Inviting all “CS in K-8” Enthusiasts

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Sheena Vaidyanathan

So much has changed in the last five years since I started teaching programming to 6th graders in my district. At that time, it was considered outright strange for a public school district anywhere. Today, some large school districts like Chicago have added computer science (CS) to their curriculum, and entire countries are adding a required computer science class in the K-12 curriculum.

‘Why Should Fifth Graders Learn to Program?’ is an article I wrote in 2011 to help answer the question of why we must introduce CS in the early years. Today, that question has been answered many times over and in response we are flooded with resources from a wide range of “coding in K-8” experts.

Most K-8 CS teachers are not dedicated CS teachers, but classroom teachers or technology specialists who are “CS in K-8” enthusiasts. They find time to integrate CS into the curriculum or carve out a special class to add to the busy school day. These teachers are now deluged with the many ways to do what they love to do – bring the excitement of CS to all their students. How can they wade through this flood of resources to find the one that fits their needs, the one that is right for their class, the one that reflects their unique teaching style, or the one with the research or pedagogy piece they want? Maybe they want a tool that offers a blended solution, or one that maximizes creativity?

With every new tool or resource that comes my way, I rush into an excited experimentation mode to see if I can use it. In my role as the district’s computer science integration specialist, I must do this research but not every teacher has the time. Often, even after my trying out the new tool, I am not ready to test it on my students. I really need is to just ask someone, Did it work in your class?

That is why I need a community of K-8 CS teachers where I can connect and ask these questions. What tool did you use for your second graders? How do you move from visual programming to text based coding and when? How did you convince your administration that the CS department should expand from its current size of one? What do you do with that kid who thinks they will never be able to code or the kid who thinks he should start with Java in third grade?. What are you doing to celebrate Computer Science education week?

I remember my excitement when I first found this CS teachers community at my first Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) conference. Since then, I have benefitted from connecting with these teachers by email or Twitter. I now carefully mark the conference on my calendar each year so I can meet more of these teachers in person. For those who have never attended, it is a must attend event for any CS teacher. Save the date – the next CSTA conference is July 13-14, 2015.

However, the conference is only once a year, and the questions and teacher community support is needed through the year. In addition to the CSTA local chapters, mailing lists, and Twitter, there is now an additional way to connect to this community at any time: a new Google+ community set up by CSTA for K-8 teachers.

As a K-8 teacher who has learned from this community and in my role as the new K-8 Rep for CSTA, I invite all “CS in K-8” enthusiasts to become a CSTA member as well as join the Google+ CSTA K-8 community. Introduce yourself, share a resource that worked for you, post a favorite student project, and ask those questions. You will be welcome. I hope to see you online!

Sheena Vaidyanathan
6th Grade Computer Science Teacher
Los Altos School District
CSTA Board Rep for K-8

Giving Thanks

Posted on November 27, 2014 by admin

Today in the United States is one of our national holidays, Thanksgiving. As part of my family’s tradition, we each share what we are thankful for. As I have been reflecting on all the wonderful blessings in my life, one that doesn’t get said often enough is my thankfulness for our members, and especially those who are our tireless volunteers.

Our members spend their days and nights helping educate K-12 students around the world in the joys of computer science. Being an educator is not a 9-5 job, it is comprised of long hours teaching, preparing lessons, parent/teacher meetings, planning meetings with administrators and co-workers, obtaining professional development, and reflecting on lessons learned inside and outside of the classroom. Educators are amazingly dedicated people, who put their hearts into sharing the subjects they love with today’s youth. There are no words of thanks passionate enough to say how deeply I appreciate what each and every one of you contributes to education and learning. You are incredible!

Those educators who volunteer for the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) deserve even more of my thanks. You are unflagging in your dedication to the organization, the work we do, and to make sure that each and every student who wants to learn about computer science is given the chance. You spend hundreds of hours each year making CSTA a vibrant, relevant organization. You help bring new resources and opportunities to all our members around the globe. All of this is on top of your day jobs, daily lives, and the other demands on your time. I, for one, know that without you, CSTA would not be the success it is today. So, from the bottom of my heart, my thanks to each of you for dedicating your time, enthusiasm, and passion to CSTA, for without you, there would be no CSTA.

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, or even if you don’t, I hope you too get the chance to reflect on the blessings in your life and know that the CSTA staff is deeply grateful to have you not only in the organization, but also educating our youth.

Gratefully yours,

Lissa Clayborn
Acting Executive Director
Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)

Call for Nominations: Announcing CSTA Board of Directors Elections

Posted on November 19, 2014 by admin

Application Deadline: February 1, 2015 (midnight PST)

Term of Service: June 2015-2017

The following CSTA Director positions will be vacated on May 31, 2015. We encourage interested CSTA members to apply or to encourage other qualified members to submit an application. Late nominations will not be accepted.

