Monthly Archives: September 2015

What are you doing this year?

Posted on by

What are you doing this year?

At the start of the year all educators like to refresh materials, think about what else we could use to teach our content and figure out new ways to engage and challenge our students. We do this to “turn on a light” in a student. We can all think back to that teacher who was the reason we looked forward to the school day, the teacher who made us smile, connected with us, and made us want to learn more. As this year starts I challenge you to be “that teacher” for your students. Be the teacher who teaches differently and diversely. Grow yourself by learning different pedagogy and methodology that can lead to more enriched classes and better student achievement.

So all this sounds great but you are thinking – HOW do I do all of that and do everything else my school requires me to do?  My answer – by connecting with other CS educators.  Teachers who do the best normally have a cohort of other teachers they work with, bounce ideas off of, and work through problems with. Teachers are not islands and sharing strategies allows us to become better teachers. CSTA is your best resource for finding a cohort or a connection of other CS educators.

Did you get some great ideas at the CSTA Annual Conference this summer and meet new people? If so, email them and ask what they are teaching and doing. Offer to share projects and ideas. If you missed the conference or want a refresher on what you saw check the CSTA Conference page for the presenters material. Past years are already available and the 2015 will be available soon. Presenters are always willing to answer questions and help you if you are trying something they presented.

Are you looking for people who are near you or a group of CS teachers to work with? There may be people in your area you can collaborate with. Check out the Chapters page. Or are you just looking for other resources right now? You can check out the Podcasts page, the CSTA Voice page, PD Videos page, or search through the blog for posts you may have missed.  All of the authors and/or presenters are approachable and are willing to connect with other CS educators.

So this year make it your goal to grow yourself, try something new and engaging, make connections with other CS educators, and most importantly do all of this to turn on the lights in your students. Show them the wonderment of CS and be the reason they want to come to school.

Stephanie Hoeppner

CSTA Board Representative

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share

Less than a week to go before I can start looking at the submissions for CSTA 2016

Posted on by

Less than a week to go before I can start looking at the submissions for CSTA 2016.  The submission deadline is October 1!

If you are reading this you probably teach computing. You probably also have (at least) one special practice or bit of curriculum, or general teaching approach that you think works really well for you. That it works well for you means it is worth sharing with other computing teachers at CSTA 2016. We’ll be meeting next July 10-12 in sunny San Diego!

Submitting a proposal is easy. Just go to the conference portal (https://www.softconf.com/h/csta2016/), click the “HERE” link in the “For authors:” section, read the legal stuff about expectations, and start entering your proposal. You can check the system out without having to sign up or anything. (I always look at the information they want and write it up in a text editor, then copy and paste it into the web page.) I can’t guarantee your proposal will be accepted but it certainly will get serious consideration.

You might also consider volunteering to review submissions. That goes double for folks who have attended CSTA some time in the past. To volunteer to become a reviewer, please complete the following form: http://goo.gl/forms/xc5UAbFMd7 by September 27. If you have questions, please contact: submissions@csta-hq.org.

I’ve had the privilege of being involved in the planning of all the CSTA conferences. Back in the old days a bunch of knowledgeable people and I would get together and identify topics and speakers, which is impossible with the size of the conference today. It would also make for a less diverse, energetic, and useful to participants conference than we get with proposal submissions and peer review.

So, please consider submitting a proposal or volunteering to review. You can propose a 20-minute session, a 60-minute session, a 3-hour workshop, or a birds-of-a-feather.

I look forward to seeing your proposal!

Thank you,
Philip East
CSTA 2016 Program Chair

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share

The CSTA Curriculum Committee

Posted on by

The primary purpose of the CSTA Curriculum Committee is to provide K-12 computer science teachers with access to high quality, standards-based curriculum resources. The committee has vetted several crosswalks that have been submitted by curriculum providers with the CSTA K-12 CS Standards. The crosswalks that have been vetted by the committee include those submitted by Linux, Oracle, Google, Tech Corps, and Mobile Makers iOS. With approval by the curriculum provider, vetted crosswalks to the standards are posted on the CSTA website.

A major publication for the CSTA Curriculum Committee is the CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards, released in 2011 and available on the CSTA website. The purpose of the standards is to delineate a core set of learning standards designed to provide the foundation for a complete computer science curriculum and its implementation at the K–12 level. The standards allow the Curriculum Committee to support our CSTA members by informing them of quality standards-based curriculum resources. To better support and assist CS educators, the CSTA K-12 Standards have been cross-walked to these national standards: Common Core State Standards, Common Core Mathematical Practice Standards, STEM Career Cluster Topics, and the Partnership for the 21st Century Essential Skills Standards. The CSTA K-12 CS Standards are also available on the CSTA website en español.

