Coding with Poetry

In this video, I worked with Caia Lomeli, a poet, performer, and aspiring engineer, to highlight the powerful connections between coding and poetry as forms of creative expression. Together, we show how students can use code to animate tone shifts in a poem, turning language into visual art while exploring both computer science and self-expression.

Why and How I Made the Curriculum

This curriculum was created to showcase a different side of computer science, one grounded in creativity, expression, and connection. When we launched the CS Connections curriculum, we wanted to debut lessons that crossed traditional subject boundaries and invited new kinds of learners into coding. “Coding with Poetry” was one of the first, designed to help students animate poems while exploring emotional shifts in tone and mood through code. We used p5.js to build an accessible text-and-visual environment where students could animate a famous poem, then write and animate their own. The idea was simple but powerful: code as a canvas for meaning.

I collaborated with Caia Lomeli, a poet, performer, and first-year college student who had recently graduated from high school in Los Angeles and performed with Get Lit, an organization that empowers youth through poetry. Caia helped shape the voice of the module and served as the guide in our instructional videos. Her dual identity as both a coder and a poet made her the perfect ambassador for this lesson. She reminded us, and our students, that both poetry and programming involve building with language, making intentional choices, and revising until your vision comes to life.

Centering Creativity and Representation in Computer Science

Too often, computer science is introduced through logic puzzles or strict syntax, which can feel limiting, especially for students who don’t already see themselves reflected in STEM. With this module, we wanted to shift that narrative. By centering poetry and giving students a tool to bring their words to life with code, we reframed programming as a medium for personal expression rather than just technical skill. This is especially powerful for students who thrive in creative disciplines, including many young women and gender-expansive students who are often underrepresented in computer science classrooms.

Representation was a core priority from the beginning. We chose to feature a young woman of color, Caia, as the face of the module because we know students are more likely to persist in computer science when they see someone like them succeeding. But beyond identity, we also wanted to show a different kind of coder—someone who is artistic, emotionally attuned, and deeply expressive. This module helps teachers, especially those in English Language Arts, bring coding into their classrooms in a way that is welcoming, interdisciplinary, and affirming. Equity in computer science is not only about access. It is about relevance, voice, and the freedom to create something meaningful.

Links to Curriculum

🔗 Poem Art Hour of Code Activity Link

🔗 Coding with Poetry Module Link