The CSTA Board is a working Board. All Directors are required to attend two face-to-face Board meetings per year (including the combined Board Meeting and CSTA Conference on July 12-17, 2015) and are expected to contribute meaningfully by participating on at least two committees. Directors are required to participate in the following Board events in Grapevine, Texas:

July 12, 2015: New Board Member Orientation
July 13-14, 2015: CSTA Annual Conference
July 15, 2015 CSTA Committee Meetings
July 16-17, 2015: Full Board meeting

Vacancies:

K-8 Representative (1 position): a classroom teacher who is currently teaching or promoting computer science at the pre-high school level.
9-12 Representative (1 position): A 9-12 classroom teacher who is currently teaching computer science at the high school level.
At-Large Representative (1 position): An educator with responsibilities for K-12 CS education.

CSTA is dedicated to promoting diversity in K-12 computer science education as well as on its Board. We strongly encourage all qualified individuals to apply. The Nominations and Elections Committee of the CSTA Board will select the two best-qualified applicants in each position for inclusion on the ballot.

Nominations deadline: February 1, 2015.

How to submit your application

1. Download the 2015 CSTA Nominations Form at http://csta.acm.org/About/sub/AboutFiles/2015Election.html.

2. Complete the Nominations Form.

The form includes the following information:

Position for which you are applying
Your Name
Address
School or Employer
Current Title/Role
Email Address
Phone Number
Personal Statement that explains your motivation and why you are a strong candidate (limited to 130 words).
Answers to the following four questions (no more than 100 words each):
What experiences and/or interests in K-12 computer science/information technology education qualify you to serve as a leader for the organization?
What previous experience do you have with CSTA?
What leadership skills do you have that would enrich the Board and the organization?
What do you think are the most important issues for K-12 computer science education?

3. Submit the completed Nominations Form and your current résumé of experience to the Elections Committee by emailing them to nominations@csta.acm.org. The documents may be submitted in Microsoft Word or PDF format; PDF is preferred.

Each candidate’s personal statement and answers to the four questions will be posted on the CSTA website and included on the ballot. Statements will be truncated at the word-count limit if necessary. The candidate’s résumé will not be made public.

Ballot distribution: The election will take place online, beginning April 2, 2015. All CSTA members in good standing will be eligible to vote.

Voting deadline: The election will close May 4, 2015.

Election results: Results will be posted by May 15, 2015.

Please send election related questions to:

Deborah Seehorn, Nominations and Elections Committee Chair, nominations@csta.acm.org

CSTA Chapters and CSTA International Affiliates

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Fran Trees

CSTA Chapters:

CSTA supports the development of regional CSTA Chapters. A CSTA chapter is a local branch of CSTA designed to facilitate discussion of local issues, provision of member services at the local level, and to promote CSTA membership on the national level. We have 52 CSTA Chapters in 35 states and 4 CSTA Chapters in Canada. The current list of chapters can be viewed at: http://www.csta.acm.org/About/sub/CSTAChapters.html. The goals of a CSTA chapter include holding regular membership meetings and regularly communicating with the chapter membership. Many chapters find it helpful and rewarding to provide professional development activities for their membership.

CSTA International Affiliates:

Due to international laws relating to fiduciary responsibility for chapters, CSTA is unable to support the formation of chapters in countries other than the U.S. and Canada. As part of its commitment to meeting the needs of CSTA members and developing a strong international community of computer science educators, CSTA encourages affiliate relationships with similar organizations in other countries. A CSTA international affiliate is a sister organization committed to supporting improvements to pre-college computer science education at the national level. We have established an international affiliates program and provided a comprehensive guide on affiliate formation. Information on becoming a CSTA Affiliate member at: http://csta.acm.org/About/sub/Affiliates.html.

Both the CSTA Chapter application and CSTA International Affiliate application can be found on the CSTA Web site. We encourage your active participation in supporting CSTA through chapters and affiliates.

Submitted by Fran Trees, CSTA Chapter Liaison

Report on the CSTA Annual Conference

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Dave Reed

This past July 14-15, 326 attendees converged on St. Charles, Illinois, for the 2014 CSTA Annual Conference. This number continues the impressive growth of the conference, representing a roughly 20% increase from 2013. On Monday, 12 professional development workshops were offered, six in the morning and six in the afternoon, with a total attendance of 386. Tuesday was filled with 24 presentations across a variety of topics, including a new feature this year: 20-minute mini-sessions that focused on innovative classroom practices. Keynote addresses by Yasmin Kafai and Michael Kolling were thought provoking and inspiring.

