About Myra Deister

Myra Deister earned a bachelors degree from Cal State Long Beach with a major in mathematics and a minor in business education. Additionally, she has earned masters degrees in Software Engineering from National University and education and mathematics from Cal State Fullerton. She has taught junior high, high school and community college mathematics and computer science in both the Garden Grove, Fullerton Joint Union High School Districts and North Orange County Community College District. Her course load includes AP Computer Science A, Computer Science AB, Fundamentals of Programming and Pre-Calculus. She is actively involved with Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) and serves on their Board of Directors. She also serves as a member of the board of directors for Orange County Computer Using Educators (OCCUE). Currently she is serving as the adviser for Sunny Hills High School Orange County Academic Decathlon team.

Do You Have a Professional Learning Network (PLN)?

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Myra Deister

Before anyone can answer that question, a definition is needed. According to Brianna Crowley in her article, 3 Steps for Building a Professional Learning Network, at http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2014/12/31/3-steps-for-building-a-professional-learning.html , “A professional learning network is a vibrant, ever-changing group of connections to which teachers go to both share and learn. These groups reflect our values, passions, and areas of expertise.”

I started thinking about my PLN after Brandon Horn on the AP Computer Science Facebook page asked for suggestions for additional information and support for current and new AP Computer Science Teachers. He said he usually recommends the AP CS Community on the College Board site, the AP CS Summer Institute, the AP Computer Science Facebook group and the local CSTA chapter, if there is one. In a comment, I suggested the CSTA Listserv (I am one of the moderators).

This question, I feel is more important to those of us who are the “onlys” on our campus. What do I mean by the “onlys”? “Onlys” are the only computing teacher on campus. For those of you who are one of those, who do you turn to for advice?

For me it depends on the class I am seeking advice for. I teach 4 different computing classes: Visual Basic, Computer Science Principles, AP Computer Science A and Computer Science AB. For general advice, I will look to the CSTA Listserv. For example, in October, I was told that I needed to decide on new furniture for the lab and only had a few days. I turned to the CSTA Listserv and asked what furniture the members had purchased recently that fit their needs. I received several responses that helped me to quickly make some decisions.

In another situation when one of my students asked a java coding question that I did not readily have an answer, I turned to the AP Computer Science Facebook group and received responses very quickly. When I needed to write a Computer Science Principles Final Exam, I turned to the CSTA Listserv and several teachers responded with help. I appreciated it so much! I have asked questions on Twitter when I want to incorporate an ed tech tool into my computer science classes. Also, I always leave my local CSTA chapter meetings with some great ideas! All of these groups are my PLN.

Who is in your PLN? Please share so we can all grow ours.

Are You Ready for Computer Science Education Week?

Posted on December 1, 2015 by Myra Deister

As I write this blog post, I am in the middle of planning for Computer Science Education Week. I have prepared my Eventbrite site (http://2015-hour-of-code-shhs.eventbrite.com) and have emailed the link to the principals of the neighboring schools. This year will be the third year that my computer science students and I have hosted a community Hour of Code event at the high school for elementary and junior high students.

Last year I was so overwhelmed with the number of attendees, I have decided to move the event from the two adjoining computer labs to the library where I can better manage a large group. I will have stations for each age group and a marker station where the students will create a light-up Christmas card. Laura Blankenship (CSTA board member) helped me with some suggestions. I also found on line the directions for a Christmas tree card (https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/let-it-glow-holiday-cards )that I plan on using.

I am also planning on setting up three tables with old computers that can be taken apart. I will have index cards with pictures of the main parts and an explanation of their purpose. My students will be preparing the cards.

Finally, there will be stations setup by age groups for students to use the code.org tutorials (https://code.org/learn). The Computer Science students are looking forward to helping with the event.

For the high school student event, I have a local college student who will come to class to discuss her internship at an aerospace company and her experience as a college student. I have also requested skype calls from professionals in the computing industry at https://education.microsoft.com/connectWithOthers/techguestspeakers. I had two speakers last year that worked for Microsoft and they were so patient with my students! I will also play the morning announcement created by CSTA on Monday, December 7, announcing Computer Science Education Week (http://csta.acm.org/Advocacy_Outreach/sub/CSEdWeek.html). On the same webpage are video announcements if you have that feature available at your school.

I have another Hour of Code event planned for lunch for students on campus with my Computer Science students assisting. Additionally, my school district will be honoring Computer Science students at the school board meeting on December 8 in honor of Computer Science Education Week.

