Nic’s Java classes where they built the compiler first, then the games from scratch were some of his favorites. One of Coach Nic’s favorite things about his coding journey is the empowerment of solo creation and community he found with like-minded developers and creative artists. He recalls learning about independent developers like Lucas Pope who made Papers, Please all by himself. Another favorite, Stardew Valley, was also created by a solo developer who did all the art, programming, and music. They inspired him in how they created so many interesting experiences, all on their own. In Coach Nic’s words, "Something else I really like about programming is it’s an avenue to create this nexus for all of my interests to meet and mingle - cool thing about games that they’re multifaceted. For someone like me who’s tangentially interested in different things, it’s a nice way to bring everything together in one package."

Meet Coach Nic! (continue)

Music is a passion for Coach Nic. He laughs about how he has a “bunch of pianos” in his room and speaks glowingly about the fellow musicians he enjoys playing with. “I really like jazz and I play a lot of music and make games, too. And play them too.” Coach Nic has especially enjoyed the community he’s found through coding, gaming, and music. He's been working on a rhythm game for a couple of months with a team of 4 friends who have particular skills and interests – 3D modeling, design, concept art. Stay tuned for what emerges. Think of how fun it could be to play a hip hop rhythm game kind of like Guitar Hero!

Exemplifying the best of us, Coach Nic has further found joy in sharing his knowledge and creating community for the next generation. He talks enthusiastically about how teaching keeps him learning, and how learning makes it even more fun to teach. “I realized the value of having a community of people around you if you’re interested in something, and how important and impactful that can be. So I’ve always really loved sharing things I know with other people and learning from them as well.” For Coach Nic, it’s fun to be able to tap into that beginner’s mindset where everything is new and fun. "The excitement rubs off on you -- fun to share my enthusiasm and have some of those older fires reignited."

Creative coding is at the heart of our teaching approach at The Coder School San Francisco, and Coach Nic is the epitome of what we’re all about. We are so fortunate to have Coach Nic as part of our team. He is one of our Coaching rockstars responsible for guiding and mentoring the next generation of creative coders. We look forward to many more years of working with Coach Nic!

Meet Coach Ivy!

At the Coder School San Francisco, we love teaching coding. We also love celebrating our students, coaches, and staff who are such an important part of our community.

Coach Ivy is both a student and Code Coach. Ivy joined us for our first summer camp in 2017 after finishing 6th grade at Denman. She took all of Allen’s whiteboards to organize and plan her text based adventure game. (Allen laughs when remembering how he looked everywhere for the missing whiteboards.)

“That game was one of the first projects that really stuck with me – didn’t feel like an assignment, more like a piece of art.”  -- Coach Ivy

After summer camp, Ivy joined our Code Coaching program as a student. Her first teacher was Coach Natalie, who taught her the importance of collaboration. While Ivy was at first a bit nervous about our pairs approach, where we have two students with one Code Coach, she became good friends with her pairs partner Ethan. Ivy and Ethan are still friends, which is part of what makes us happy about our community – having more students get to know others with similar interests and stay in touch. She also credits Natalie and Ethan for teaching her about the joys of teamwork, mentorship, and of course, readable code.

Ivy joined us as a summer camp counselor for 2017 and part of 2018. With all her experience as a student and enthusiasm and leadership as a counselor, we were thrilled that Ivy joined us as a teacher last fall after shadowing Coach Jason over the summer.

Coach Ivy enjoys teaching Scratch in particular and has observed that among the benefits of learning coding as a kid, beyond active coding itself, is that you learn to do math and you learn to spell. Fundamentals in a fun way.

Coach Ivy is now a junior in high school who leads her robotics club. She still enjoys learning advanced coding while teaching the next generation how to code text adventures.

What’s nex

Meet Coach Ivy! (continue)

What’s next for Coach Ivy?
“I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that making video games is a viable career. In my heart, it seems like too much of a pipe dream.

I definitely think I’m going to keep coding forever. It’s one of the best outlets for me to be creative. Even if I’m not in a field using it professionally, I will still make stuff for me for fun regardless of whether there are financial benefits.”

Our hunch is that Coach Ivy will realize her dream and do many great things in addition to her teaching and creating. We’ll be behind her all the way!

“I think people should see code as more of an art than they do.” -- Coach Ivy

Congrats to our amazing coaches

for winning several awards in the inaugural Repl.it Game Jam Game Design Contest.

Best Individual Game: CryptoStory: Isekai, Action Adventure game using Phaser CE by Coach Jason Huang

Best Team Game: Zanderian Prince Simulator 2020 by Coaches Jacky Chen, Dakota Madden-Fong, Nicolas Graves, Michael Tran

Be sure to read Repl.it’s Developer Spotlight interview with Nico, Dakota, Michael, and Jackie! "We're a small group of co-workers at the Coder School San Francisco, we're instructors and teach programming to kids and use repl.it all the time for lessons and instruction with students.”

Learn more about games that our coaches built below: