{"id":47988,"date":"2022-03-16T13:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-03-16T19:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/?p=47988"},"modified":"2025-05-01T02:20:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T08:20:57","slug":"teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/","title":{"rendered":"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Mike Ferrera has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years, but before that his career could have taken a very different path. We\u2019re definitely glad he decided to focus on computer science!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-lifelong-love-of-coding\">A Lifelong Love of Coding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While Mike was already teaching kids how to code in his local area when he found CodeWizardsHQ, his love of coding started much earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_8001-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Mike playing video games\" class=\"wp-image-47991\" style=\"width:258px;height:344px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_8001-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_8001-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_8001-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_8001-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_8001-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was an avid video game player my whole life and I just kind of wanted to know how everything worked,\u201d he says. \u201cI finally got an internet connection by 1998 and I actually made my first website. I didn&#8217;t use the template engine, I built it from scratch, which I was very proud of myself for. I thought it was amazing and it just went from there, so really this is a lifelong thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While studying computer science, Mike got interested in recording and took a detour to work as a sound engineer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI got to sit in on sessions with many noteworthy and famous people. It was a cool experience, but I actually went back to computers because it&#8217;s really not a very good way to make a living,\u201d he explains. \u201cI went back to computer programming, and I&#8217;ve been in it ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Connecting With His Students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since starting with CodeWizardsHQ, Mike has taught <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/coding-classes-elementary-school-students\/\">elementary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/coding-classes-middle-school-students\/\">middle<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/coding-classes-high-school-students\/\">high school<\/a> courses, but he does have some favorites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI like teaching like the middle school <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/individual-curriculum\/\">JavaScript class<\/a> because that gets them into merging HTML, CSS, and actual interactivity via JavaScript,\u201d he says. \u201cThat one also has one of my favorite projects, which is the pixel art editor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also enjoys sharing his love of video games with his students, especially since that\u2019s a common interest with so many of our students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI tell them that I got into coding through really being into video games. I&#8217;m an avid collector, so I show them some of my collection, because I\u2019ve got some rare stuff in there, and they always seem to like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"lazyblock-cta-UkrBN wp-block-lazyblock-cta\">\n        <link rel='stylesheet' href='https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/themes\/codewizards\/blocks\/lazyblock-cta\/block.css' type='text\/css' media='all' \/>\n    \n<div class=\"cw-cta-block \">\n\t\t<div class=\"inner-blue\">\n\t\t<div class=\"info\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"title white\">Coding Classes for Kids<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"buttons\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/enroll.codewizardshq.com\/\" class=\"wp-block-button__link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tENROLL NOW\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Although he has his favorite projects and classes to teach, what sticks with Mike the most is when he\u2019s able to help a student breakthrough and fully understand a coding concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEarlier in my tenure here, I had a student who was really having trouble with just the general Python concepts. We&#8217;d gotten you know to the level where we were doing user defined functions and stuff like that and it just wasn&#8217;t clicking with them. So they signed up for an office hours with me and we&#8217;d gone through the curriculum, but I also made sure I had my text editor open and I gave him just a lot of simple examples in there of how the data passes along \u2013 you put this here, it moves to here, gets stored here, and it moves over here. After that session they were always really fast even in class, they never had any more hang-ups, it was great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A World Full of Computers<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_0044-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Mike and his wife hiking\" class=\"wp-image-47994\" style=\"width:292px;height:389px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_0044-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_0044-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_0044-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_0044-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/IMG_0044-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>As much as he gives to his students, Mike is a busy guy outside of class, too. In addition to freelance programming work, he also has multiple businesses he\u2019s working on, and he just got his real estate license. In the free time he does have, he enjoys hiking, skateboarding, and playing guitar, an instrument he\u2019s played since childhood. And of course he also still loves video games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although video games were what initially got him interested in coding, as an adult Mike now understands the many benefits to learning how to program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou look around you and have so many things that are computerized. One of the things that I thought was great in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/intro-to-python-programming-class\/\">Intro to Python<\/a> lesson that we have here is showing that really computers are everywhere, even in places you wouldn&#8217;t think. I always take that a step further with students and give them the true definition of a computer, which is anything that contains a digital object circuit. So literally your microwave with the little number dial, that&#8217;s a computer in a way. It&#8217;s all around you, so it&#8217;s a good thing to know how to actually build and interact in the modern world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mike Ferrera has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years, but before that his career could have taken a very different path. We\u2019re definitely glad he decided to focus on computer science!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":313,"featured_media":47989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4755],"tags":[10830,4927],"class_list":["post-47988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-codewizardshq-community","tag-teacher-spotlight","tag-teachers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara | CodeWizardsHQ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CodeWizardsHQ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/codewizardshq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-16T19:17:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-01T08:20:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/2020-ND-TeacherSpotlight-620x323-FerraraMike.