I am looking forward to a busy but exciting week.

Please share your plans for Computer Science Education Week.

Myra Deister
CSTA At-Large Representative

Did You Miss It?

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Myra Deister

Miss what you ask? Why the CSTA Webinar presented by Beth Ziesenis, Nerdy Best Friend, on May 12, of course!

A special invitation was emailed to you on May 1. I opened the email and registered for it immediately! I wanted to know about apps that would help organize my life.

I was prepared to view it at school on May 12 and would you believe it, the school network decided on that very day to slow down to a crawl and I was unable to view the webinar. Never fear. I received another email that announced that it has been recorded. You can access the webinar at http://csta.acm.org/Communications/sub/Podcasts.html.

I viewed the recording and took notes about her suggestions. Some of the apps I plan to try out are listed below.

An app to control my email called 10 minute email. It is an email address that lasts 10 minutes so you can use it to sign-up for information that you only want one time. You can find it at: 10minuteemail.com

Create graphics using Canva. You can use it to create posters. I hope to have my student groups next year create a posters containing graphics to help the other students understand computer science vocabulary. This might be a great way to do it.

Utility: Is the problem with my school network or it is a problem for everyone. I can check that with downforeveryoneorjustme.com . I am sure I will be trying it out at school shortly.

Video post cards: I saw this demonstrated and I immediately thought Open House next school year – perfect. I will video a few of my students this year and have them introduce the class to the parents. The app she suggested was PicPlayPost. You can get it from Google Playstore: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flambestudios.picplaypost&hl=en or

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/picplaypost/id498127541?mt=8

Want to stay ahead of your students with tech? Then Product Hunt is for you. It is a Reddit for new software and apps. You can view it at http://www.producthunt.com/

The last app I plan on trying out is Office Lens. You can take a picture of a document, business card or whiteboard and the app will straighten it out and upload it to Microsoft OneNote. You can do your own edits because the app runs it through OCR.

These are the apps that I selected from the webinar that I want to try out. You should view the webinar to determine if there are other apps you might like to try out.

Beth also set up a Google Form to crowdsource apps. If you know of apps that are your favorites you can add them to the Google Sheet using the Google Form at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1LmQ1NI0uWIO021kFDVnysSz9kgnIDg5Jc52jr2N65Pk/viewform

You can view the apps that CSTA members have suggested at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K4IHUOmbpGZawUPxfMepE3z_1063LibAPjuF_YFgQ10/edit?usp=sharing

I want to hear from you about your thoughts regarding the webinar or apps that I have selected.

Myra Deister
CSTA At-Large Representative

Governance Committee

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Myra Deister

Governance Committee

The Governance Committee reviews how the board is functioning and when necessary recommends to the board revisions to the Policy and Procedure Manual as well as the By-Laws. Both documents are posted on the CSTA website. These changes could include revisions of the roles and responsibilities of the board members, board committees, conflict of interest procedures, and procedures for nomination, selection and removal of board members. The Governance Committee is charged with ensuring the board is governing the organization effectively and efficiently.

Currently, the Governance Committee is recommending to the board members a Conflict of Interest Policy for the CSTA Board members, one for CSALT members and another for Chapter Leadership. It will be put to a vote at the next board meeting. Recently, the Governance Committee has recommended a Code of Conduct for attendees at CSTA Conferences to assure our members a safe and welcoming conference experience.

This committee is comprised of two members: Myra Deister, chair and one member, Alfred Thompson.

Myra Deister, Governance Committee Chair and At-Large Representative

How Do You Help Struggling CS Students?

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Myra Deister

This question has plagued me for the last few years, but more so this school year. In order to offer computer science courses and to make the course open access, some students enroll in the courses that don’t fully understand what computer science is and may not have the prerequisite problem solving skills. They do know that they want an AP course.

There is no prerequisite computer science course for AP Computer Science at my campus. The students would not enroll in a prerequisite unless it was an honors or AP, and we don’t offer one that is. To ease the students into computer science, I use Alice3 at the beginning of the school year then move into programming turtles and then Media Comp Lessons that are in Exploring Wonderland by Dann, Cooper and Ericson. I have been successful with this approach the last few years until this year.

This year I have tried several new strategies. I began using paired programming so each student would have someone to turn to for help. I would be free to help the students that are really struggling. Additionally, I have assigned fewer labs to give the students more time to work out solutions together. I have also assigned scenarios similar to the labs for the students to construct pseudocode prior to writing the program. I select random student papers, project them and we discuss the student written pseudocode. I also have assigned videos to do some flipping of lessons and the students take Cornell Notes while viewing the videos. I am available at lunch and after school for additional help. The students are writing reflections at the end of each unit discussing a lab that they have completed.