A major undertaking for the CSTA Curriculum Committee during 2015-2016 is the revision of the K-12 CS Standards. The process began last week with a request for input from educators and other stakeholders about the standards. Read the blog post from earlier this month.

The current members of the CSTA Curriculum Committee are:

Laura Blankenship, The Baldwin School, lblanken@gmail.com
Debbie Carter, CSTA Board Member Emeritus, dpcarterpa@verizon.net
Fred Martin, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, fredm@cs.uml.edu
Tammy Pirmann, School District of Springfield Township, PA, tpirmann@gmail.com
Deborah Seehorn, CSTA Past Chair, deborah.seehorn@outlook.com
Lissa Clayborn, CSTA Deputy Executive Director/Chief Operations Officer, l.clayborn@csta-hq.org

Frequently, the Curriculum Committee collaborates with other CSTA committees on projects of interest to both committees. Occasionally, the committee solicits assistance from experts with a particular area of computing curriculum expertise. We welcome your comments and suggestions on ways the CSTA Curriculum Committee can better meet the needs of our CSTA members.

Deborah Seehorn; CSTA Curriculum Committee Chair

Website Links:

Completed Curriculum Crosswalks: http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/CompletedCrosswalks.html

CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards: http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/K12Standards.html

CSTA Advocate Blog: https://advocate.csteachers.org/

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share

CSTA K-12 CS Standards: We want your input!

Posted on by

On December 1, 2011, the CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards were released. These standards have been instrumental in assisting many schools, school systems, and states in implementing and promoting computer science education in the K-12 classroom. Nearly four years have passed since the 2011 CSTA K-12 Computer Science Standards were released. CSTA is ready to take a thorough look at the standards to see how they can be updated and/or improved.

We realize that many CS educators are quite eager to work on revising the CSTA K-12 CS Standards. Unfortunately, the CSTA K-12 Standards Revision Task Force must be limited to a small representative working group of CS educators. However, we are seeking input from all educators who have used the standards and/or who have worked with them. This will provide us with informed input to guide our revision process. The more useful the input we receive, the higher quality standards will emerge from the 2015-2016 revision process. Effective K-12 CS standards will greatly benefit the expansion of K-12 computer science education.

Please take a moment to provide the CSTA Standards Revision Task Force with descriptive input that will assist us in making educated decisions about the standards. You will have the opportunity to comment about the five strands (Computational Thinking; Collaboration; Computing Practice and Programming; Computers and Communications Devices; and Community, Global, and Ethical Impacts). Are these the five essential strands or have we neglected to include a strand? You will also have the opportunity to give us detailed input on individual standards in each of the grade levels (Level 1, Grades K-6; Level 2, Grades 6-9, and Level 3, Grades 9-12).

The CSTA K-12 Standards Revision Task Force will include CS educator representatives from each of the grade levels, community college CS faculty, university CS faculty, and state representatives who have worked with K-12 CS education. The task force will analyze the input that received from the computer science practitioners prior to beginning the revision of the standards.  Our goal is to release the revised standards at the 2016 CSTA Annual Conference.

We want your input. We need your assistance.  Please complete the CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision input form at http://bit.ly/1ND9xaM.  The input on the standards will be accepted until October 15, 2015.

Thank you for your time, expertise, and enthusiasm in supporting K-12 CS education!

Deborah Seehorn
CSTA Board of Directors Past Chair
CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force Co-Chair

Tammy Pirmann
CSTA Board of Directors District Representative
CSTA K-12 CS Standards Revision Task Force Co-Chair

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share

Spotlight on the 2015 Faces of Computing Video Contest: How Does Computing Better our World?

Posted on by

Once again I find myself writing a blog post in a hospital setting and I can’t help but marvel at the wonders of computing technology; over the past week my dad has undergone exhaustive pre-op screening to determine whether he will withstand the vascular surgery he needs. Many of these tests were performed using computer aided technologies such as CT scanning and ultrasonography, and so far the results are encouraging.   

