Hej Mette!

My name is Izzy Lapidus and I am so excited to be your DIS Student this semester. I am from New York City and grew up in Brooklyn. I am a junior at Barnard College of Columbia University where I study Computing, Design, and Pedagogy—a special major I created myself to pursue my passion for computer science education.

My background

• I attended New York City public schools my whole life. I attended specialized arts middle and high schools with a focus in drama, so I am great at coming up with fun improv games and thinking of things on the spot.
• I have worked with a variety of different students of varying identities (race, gender, socioeconomic, disability, etc) between the ages of 5 and 18. I particularly love working with 6-10 year olds.
• I have a lot of teaching experience, particularly in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) topics. I love helping students with their math and coding assignments. I also have a lot of curriculum development experience.
• I worked as a sleep away camp counselor at my childhood sleep away camp this summer where I was the counselor for a group of female-identifying 9-11 year olds and 13-14 year olds.

My motivation + What I hope to learn

• Denmark is famous for its schooling system. I want to see what the hype is all about!
• I believe that America’s K-12 education system is largely inequitable and many students are left behind. Students are not respected as actual people in the traditional American classroom and the teacher/student power dynamic is completely unbalanced. I want to explore the differences between Danish and American schools!
• I really love STEAM education and would love to see/experience/practice Danish STEAM education. Is STEAM education a “thing” here? Are children taught how to code? Are there maker-spaces? I have so many questions and am excited to explore them in a hands-on way.
• I hope to use my experiences in your school to inform my senior thesis project back at Barnard where I am designing my own computer science education course that will be taught next Fall! I would love to bring some Nordic pedagogy back home :)
• I am also taking a Children with Special Needs course and many students at my sleep away camp are on the autism spectrum and/or have learning disabilities. I would love to gain more experience working with kids with special needs!

What you can expect from me

• Whatever you need help with, I am there.
• I am very reliable, very experienced with kids, and love being around them. I think at heart I am very much still a child myself.
• I will jump in without being told to do so, but I would like to respect your wishes so please just tell me if you want me doing something in particular.
• I play lots of games as a means of getting kids to focus/complete their work. I love setting timers and making everything a bit of a “race,” as I’ve found that this gets kids moving and excited about their work.
• At first, I will probably be more interested in walking around and working with kids in smaller groups as they work on their assignments, but as the semester continues I would love to actually teach (especially a STEAM topic) if that’s possible!
• I am learning Danish on my own and am taking the Danish course for students in my Child Development and Diversity program at DIS, but I am very much a beginner. I will be speaking in a lot of English.