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"323\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Gilbert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@codewizardshq\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@codewizardshq\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Gilbert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"Jennifer Gilbert\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05391862062eb7a553bef6f7e8fa66ac\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2022-03-16T19:17:49+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2025-05-01T08:20:57+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 721,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg\",\n\t            \"keywords\": [\n\t                \"teacher spotlight\",\n\t                \"teachers\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"CodeWizardsHQ Community\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara | CodeWizardsHQ\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2022-03-16T19:17:49+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2025-05-01T08:20:57+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg\",\n\t            \"width\": 1600,\n\t            \"height\": 395,\n\t            \"caption\": \"Teacher Spotlight Mike Ferrara\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"CodeWizardsHQ\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The leading online coding academy for kids and teens ages 8-18\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"CodeWizardsHQ\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/blueVertical@2x-e1572141901928.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/blueVertical@2x-e1572141901928.png\",\n\t                \"width\": 150,\n\t                \"height\": 108,\n\t                \"caption\": \"CodeWizardsHQ\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"sameAs\": [\n\t                \"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/codewizardshq\/\",\n\t                \"https:\/\/x.com\/codewizardshq\",\n\t                \"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/codewizardshq\/\",\n\t                \"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/codewizardshq\",\n\t                \"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/codewizardshq\/\",\n\t                \"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC4NM0jfN0LI8_vWtiwLqgGw\"\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05391862062eb7a553bef6f7e8fa66ac\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Jennifer Gilbert\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7c6cc32cee02684f0ebe81dcf68852b9e18b3d0665cc2201275821d7c1582ae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7c6cc32cee02684f0ebe81dcf68852b9e18b3d0665cc2201275821d7c1582ae?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Jennifer Gilbert\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"description\": \"Jennifer Gilbert is a mom of two and has been doing freelance writing and marketing for CodeWizardsHQ since 2021. Her kids have also learned to code thanks to CWHQ classes.\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/author\/jennifergilbert\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara | CodeWizardsHQ","description":"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara","og_description":"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/","og_site_name":"CodeWizardsHQ","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/codewizardshq\/","article_published_time":"2022-03-16T19:17:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-01T08:20:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":323,"url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/2020-ND-TeacherSpotlight-620x323-FerraraMike.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jennifer Gilbert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_description":"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.","twitter_creator":"@codewizardshq","twitter_site":"@codewizardshq","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Gilbert","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/"},"author":{"name":"Jennifer Gilbert","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05391862062eb7a553bef6f7e8fa66ac"},"headline":"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara","datePublished":"2022-03-16T19:17:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-01T08:20:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/"},"wordCount":721,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg","keywords":["teacher spotlight","teachers"],"articleSection":["CodeWizardsHQ Community"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/","url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/","name":"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara | CodeWizardsHQ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-03-16T19:17:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-01T08:20:57+00:00","description":"Mike has been teaching with CodeWizardsHQ for more than two years and loves sharing his love of coding (and video games) with his students.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01.jpeg","width":1600,"height":395,"caption":"Teacher Spotlight Mike Ferrara"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/teacher-spotlight-mike-ferrara\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Teacher Spotlight: Mike Ferrara"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/","name":"CodeWizardsHQ","description":"The leading online coding academy for kids and teens ages 8-18","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#organization","name":"CodeWizardsHQ","url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/blueVertical@2x-e1572141901928.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/blueVertical@2x-e1572141901928.png","width":150,"height":108,"caption":"CodeWizardsHQ"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/codewizardshq\/","https:\/\/x.com\/codewizardshq","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/codewizardshq\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/codewizardshq","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/codewizardshq\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC4NM0jfN0LI8_vWtiwLqgGw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/person\/05391862062eb7a553bef6f7e8fa66ac","name":"Jennifer Gilbert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7c6cc32cee02684f0ebe81dcf68852b9e18b3d0665cc2201275821d7c1582ae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7c6cc32cee02684f0ebe81dcf68852b9e18b3d0665cc2201275821d7c1582ae?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Gilbert"},"description":"Jennifer Gilbert is a mom of two and has been doing freelance writing and marketing for CodeWizardsHQ since 2021. Her kids have also learned to code thanks to CWHQ classes.","url":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/author\/jennifergilbert\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Margaret Choi","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01-600x395.jpeg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/TeacherSpotlight-1600x395-Mike-Ferrara-01-600x395.jpeg","author_info":{"display_name":"Jennifer Gilbert","author_link":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/author\/jennifergilbert\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69235,"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47988\/revisions\/69235"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.codewizardshq.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}