Even with all of that, I have students that are so lost they are not completing labs and are scoring low on tests. This semester the counselling department has resurrected a course title, “Fundamental of Programming” and has transferred a few of the students into that class. I have altered the assignments and tests to better meet their needs.

As I work to make my computer science course more diverse, I know that I will need to include additional teaching strategies to help all students. On Wednesday, March 11, I will be participating in the CSTA K-8 Task Force Twitter Chat #CSK8 from 5-6 pm PDT about Pedagogy: How to teach CS to 5 – 14 year olds. I am looking forward to hearing what K – 8 teachers are doing and tweaking their ideas to use with the high school students. I am also attending the CSTA Conference in July. One session that interests me is “Teaching CS to Students with Learning Differences”.

I will be piloting a Computer Science Principles course next school year and offer it as an AP course the following school year. Adding CS Principles may encourage some students to enroll in that course rather than AP Computer Science to help build their confidence.

I am continuing to look for additional resources and strategies. If you have any suggestions, resources or strategies please post them.

Myra Deister
CSTA Board At-Large Representative

CSEdWeek – Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Myra Deister

And so we begin a new year. A time to reflect. I have been reflecting on my activities for CSEdWeek. Since the first CSEdWeek in December 2009, I have celebrated the week on my campus trying different activities each year.

For the first CSEdWeek in 2009, I was able to arrange for an after school walking field trip to a nearby business, Hydraflow. It was exciting to see the expressions on my students’ faces as they toured the business and listened to how the company had gone completely paperless!

For the CSEdWeek in 2010, I wanted to do more! I was able to arrange for a walking field trip to Raytheon during the school day. The students were amazed at the “trailer” where equipment was set up to demonstrate a disaster and how Raytheon had built a system where different law enforcement agencies could “talk” to each other even though they were using various type of hardware. A parent from my school also graciously arranged for some employees from his company to speak to my students about how computer science had opened up opportunities for them.

For CSEdWeek 2011 the students once again had the opportunity to tour Raytheon and visit the “trailer” again as well as the outdoor mock-up of a toll system. I also arranged for a student ambassador from University of California, Irvine to visit the class and discuss his experiences as a computer science student in college.

For CSEdWeek 2012, I had asked the school board for my district to recognized CSEdWeek. They agreed to do that and I was asked to select two students to be honored at a board meeting. It was a difficult decision to only select two, but I was happy that I could have these students recognized! Raytheon tour was also a highlight of the week. The students appreciated meeting the wife of one of the school’s science teachers during the Raytheon tour. Additionally, one of my former students dropped by school and spoke to the students about her career working in the CS Field.

Last year we celebrate Hour of Code during CSEdWeek. The local community college assisted with advertising for our community event. There were about 30 community members that attended the event with the computer science students assisting them. Several students commented to me about how much they enjoyed helping others to learn to code. I also held a lunch time birthday party for the students at the high school to celebrate Grace Hopper’s birthday. The school board also recognized CSEdWeek and I selected two students to be recognized.

This year the CS students participated in a community Hour of Code event. I asked the local school principals to advertise the event on their webpages. There was such an overwhelming response that I had to shut down the Eventbrite Site. I continued to receive emails from parents that wanted to attend with their children. They were invited to attend. There were enough reservations to fill two classrooms. I was concerned about supervision until the online teacher contacted me and offered to help. My husband also stopped by and offered his help. We were ready to go! I had set up a poster on smore.com with choices for activities that students could use on the computers in the computer lab. You can view my poster at https://www.smore.com/180ce

In addition to the successful Hour of Code event, the students were able to connect with a Skype employee through Skype in the Classroom program. You can set up a session at https://education.skype.com/. The speakers were great and very patient answering the students’ questions.

The district school board also celebrated CSEd Week at the school board meeting. This year I was able to select three students to be honored. The school principal took picture of the event and uploaded them to the school’s Facebook page.

The week ended with a birthday celebration at lunch. All students were invited and the CS students served cake and assisted the students with Hour of Code activities.

I am looking ahead to next year’s CSEd Week. I plan to hold the community Hour of Code event in the library which the principal has already agreed to. I hope to add a Maker Faire with the help of the Engineering Classes. I will contact the principals at the local elementary and junior high schools to advertise the event and I will use Eventbrite again. Through Eventbrite, I have sent out a survey to this year’s attendees to evaluate and improve the Hour of Code event next year.

