Becoming a Carpentries Instructor

The Carpentries Instructor Training was a full week dedicated to thinking seriously about teaching. Not just how to explain code, but how people actually learn. We discussed different perspectives, assumptions, and backgrounds, including how to make lessons accessible to people with different levels of experience or disabilities. There was a strong focus on learning environments: how small choices in pacing, language, or setup can make a big difference. One idea that stayed with me is that saying less, but more clearly, often teaches more. Mistakes are not something to hide, but something to make visible and work through.

Beyond the training itself, what stood out was the people. I met very smart participants from all over the world, but more than that, they were genuinely passionate about teaching and helping others. The Carpentries is not just a set of lessons, but a shared effort. Materials are openly developed on GitHub, there are regular community calls, and contributions are encouraged. I also joined the Data Science Glosario initiative, which makes key concepts accessible across multiple languages.

As part of the certification, I gave a short live coding lesson on Git. It was a good experience, and the feedback was thoughtful, constructive, and respectful throughout.

Overall, it was a very valuable experience, both technically and pedagogically.

I will be teaching some upcoming courses with the Helmholtz HIDA Academy. I am also hoping to run some free courses in Central America for students with different backgrounds who do not really have access to universities or paid programs, for example through alphaCen.