Per the challenge from Mark Zamansky at C'est la Z, I am going to try and start posting more regularly on this blog I created many months ago.
Compared to most of you who blog, I am very much, as the title states, a noobie. While I have dabbled very lightly in HTML and GameMaker since the early 2000s, I really didn't get deep into CS until I and the middle school where I was teaching were selected to help Project Lead The Way pilot their new Intro to CS curriculum back in the spring semester of 2015. On that opening weekend in January 2015 when the pilot teachers met, and then a bit more during a week in June with the same group, I got dunked into the world of teaching CS. I now am teaching just CS classes at my district's high school, in my second year here at Derby HS.
Daunting? Yes. Overwhelming at times? Absolutely. Challenging? Wonderfully so! While I have a LONG way to go in building up my own skills, I absolutely am loving the challenge of keeping my own learning as sharp as possible. My focus right now is to build up my own Python skills, since my curriculum makes a pretty hefty use of Python.
I also more or less volunteered myself into becoming president of the re-established CSTA Kansas chapter. That is an area needing more attention from me, and right quick, as I really want to try and push forward many of the K-12 CS initiatives I see happening in other states.
Here at school, we are now near the end of our third week, and I certainly have lots of kids new to CS in my classes. My biggest challenge is getting them to break out of having everything laid out step by step where they just mimic, and start to actually understand what the bits of code are actually doing. For some, this comes naturally, for many others, it is a push for them to think at even just barely higher levels. They are too often far too conditioned to fact regurgitation learning. Have to remember, just keep swimming...
Blogs are how I get most of my ideas. I also get some of my best ideas shot down on my blog. The CS teacher community is really pretty small, usually one teacher per school if any at all, so blogs are important. I have a list of blogs I check every morning. Some great ideas to plagiarize. I am at https://gflint.wordpress.com/. If you get really bored swing on over.
ReplyDeleteJust added you to my feed. Looking forward to reading.
ReplyDeleteAdding you to my feed as well. Welcome to the world of blogging and idea sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeff,
ReplyDeleteFirst, good on ya! This is great modeling for students - they need to see us pushing our boundaries and trying new things and learning from failure. I was in your shoes a few years back, stayed a few days ahead of the students the first year, and have developed a pretty solid program, I hope! I reflect a little bit on the first few months here: http://christianthompson.com/node/33
If your school uses Moodle, I am happy to provide you with a copy of my entire course. Also, I have a video playlist called Basic Python 3 for Beginners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxSyXBq9zq0&list=PLlEgNdBJEO-nQkFDah-gm6UX7CI6rCdB- There is a free companion course here: https://pfb.moodlecloud.com/course/view.php?id=3 You can log in using the following:
Username: visitor
Password: visitor
Let me know if you have any questions.
Good luck!
Christian
Hi Jeff, can I ask how you are reestablishing the Kansas chapter? After returning from the conference I went looking for a Pittsburgh chapter. It's listed on the website, but no one at CSTA is answering my emails. I'll step up, but I'm not sure where to start! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWe went through someone at CSTA national, as when in working with a state CTE person and we were first trying to start a new state chapter, CSTA advised we just re-initialize the dormant CSTA Kansas chapter. So if no one at CSTA is answering I'm not sure what to tell you.
DeleteThanks! I just went back to the CSTA website and found a different email address - hopefully I'll hear back this time.
Delete