Jorge Valenzuela - REV Up Robotics: Real-World Computational Thinking in the K-8 Classroom

I want to personally thank the following people and entities for being a part of my life and education journeythus helping me learn many valuable lifelong lessons.

The Creator, for grace and faith; my parents, Anisa and Daniel, for being the BEST kids a guy could ever have; Mariam, for being my perfect life partner; the Valenzuela family, for your unconditional love; the Elizalde and Flores familieswe are fortunate to have you all; the entire Roache familythank you for being a part of my life; the Pratt family; the Douglas family; the Rojas familyI love you; the Shokooree family; the Zambonino family; the Nash family; the Reddington family; and the Katz family.

Ms. Tamu, Rick, and the Best family, Adeel and the Memon family, Shawn Alleyne, the Acosta family, the Ramadan family, the Kyles family, the Jones family, the Holiday family, the Rasheed family, the Brown family, the Jackson family, Zane Robinson, Wanda McLeanyou are my sister, and every friend I ever made.

My studentsthank you for inspiring me to continuously work on my craft.

The entire ISTE staff and organization and especially to Diana Fingalthank you for your friendship, mentorship, and for making a difference in my life; Richard Culatta, Joseph South, Heidi Ellis, Camila Gagliolo, Beth Miranda, Boyka Parfitt, Simon Helton, Lauren Kocher, Octavia Abell, the STEM PLN, the CSN PLN, Juli and Joseph Kleinmann, Jessica Shupik, Valerie Witte, and Emily Reed for believing and supporting me in this project every step of the way.

The Commonwealth of Virginia, Senator Tim Kaine, Governor Ralph Northam, Pamela Northam, Dr. Tina Manglicmot, Chuck English, Dr. Janice Underwood, Dr. David Eshelman, Amy Sabarre, Rebecca and Chris Dovi, CodeVA, Timothy Ellis, Dr. Holle Freeman, and the staff at the MathScience Innovation Center, the STEM Education Commission, the Honorable Atif Qarni, Dr. James Lane, and the Virginia Department of Education for truly ensuring that Virginia is for all learners.

The curriculum and instruction and CTE instructional specialists at Richmond Public Schools, Jerry Browder, Dr. Deborah Jewell-Sherman, Dr. Yvonne Brandon, Deborah Kyles, Barbara Smith, Nelson Colbert, Bill James, Darlene Smith, Dr. Ernestine Scott, and Victoria Oakley.

Rody Boonchouyfor giving me my shot, Dr. Gina Olabuenagafor teaching me how to teach, Bob Lenz, Brandon Wiley, Becky Hausammann, John Larmer, Suzie Boss, Kendall Tripathi-Clark, the entire PBLWorks staff and national facultyyou leave your family and homes to better our schools worldwide and I am so proud to be a part of this team; the UnicornsI love you all for being a special band of educators who inspire me daily.

Ayah Bdeir, Grace Morales, Christine Leonard, and the entire littleBits staff; lead educators and Bitstars! Dr. William Wright, Tammi Ward, Dee Biggers and the entire staff at Hertford County Public Schools; Katie de la Paz, Steve Barbato, Jenny Buelin and the entire ITEEA staff; Samer Rabadi, Tom Berger, Laura Lee, and the entire editorial team at Edutopia; Dayna Laur, Andrew Miller, Al Summers, Jill Clayton, Chris Woods, Tim Cavey, Michael Cohen, Rae Hughart, Jeff Gargas, Michelle Moore, Chad Anthony Ostrowski, Katelynn Giordano, Dr. Charity Moran, Lacrecia Terrance, Tiffany Ott, Rachelle Poth, Jamie Connally, Aaron Eisberg, Ben Owens, Brian Schoch, Chris Fancher, Drew Hirshon, Erin Gannon, Kris Hanks, James Fester, Jim Bentley, JoAnn Groh, Kelly Reseigh, Kiffany Lychock, Kristen Uliasz, Mike Kaechele, Randi Downs, Ryan Sprott, Teresa Dempsey, Rich Dixon, Tiffany Frierson, Michael Courtney, Marsha Granderson, Kenyatta Kewis-White, Katrina Futrell, Shayla Adams-Stafford, Vicki Davis, Dr. Karen Sanzo, Pitsco Education, Code.org, Project Lead the Way, Sphero Education, Logexsoft Inc., and Michael Niehoff.