What did you plan for CS Week that was a success? I am looking for more activities to add to the week!

Myra Deister, CSTA At-large Representative

Moving Students Toward a “Growth Mindset” in Computer Science

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Myra Deister

At a recent mathematics educators’ conference during which I was both an attendee and presenter, I was bombarded with sessions about the current education theory, Growth Mindset. I had been introduced to this theory at several local edCamps that I have attended over the last few months.

Growth Mindset was coined by Carol Dweck, Stanford University psychologist. “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.” (http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html) She defines the counterpart, a fixed mindset, “as the belief that traits are just givens. People have a certain amount of brains and talent and nothing can change that. If they have a lot, they’re all set, but if they don’t… So people in this mindset worry about their traits and how adequate they are. They have something to prove to themselves and others.” ( http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/themindsets/index.html)

I attended a Mindset session presented by Jo Boaler, (http://www.youcubed.org/) Stanford Professor of Mathematics Education. She discussed the growth mindset activities that she used with junior high students that were attending a summer school program due to poor grades in math. She demonstrated a problem that contained 3 sets of blocks that increase in number each step.

The students were asked to describe the pattern. There were different descriptions that were given. Some examples included a volcano, where the left and right sides increase. Another description was to add a row across the bottom.

I assigned the same problem to my computer science students. They also described the increase as a volcano and increasing from the bottom. We discussed how we could write a program to calculate the number of blocks from their descriptions and different approaches that could be used. I decided that this exercise was so successful that I would try a few more. Fawn Nguyen created the website http://www.visualpatterns.org/ that has 160 patterns. I began using those as Do Now activities to help students build their pattern recognition. The students have found different approaches to each pattern. We then discuss how these could be programmed. As the students are working on these problems, I walk around the room and if they are stuck I ask the students how they see each pattern growing and describe it to me. I suggest that they use their description to build an equation.

This week I had the students view a Kahn Academy video about “Growth Mindset” https://www.khanacademy.org/youcanlearnanything

The students answered 3 questions online and explained the why behind their answer. The 3 questions were:

Do you agree with Sal Khan that you can grow your mind? Why or Why not?
Do you agree with Sal Khan that you learn more from your mistakes? Why or why not?
Finally, how will this change your work in the computer science class?

Then each student responded to 2 other student posts.

I have just started with working on activities to help the students to move toward a “Growth Mindset”. A few other strategies I need to do is to remind the students that it is “ok” to make mistakes because they can learn more from the mistakes rather than just get the correct answer. I also need to investigate how to reward effort in my class. I had started awarding points for extending the code that we did together in class. I feel that this is a step in the right direction. Additionally, I want to create a display that “rewards” improving and effort. Maybe I can implement that second semester.

What activities can you suggest to move students toward a “Growth Mindset”?

Computer Science Principles: Getting Started

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Myra Deister

After attending the CS Principles Summit in July, I was convinced that I needed to get this course started at my school site. The Summit was so informative and inspiring.

I had planned to attend the summit online, but due to some cancellations I was able to attend in person. If you were not able to attend either online or in person, you are not out of luck. You can still view the agenda and links to the recorded sessions.

The Summit began with Deborah Seehorn’s introductory remarks summarizing the rationale for the CS Principles course and welcomed all of the participants that were attending in person and virtually. Chris Stephenson also added her introductory remarks.

Fran Trees and Owen Astracan discussed the history and development of the CS Principles course. There were some audio issues. The first few minutes you cannot hear Owen speaking but hang in there the audio does return. Then Fran spoke about the course outline. I will be using this document at the computer science curriculum meeting that I am attending this week to promote CS Principles. I also plan on forwarding it to my principal. He had offered to inquire about the process to offer the course as a pilot. My plan is to begin recruiting for the course to offer it Fall 2015. I am also actively recruiting other schools in the district to pilot the course next year because currently only 2 high schools out of 6 offer computer science courses.

Jeff Gray and Kelly Powers were next on the Agenda. They discussed information that could be used for recruiting. The information was very informative!

Next on the agenda was Flash Talks. There were audio issues again so I would fast forward the video 5 minutes to the point where audio returns. The pilot teachers discuss successes and challenges resulting from CS Principles. The resources by presenter with their links are:

Lien Diaz and Rich Kick are the presenters for the next session. Lien discusses statistics behind why the course has been developed as a future AP course. Her slides are available for viewing. The participants had an opportunity to ask their questions. Lien and Rich answered each question. Rich is a pilot teacher and shared his resources with attendees.