Putting together the conference is the joint effort of a large community. The program committee (Dave Reed, Doug Peterson, Duncan Buell, Tammy Pirmann, Philip East, Patrice Gans, Kristen Fisher, Dan Wheadon, and Chris Stevenson) has the challenging task of selecting the agenda for the conference, with the help of a large corps of reviewers. Lissa Clayborn and Tiffany Nash organized and ran the event logistics, and onsite volunteers, led by the Chicago and Chicago Suburbs CSTA chapters, kept everything running smoothly.

If you were able to join us in St. Charles, we hope you had an outstanding experience. If not, you can still take advantage of much of the professional development. Many of the speakers’ slides are already posted on the CSTA Web site and more will be posted soon. In addition, many of the sessions were videotaped, including the keynotes, and these will also be going up on the CSTA site in early September. If you are looking for an activity for an upcoming CSTA chapter meeting, showing a session video and basing discussion on it is a great option.

We are always looking for your feedback and ideas to make your CSTA Annual Conference even better. Feel free to post your thoughts here, or contact a member of the program committee directly if you prefer.

Dave Reed
2014 CSTA Annual Conference Program Chair
College Faculty Rep, CSTA Board of Directors

To Conference or Not to Conference

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Stephanie Hoeppner

To Conference or Not To Conference–that’s not even a question! Of course you want to conference. I am of course referring to the annual CSTA Conference. This year we were in St. Charles, Illinois, at the wonderful Pheasant Run Resort. The attendance was larger this year than in the past and the energy and networking that occurred was great.

So why should you be here? Let me give a few examples of things I experienced and heard:

– At lunch several tables had people sitting and meeting for the first time. I heard people sharing what they had attended in the morning, what they learned, and how they could use it. This benefited the whole table since several were in different workshops. Beyond the workshops they also began sharing experiences from their own classrooms and districts and were able to find commonalities and share ideas.

– In an afternoon workshop the presenter referenced a workshop he had attending that morning and mentioned how something from it fit well with what he was doing. Wow, a presenter learning something in morning and applying that to his information! This allowed for a few comments and discussion among the attendees and it showed how learning connections can be made.

– There was a fantastic Monday night reception at one of the locations of Universal Technical Institute (UTI) with a tour of the facility, great food, and a special 10 Year CSTA Anniversary presentation.

– Tuesday had two fantastic keynotes, with thought provoking presentations that left attendees with conversation topics throughout the remainder of the day. There were also a host of sessions as well as new mini sessions where three small presentations were presented in one time slot. Also new was a vendor specific area that allowed for conversations about new curriculum options, technology to support teaching, and organizations that had resources to support computer science education.

– Lunch on Tuesday again brought a different mix of people to the tables to talk about different topics. The table I was at was comparing and contrasting different programming environments, how different teachers used them, and the age appropriateness of the environments. It was a great sharing of teaching experiences.

– I also saw many different people introducing colleagues to other attendees they met and felt could benefit from talking together. I was introduced as well to someone new from my state that I am going to be able to share information with and hopefully add to our Ohio Chapter. Meeting new people and making connections is one of the best benefits of the conference.

These are just some of the tidbits from the conference and I am sure there are many more. So if you are looking for ideas, connections, pedagogy, curriculum talks, and much much more, grab your boots and your ten gallon hat and mosey on down to next years conference. (Can you guess where?)

Stephanie Hoeppner
9-12 Representative, CSTA Board of Directors

Membership Benefits

Posted on August 30, 2012 by CSTA Blog

CSTA has recently produced a brand new Members Benefit brochure. If you have not received a copy, you can access it by clicking on the Membership Information tab on the CSTA website.
Or- if, like me, you are terribly busy as it is the beginning of the school year and you do not hardly have time to read this blog, let alone, all the text in the brochure, let me sum it all up for you!
What Are Your Member Benefits in a Nutshell?
1) Communications
a. The Voice: bimonthly, relevant and engaging articles and classroom ideas
b. The Advocate Blog: ~1-2 times per week- sharing of new ideas and current issues
c. CSTA Connector: quarterly- keeps institutional members connected to key CS Education strategies
d. The Globe: quarterly e-newsletter for international members- provides global perspective on CS education
2) Curriculum Resources
a. Web Repository: searchable database of peer reviewed lesson plans
b. CSTA K-12 Science Standards: core set of learning objectives for computer science curriculum
3) Policy Resources
Five different documents designed to help YOU advocate for Computer Science Education at the local, state, and national levels. These, as well as other items such as an advocacy tool kit, can be found under the Advocacy/Outreach tab on the main CSTA Website.
4) Professional Development
a. CS&IT: the annual conference focused on K-12 CS Education
b. Professional Development Videos: includes presentations and panels from various CSTA Events
c. CS Snipits Podcasts: provide a quick look at interesting CS education topics or people.
5) Career Resources
Simply too many to mention by name, but that is a good thing! Items vary in design from career brochures, classroom posters, lesson plans, research on the latest in CS education, and promotion of CS Education Week. All items are accessible online and links to specific resources can be found embedded in the membership brochure!
So What now? Simple. Access and use some of your member benefits today! Keep in mind, to access some of these resources you will need to set up your ACM Web Account. If you have not already done this, instructions are available in the Member Benefit Brochure! We hope that you will take full advantage of the resources available to you in the quest to see CS Education expanded throughout the globe!
Mindy Hart
At-Large Representative
Membership Committee Chairperson

