CSTA Dallas Fort Worth

We are CSTA Dallas Fort Worth

Connect with your local community of computer science teachers here in Dallas Fort Worth! Our chapter creates connections, provides professional development, and connects local teacher voices to the national computer science education community. 

About Us

Your local CS Community

Leonardo Painevilo, President
Parul Dumka, Vice President
Sylvia Bavarian, Secretary
Robin Bailey, Treasurer
Javier Aguilar, Communications
Dan Blier, Past-President 

To learn more about your local leadership and how you can become involved, click our About Us Page. 

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Latest Announcements

Our next chapter meeting is scheduled for: Welcome to Spring 2026 Battle of the Brains Coding Contest!
Date: Saturday, April 18, 2026     
Time: 1:00pm - 2:30 pm
Location: UTD ECSS building: 838 Franklyn Jenifer Dr. Richardson, TX 75080
Notes: Parking Permit - Use PS4 garage or Lot I or H adjacent to PS4. Lot J is closed for another event. Update: Parking will NOT be enforced this weekend.
Best regards,
Dfwcsta team

Thanks to funding from UT Austin’s WeTeach_CS, BootUp PD is hosting two fully funded 4-day workshops (July 27–30) in the Fort Worth area:

• Tiny Coders. Big Thinking. (K–2 | ScratchJr + Robotical Cogs)
• Create, Code & Connect. (Elementary | Scratch + micro:bit)

Teachers receive a stipend ($500) and classroom devices — so this is real support, not just another PD flyer.

Two workshop options are available:

🔹 Tiny Coders. Big Thinking.

ScratchJr + Robotical Cogs for K–2 Classrooms
Designed for K–2 educators, this immersive workshop introduces coding through storytelling, art, music, games, and play-based learning. No prior coding experience required. Teachers build foundational computational thinking skills using ScratchJr and Robotical Cogs.

🎁 Includes $500 stipend + 30 Cogs classroom devices

🔗 Register here

🔹 Create, Code & Connect

Scratch + micro: bit for Elementary Classrooms - grades 3-8
This 28-hour experience helps elementary educators integrate Scratch and micro: bits into real classroom instruction through creativity, problem-solving, and student-driven projects. Teachers leave confident and ready to implement immediately.

🎁 Includes $500 stipend + 30 classroom micro: bit devices

🔗 Register here

This WeTeach_CS-funded opportunity is designed to expand access to high-quality K–8 computer science across Texas. Space is limited.

Bring coding to your classroom — and get the support, tools, and compensation you deserve.

Workshop in Texas this spring! opportunity 

This spring, I’m running (Linda from Hello Ruby) a workshop for twenty Texas K–8 teachers called Playful Computing.
 
Six Fridays on Zoom, May through July. It’s the workshop I’ve wanted to build for a long time, everything I’ve learned about teaching computational thinking over the past decade, distilled into something a classroom teacher can actually use on Monday morning. 
 
 
It’s funded through WeTeach_CS at UT Austin, which means it’s completely free for participants. Every teacher gets a physical kit shipped to their door—three Hello Ruby books, a reflection journal, a student workbook, Play-Doh, sidewalk chalk, stickers, and a classroom poster. They also earn 30 hours of PD credit and a $350 stipend on completion. 
 
 This workshop is especially for K–5 generalists who’ve been told they need to teach computer science and have no idea where to start. But it’s also for 6–8 STEM specialists, librarians, media specialists, instructional coaches, and ESC staff. No CS experience required. The cohort is mixed on purpose, so we'll have kindergarten teachers sit alongside middle school specialists and district coordinators.
 
If you’re an educator anywhere in the US, you might know a Texas teacher. Or you’re in a Facebook group or Slack channel with one. If you could share the application link (or even just forward this email) that’s the single most helpful thing you could do. The best PD recommendations come from a person, not an algorithm.
 
Here in short:
 
Playful Computing: Teaching Algorithms through Story and Imagination
 
6 Fridays, 9 AM–2 PM CT  ·  May 8 – July 10, 2026
Live on Zoom + mailed kit
For Texas K–8 educators  ·  No CS experience needed
Free  ·  $350 stipend  ·  30 PD hours from UT Austin · Sub coverage reimbursement available
Apply by April 8: helloruby.com/texas. Applications are open until April 9th. 
Thank you for being here!
 
Linda
 
P.S. If you’re not in Texas but wish there were something like this near you—reply and tell me where. I’m keeping a list!
 
P.P.S. This is a subset of my subscriber list from Substack. If you don’t want to receive emails like this (well, this is the first I’ve ever sent :D), unsubscribe here.

Texas SAGE CS Teacher-Mentor Program

Teachers are often thrust into a new computer science class without resources or professional development. The Texas Supporting and Guiding Educators in CS Program (Texas SAGE CS) is a mentorship program that aims to provide much needed support for educators that are new to teaching computer science or that wish for support in teaching a new CS subject. Mentee computer science teachers will be paired with a mentor(s) to help them grow in pedagogy and content knowledge for one school year. Mentee teachers will receive monthly in-person support from their mentors, weekly virtual check-ins, as well as access to an online community with other participating mentors/mentees and WeTeach_CS staff. The online community will be used to facilitate discussion of content, pacing, and practice on coding as well as ongoing support.

Who Is Eligible to Participate?

Mentee Teachers

In order to participate as a mentee teacher the applicant must currently be a certified teacher or working towards a certification and should be in teaching a computer science course listed below.

  • Fundamental of Computer Science
  • Computer Science I or II
  • AP CS Principles
  • AP CS A
  • Cybersecurity Fundamentals

Mentee teachers will receive a stipend of $1,500.

Mentor Teachers 

In order to qualify as a mentor teacher the applicant must be a retired teacher previously certified in computer science, current computer science teacher, or an industry professional with coding experience in any CS language but preference will be given to those that are proficient in JavaScript, Java, and/or Python.

Mentor teachers will receive a stipend of $3,000.

Important Dates

  • Open Application Date: March 23, 2026
  • Informational Webinar Date: April 7, 2026, from 6pm-7:30pm
  • Interview Dates: May 4 - June 3, 2026
  • Application Close Date: May 15, 2026
  • Selection Announcement Date: June 5, 2026
  • Team Training Dates: July 10, 2026; Austin, TX (all travel reimbursed)
  • Pre-Training Survey Due Date: Prior to Team Training Date
  • Post-Training Survey Due Date: End of Day of Training
  • Post-Implementation Survey Due Date: End of Spring 2027 semester

https://weteachcs.org/initiatives/TX-SAGE/

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