Recently I started a 10-week contract, filling in as a Math teacher at a local high school. Naturally one of my early questions was “So what senior computing classes do you have?” The answer, from the principal, was “None”. A bit of further digging revealed that a similar school had been told a number of years ago by the local university that they didn’t need high school students with any computer science of programming. “Just give us good students”.
It is an argument I have heard more than once. What it belies is the fact that students at high school are strongly encouraged to have goals, determine where they are headed, what degree will the need at younger and younger ages.
So if students don’t know what computer science, software engineering etc. is, why would they choose it at university? They’ve probably already settled on a course. And naturally the problem of numbers enrolling into such courses at university linger.
The fear that inexperienced, unknowledgeable teachers will somehow mess the students up has to be exposed for the fallacious nonsense it is. Within days, I discovered that the Math teacher who was most helpful to me starting the new job actually has a Computer Science degree. He was so energized by my talking about high school academic computing that he got a bunch of his bright year 10 students to come to a lunchtime programming club, which we teach together.
I believe that well qualified, expert teachers exist (as I have a number of similar stories) but our administrations need to notice, understand why its important to use them and use them appropriately.
So before I leave, I will seek out the school principal and let him know what a great resource he already has on board.
Margot Phillipps
CSTA International Director

This past summer marked the addition of a full day of workshops to the CS&IT Symposium. More than 120 individuals attended morning and afternoon sessions on a variety of topics, such as BYOB Scratch, Google AppInventor, Videogame Programming, and AP Teaching. I’m happy to report that the day was very successful, with 97% of attendees rating “Session effectiveness” as either Good or Excellent, and 98% of attendees rating “Met expectations” as either Good or Excellent. Thank you to all of the session presenters who made the first CS&IT Workshop Day go so well.
The experience of chairing the workshop sessions prompted me to reflect on workshops that I have attended over the years. Many have been instructive and inspiring, but others have been demoralizing wastes of time. To me, an effective workshop has to have a significant hands-on component, but it also has to provide enough conceptual content to allow me to build upon what I have done. If it doesn’t enable me to continue learning on my own afterwards, it is really nothing more than a few hours of entertainment and/or confinement.
For example, I attended an outstanding workshop some years ago on Bioinformatics Education. The session integrated engaging hands-on exercises, but also provided conceptual background and resources for going beyond the exercises. It inspired me to dig deeper into the material once I got home, and I learned more after the workshop than I did in those few in-class hours. In contrast, a disappointing App Development workshop I attended led me through the development of some really cool applications, but no conceptual understanding of what I was doing. I left the workshop with some impressive apps, but absolutely no idea how I would do anything else.
I’m curious how other people view workshops.
What do you look for when you register for a workshop?
What features do you think are necessary for a workshop to be effective?
What are the biggest mistakes that you think workshop presenters make?
Please share your thought, and if you have a great workshop that you have attended and want to plug, have at it.
Dave Reed
CSTA Board of Directors
College Representative

Well, it’s back to school time and most of us have done some professional development over the summer to rejuvenate and enhance what we are doing in the classroom.
I had the privilege of attending MIT’s CS4HS offering in July, sponsored by Google. The focus of the three-day workshop was on using the Scratch programming language as a means to teach computational thinking skills using design based learning. Mitch Resnick and Karen Brennan of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group led the workshop and did an amazing job.
I must report, I drank the koolaid. The experience was exciting, motivating, and energizing. The forty-four educators, administrators, and researchers who participated were definitely buzzing with excitement. By the end of the workshop, there was a definite cult atmosphere in the room. The workshop was broken down into themes: art, stories, and games. Participants were given ideas and instruction on developing projects in all areas. Much time was spent on individual work related to a theme of interest.
It was a real treat for most of to have a solid chunk of time to play with Scratch, bounce ideas off of our colleagues, and to explore the possibilities. Most participants reported staying up until the wee hours of the night to work on their individual Scratch projects. It is an addictive tool, so easy to use, intuitive, and very engaging. I am excited to bring what I learned back to my school and to figure out the most effective way to implement Scratch with my high school students.
What about you?
What professional development did you do this summer that got you pumped for the school year?
Karen Lang
CSTA Board of Directors
9-12 Representative

I recently had the good fortune to participate in this year’s Creative Computing workshop at MIT. The program, which ran from July 27-30, was organized by the MIT Media Lab in collaboration with Google’s CS4HS initiative. The four day workshop provided K-12 teachers with an opportunity to explore computational thinking and creativity in the classroom.
Over the course of four days, I met with teachers from around New England (and some even as far away as California) to experiment with new educational technologies and instructional strategies to engage students in creative design activities. The workshop focused on Scratch as the vehicle for cultivating creativity and problem solving. Scratch:
http://scratch.mit.edu/
a programming language geared for children and teens, was developed at the Lifelong Kindergarten Group
http://llk.media.mit.edu/index.php
at the MIT Media Lab and was created to provide children with the opportunity to learn how to design, create, and express themselves through technology. I saw the workshop as the ideal vehicle for me to develop lessons which will motivate my students to become creators, not just users, of the technology that permeates their world.
During the workshop, I experienced first hand the joy and wonder that Scratch brings to learning. We started the program by exploring three essential questions:
(1) What is Scratch?,
(2) What is Scratch good for?, and
(3) What is good Scratch?
My initial response to those questions was pretty straightforward. Obviously, I knew what Scratch was and I believed that I knew what Scratch is good for, and I definitely thought I knew what was good Scratch. But over the course of four days, as I built new computer programs with my colleagues, toured the Media Lab, and heard from a variety of experts, I came to realize that these three questions mean more than I had ever imagined.
I discovered that Scratch is much more than a computer programming environment. It is a community. Scratch is not only good for making computer games, animations, stories, and art. It is also good for making social connections. It is a place where today’s technologically savvy students can come together to exchange sprites, remix programs, and collaborate on projects with other Scratchers. The same experience of sharing and collaborating can be found at the educator’s website, ScratchEd
http://scratched.media.mit.edu
And good Scratch, well, that is what ever you want it to be. As a teacher, I feel that my students produce “good” projects when they are actively engaged in the learning process. For the most part, every time a student builds a Scratch program, engagement takes place. I can’t wait for the school year to begin so my students can start “scratching.”
Patrice Gans
CSTA K-8 Representative