Episode Details

This week, Kelly and Sean review their top Python books for teachers. They cover everything from classics like Automate the Boring Stuff with Python and Invent Your Own Computer Games to the newest books like Impractical Python Projects and Coffee Break Python. If you're looking for a good book for your winter break, there's bound to be one that will suit you here. Brew up a nice cup of tea or coffee and take a paper-based break this week.

Your co-hosts this week are middle school computer science teachers Kelly Schuster-Paredes and Sean Tibor. Kelly is an experienced international teacher who's learning coding and Python for the first time. Sean is a technology professional that's teaching middle school for the first time. Each week, they explore resources, approaches, and best practices for teaching Python to beginner students.

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• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners — If you’ve ever spent hours renaming files or updating hundreds of spreadsheet cells, you know how tedious tasks like these can be. But what if you could have your computer do them for you? In Automate the Boring Stuff with Python, you’ll learn how to use Python to write programs that do in minutes what would take you hours to do by hand—no prior programming experience required. Once you’ve mastered the basics of programming, you’ll create Python programs that effortlessly perform useful and impressive feats of automation.
• Coding Projects in Python — Using fun graphics and easy-to-follow instructions, this straightforward, this visual guide shows young learners how to build their own computer projects using Python, an easy yet powerful free programming language available for download.
• Coffee Break Python: 50 Workouts to Kickstart Your Rapid Code Understanding in Python — Coffee Break Python is a new step-by-step system to teach you how to learn Python faster, smarter, and better. You do nothing but solving one practical Python puzzle as you enjoy your morning coffee.
• Doing Math with Python: Use Programming to Explore Algebra, Statistics, Calculus, and More! — Doing Math with Python shows you how to use Python to delve into high school–level math topics like statistics, geometry, probability, and calculus. You’ll start with simple projects, like a factoring program and a quadratic-equation solver, and then create more complex projects once you’ve gotten the hang of things.
• Impractical Python Projects: Playful Programming Activities to Make You Smarter — Impractical Python Projects is a collection of fun and educational projects designed to entertain programmers while enhancing their Python skills. It picks up where the complete beginner books leave off, expanding on existing concepts and introducing new tools that you'll