The session facilitated by Emmanuel Schanzer and Rebecca Dovi was the one that really started by thought process about how to get this course started at my school and in my district. They presented a set of questions we were expected to answer in our group. The groups presented their responses in the next session facilitated by Rich Kick.

The summit overall was a great experience for me. I had to opportunity to create a plan to ask my district to allow me to pilot the course next school year.

Myra Deister

CSTA At-large Representative

Computer Science Principles: Getting Started

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Myra Deister

After attending the CS Principles Summit in July, I was convinced that I needed to get this course started at my school site. The Summit was so informative and inspiring.

I had planned to attend the summit online, but due to some cancellations I was able to attend in person. If you were not able to attend either online or in person, you are not out of luck. You can view the agenda and links to the recorded sessions.

Jeff Gray and Kelly Powers were next on the Agenda. They discussed information that could be used for recruiting. The information was very informative.

Lien Diaz and Rich Kick are the presenters for the next session. Lien discusses statistics behind why the course has been developed as a future AP course. Her slides are available. The participants had an opportunity to ask their questions. Lien and Rich answered each question. Rich is a pilot teacher and his resources are available here.

The summit overall was a great experience for me. I had to opportunity to create a plan to ask my district to allow me to pilot the course next school year.

Myra Deister
CSTA At-large Representative

You Can Be An Advocate!

Posted on July 9, 2014 by Myra Deister

Yes, you can! If I can be an advocate you can be one too! It is not difficult to get started. I began by advocating at my school site for computer science with the counseling staff and the administration to help grow enrollment. I continue to advocate with administration because, as we all know, they are more mobile than teachers.

You can be an advocate at your school site. My school has a new principal coming on board in a few days. He held site meetings after he was informed that he was hired for the position. He was reviewing with the faculty all of the “programs” that he was aware of on the campus and what they were accomplishing. I reminded him that he had failed to mention my program. When asked about my program I filled him in on what was happening with computer science and I continue to send him short informative emails about computer science news.

You can be an advocate with your local legislators. I tried unsuccessfully last year to have the California state legislature recognize Computer Science Education week. I was told that I had contacted my local representatives too late. This year I started earlier. My local legislator agreed to take on the task of getting legislation passed. I was asked to supply some sample language. I found sample language on the CS Ed Week website and sent it to him. I learned a couple of weeks ago that it passed! For those in California the legislation is ACR 108 and here is a link to the press release.

You can be an advocate with teachers. The ed tech community is a great place to start. I attend Ed Camps because they are free and you can self-select the sessions. Each of the Ed Camps I have attended has had at least one session on coding. I make a point of attending that session and I urge the teachers to join CSTA to get more resources. I also add information about free resources for teachers. Follow this link for more information about Ed Camps and their list of Conferences.

Another teacher group you can be an advocate to is your local ISTE affiliate. For California, that group is CUE. I have spoken at their local conferences on integrating computer science into the elementary and middle school curriculum and have urged the teachers to join CSTA. They also included me on a Twitter Chat devoted to Hour of Code when I asked what CUE could do to support CS Ed Week and Hour of Code. After Hour of Code, the state organization devoted their entire magazine to coding. I wrote a letter to the editor thanking her for the great issue but I also suggested that they had missed some good resources. I was surprised when she offered to let me write a follow-up article. With the help of Patrice Gans and Chris Stephenson I wrote the article.

The teacher’s union is another group that I advocate to. I have not been as successful with that group, but I have attended sessions on CTE and have shared CSTA to their teachers at the session. I am also a member of the National Education Association CTE Caucus and will be attending the NEA Conference which begins in a few days in Denver. The CTE Caucus will have an information booth and I will have CSTA brochures and my business card available.

I have a listed a few things that I have done to advocate for computer science and CSTA. Please respond with what you have done to be an advocate.

Myra Deister
CSTA At-Large Representative

The CSTA Advocate Blog

Author Archives: Myra Deister

About Myra Deister

Do You Have a Professional Learning Network (PLN)?

Are You Ready for Computer Science Education Week?

Did You Miss It?

Governance Committee

How Do You Help Struggling CS Students?

CSEdWeek – Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Moving Students Toward a “Growth Mindset” in Computer Science

Computer Science Principles: Getting Started

Computer Science Principles: Getting Started

You Can Be An Advocate!