The timing is also perfect to write about our exciting new video competition: last year our Faces of Computing theme brought in a wide range of multimedia productions from schools all over the world, and it was quite a task to decide on the winning entries. This year we’ve decided to narrow the theme to “Computing for the Common Good,” in an effort to illuminate aspects of computing that are often overlooked by the younger generation. Sure, gaming and social media are a big part of our lives, and they involve a great deal of coding to create and maintain; it’s time however we gave some thought to all of the benefits society and mankind are gaining from the age of computing.

Teachers, help prepare the future generation of socially aware citizens by discussing the challenges of 21st century society and inspiring your students to seek solutions. Be it the advent of computer-aided medicine and biotechnology, volunteers crowdsourcing knowledge on the Wikimedia projects or crowdfunding donations for noble causes, robotics to the aid of disabled persons… there’s a multitude of applications that illustrate how computing is used as a tool to better our world. The entries we are looking for could resonate these tools. There may be youngsters who are involved in school communities who discuss social, gender and/or racial inclusion, or who are active in helping the recent international flow of refugees from war-ridden regions. Perhaps they could brainstorm a solution in their computer science class, and even develop it into an app (like the Neverlost group project: the page is now available in English). We’d love to see your ideas!

Entries should be submitted in the form of a video with a maximum duration of three minutes: see the competition guidelines for more information. Remember that the deadline for submitting your entry is November 7, 2015. So, get your creative juices flowing and show us how computing can play an important role in making the world a better place!

Mina Theofilatou

CSTA International Representative

Athens, Greece

This post is dedicated to the memory of my mother, who was always compassionate to those in need and an ardent supporter of positive change. Special thanks again to Dr. S. Matthaiou of Hippocrateio Hospital for helping me make the right decisions on my dad’s problem, and to Dr. N. Besias of the Hellenic Red Cross Hospital for taking good care of him and expediting the procedures.

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share

CS Principles and Creativity

Posted on by

Students will likely need exposure to, and practice with the CS Principles big Idea “Creativity” many, many times before a “creative – innovative – mindset” is comfortable and natural. You may have to undo years of “non-creativity conditioning.”

It is not enough to tell students that creativity is important; you must show students that you value creativity by actively engaging in it yourself. I don’t have to tell you that a unit exclusively “on creativity” is bound to fall flat!

So how can we build creativity and innovation into the very core of CS Principles? A few suggestions from a variety of experts:

  1. Let students know that there are usually multiple paths that lead to understanding.
  2. Arrange student collaborations that provide meaningful (to them) real-world, problem-solving opportunities.
  3. Provide lots of project and performance choices that employ a variety of “intelligences” whenever feasible.
  4. Encourage them to look for and experiment with new things and ideas.
  5. Encourage questioning.
  6. Be sure your grading does not penalize “less than successful” creativity. Students will not feel free to experiment if their grade hinges on some abstract measure of success. The true reward for being creative is purely intrinsic.
  7. Encourage them to mistakes as opportunities for learning rather than failures.
  8. Enable students to exchange, value, and build upon the ideas of others. Share interesting examples of technological creativity that you run across in the media.
  9. Make time for informal interactions between students.
  10. Offer a safe environment that encourages risk-taking. Avoid a competitive and extrinsically rewarding classroom, by providing a friendly, secure, and comfortable environment.

What do you do in your classroom to build the creative capacity of your students? Share with us!

 

 

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share

Computer Science: Dictating Careers in Digital Technology

Posted on by

The Computer Science Teacher Association’s Executive Director, Mark Nelson was recently featured in MediaplanetUSA’s “Careers in Digital Tech” campaign to inspire students to pursue careers in digital tech. The campaign highlights companies that are evolving and hiring the next great tech professionals. Providing tips and advice on the best path to take in order to be successful in digital careers from industry professionals themselves. The campaign was distributed in a centerfold of USA Today on September 4, 2015, and can also be viewed here: http://www.educationandcareernews.com/career-development/computer-science-dictating-careers-in-digital-technology.

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share

Certification Committee Update

Posted on by

The Certification Committee of CSTA is responsible for coordinating efforts around computer science teacher certification in the United States.

The CSTA Wisconsin Chapter is part of a consortium with University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and Marquette University to provide an alternate path to certification for teachers who already hold a valid certificate in another discipline. It uses a combination of existing courses and training opportunities along with MOOCs and a faculty observer to provide a CS add-on certification.

If you have anything interesting happening in your state around computer science teacher certification, we would like to hear about it!

Tammy Pirmann
Chair, Certification Committee
CSTA Board Member, District Representative

Share by emailShare on FacebookShare on Google+Share on LinkedInTweet Share