I'm Shiela.

An innovator, a software engineer, and an educator.

About

Shiela Lee Profile Pic

Hi!

I am a fullstack software engineer. After a rewarding 12 year career as an educator, I am scaling my impact in engineering and looking to build meaningful products. I am an innovator who is moving to align my passions with my skills. I love tinkering and coding ideas that I have. Explore my coding projects in Tools. Read more about my teaching in Projects and Publications.

When I'm not coding, I enjoy listening to podcasts and playing board games with my daughters.


My Journey

Journey Highlights

Hack Reactor Software Enginering Bootcamp

  • Recipient of the Galvanize Scholarship to advance my skills in software engineering
  • Advance Software Engineering Certificate

STEM & Computer Science PreK-5 Teacher

Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Equity Fellow

  • Developing equitable teaching practices and advocacy
  • Collaborating with other teachers to address equity in the computer science classroom

Math for America Fellow

  • Master Teacher Fellowship Award
  • Broadening my growth as an educator, contributing to a professional community, and elevating the status of our profession

MotherCoder Fellow

  • Member of the inaugural NYC cohort
  • Self-taught html/css/javascript

Special Education Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) Teacher

  • Orton-Gillingham Certified Instructor
  • Computer Science 4 All (CS4ALL) Teacher Trainer
  • Big Apple Award Finalist

Coding Teacher in NYC STEM Summer in the City

  • Taught visual programming with blockily language
  • Taught physical computing with BBC Microbit

Teachers College, Columbia University

  • MA in Curriculum and Instruction
  • Dual certification to teach students with disabilities and general education students grades 1-6

Fulbright Fellow to Teach English in Taiwan

  • Awarded favorite teacher on Confucius Teacher's Day
  • Started two special English classes for disadvantaged students
  • Co-taught English to grades 1-6 in a public elementary school in Kaohsiung

Grinnell College

  • BA in Philosophy, Cum Laude
  • John H. Worley Endowed Prize in Philosophy

Technical Skills

JavaScript

Python

Git Version Control

React

Html5

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

Django

CSS

Tools

As a software engineer, I like to build tools that are universally designed for learning (UDL) and that help teachers create an accessible and inclusive classroom community. Here are some tools I built when I was in the classroom.

. . . I use a station tool

I designed a tool for my classroom specifically for when I teach using the stations model. I developed this visual tool to help all students know where to go and what to bring to each station.

. . . I use an interactive 100s chart

I designed an interactive hundreds chart tool for my students to help them learn about patterns on the hundreds chart and to strengthen their number sense.

Publications and Interviews

Select publications and interviews. Click on the images below.

Fulbright Chronicles: A Teaching Career Sparked by My Fulbright Experience in Taiwan

NSTA Science and Children: Student Agency Through Engineering

Chibitronics Featured Educator Interview

CSTA: Let's Hit Refresh

Projects

When I was a teacher, I would always love to problem-solve with my students and include innovative projects into the classroom like the ones below.

American Sign Language (ASL)

sign-language-icon sign-language-icon-color
  • Develops fine motor skills
  • Gives access to the deaf community
  • Supports spelling in early childhood

Pen Pal Exchanges in Taiwan, Kenya & USA

Pen Pal Exchanges pen-pal-icon-color
  • Broadens awareness of other ways of life
  • Promotes cultural exchange
  • Develops global citizens

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness mindfulness-icon-color
  • Brings attention to the present moment
  • Promotes self-awareness
  • Can help with self-regulation

Coding, Robotics, & Physical Computing

Coding coding-icon-color
  • Develops logical thinking
  • Can be integrated across curricular areas
  • Builds persistence and problem solving skills

Contact Me

Teaching Coding
Top of the Rock Teaching

Curious about doing a collaborative project or have a question about the work I do? Feel free to message me!

Message Me