Share Those Great Resources

Posted on June 7, 2011 by CSTA Blog

Whew! I can almost hear the collective sigh as the school year winds down and wraps up for teachers across the country and throughout the CSTA membership (except for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, of course).
I remember well those end-of-the-year activities of final exams, calculating grades, and boxing up the top of my desk until next September. And during the entire process of sorting and filing I found myself saying, “Gee, that was a great activity,” or “My, the students really got the concept quickly with this project. I have to remember to use that one again next year!”
I suspect you will have many of the same recollections as you clear your desk over the next couple weeks. But instead of keeping those great activities and super projects all to yourself, share with your CSTA peers by submitting them to the CSTA Source Web Repository of K-12 Computer Science Teaching and Learning Materials.
Don’t worry! We’re not looking for super-polished documents. Just clear instructions of activities that you know work. Maybe you have step-by-step lab instructions, maybe the details of a team project, maybe a review activity, or maybe an assessment tool. It could be a single lesson or an entire unit. We want them all!
And the process is easy! Just fill in the short informational form and submit the documents online at:
http://csta.acm.org/WebRepository/WebRepository.html
Submissions are reviewed by a volunteer committee to ensure that they are relevant and pedagogically and technically sound before they are included the repository.
So, instead of filing away those instructional gems until next fall, share them with all of us. It is the neighborly CSTA thing to do!
Pat Phillips
Editor, CSTA Voice

Choosing Conference Sessions

Posted on May 5, 2011 by CSTA Blog

The CS&IT Annual Conference is coming up and I am getting more excited all the time. As a computer science teacher, it’s always been the best professional development I attend, as every session has something designed for teaching computing. This event is thought-provoking, useful, and always interesting.
In the last few years, the model of creating the program has completely changed, and with the help of Program Chair Duncan Buell, I wanted to crack open the lid and let you see some of the magic.
First, multiple reviewers read each submission and rated each on several criteria including quality and relevance to the CS&IT audience. Each reviewer was assigned a random selection of submissions, so each submission was read by different reviewers, with overlap to improve inter-rater reliability. This is how many conferences handle reviews.
Second Duncan went through the top 35 proposals, looking for anomalies, such as cases where all reviews were high but one which brought down the average, to verify that the numbers were reasonable. He also tried to notice if particular reviewers had been uniformly harsh or uniformly easy in an attempt to reduce the effect of “the luck of the draw” of which reviewers reviewed which proposals.
Then he started working to figure out which of the top submissions would be in the final program: “In my experience, the first 6 to 10 of 20 would be fairly obvious. The next five or so might be reasonably easy to pencil in, and then it gets tough.”
The goal is to have a diverse set of offerings from a diverse set of presenters. For example, two of the top 35 proposals were about the new AP Principles course. Given that we only have 20 sessions, the choice was made to offer only the top-rated proposal about AP Principles rather than having two sessions about the new AP and miss out on a presentation about something else. Some proposers submitted multiple ideas, and often only one was chosen, particularly when what looked like the same submission came in as a one-hour and three-hour option.
Finally the committee organized the top sessions into the program, whittling it down further to make sure that each time slot has a diverse set of offerings likely to appeal to different attendee populations.
I think they’ve done a wonderful job and I hope you will agree. If you haven’t signed up yet, hurry up and do so! I look forward to seeing you in New York this summer.
Michelle Hutton
CSTA President

Don’t Miss Your Opportunity to Decide CSTA’s Future

Posted on April 24, 2011 by CSTA Blog

The 2011 CSTA election is drawing to a close. As you are hopefully aware, this year’s election has been run entirely online, providing unprecedented convenience to voters and significant savings to the organization compared to the days of paper ballots.
All of the election info, including the board candidates statements and proposed bylaws changes, have been up on the CSTA Web site:
http://csta.acm.org/About/sub/AboutFiles/Elections.html
since early March.
On April 4, more than 8,300 email ballots were distributed to CSTA members, with a personalized link to the ElectionBuddy election site for each voter. On April 25, reminder emails will be sent out to all members who have not yet voted, with the election ending one week later on May 2.
If you have not yet voted in the election, please take a few moments to do so before May 2. As this organization continues to grow, having the right people on the board and the right set of bylaws is essential. This is your opportunity to help decide the future of your CSTA.
The CSTA Board of Directors

The CSTA Advocate Blog

Category Archives: CSTA Updates