Recently, Rutgers University hosted a CS4HS workshop for K-12 CS educators. With the help of a grant from Google, Rutgers CS Department planned and hosted a two-day event for local K-12 computing teachers. What a great experience for everyone!
I have been involved with many CS workshops for teachers and have always come away from these workshops with a rejuvenated motivation to teach. And I am usually on the presenting end of the workshop! Professional development activities benefit the presenters as well as the participants. The teachers attending the workshops consistently verify the existence of a K-12 community devoted to educating students in the computing disciplines. When surveyed, this K-12 CS community appreciates any professional development that will help them better their teaching, give them new approaches to education, teach them new techniques, or introduce new ways of incorporating technological tools in their curriculum. The presenters have the same appreciation! After all, the presenters are, in most cases, also teachers! And the teachers attending always have something worthwhile to offer other teachers!
Take the first step towards providing professional development to your local communities of CS teachers. There have been so many successful teacher workshops around the country. The CS Principles Web Site provides a calendar of many of the events that were offered this past summer and that are scheduled for the Fall. If you have an interest in reaching out to your local communities of CS educators and you have no idea what type of professional development to offer, browse the CS Principles calendar:
http://www.csprinciples.org/home/pd
If you click on a particular workshop, there will most likely be a link to that workshop’s web site which may include an agenda, pictures, presentations, and most of what you might need to plan your own workshop.
Involve and educate your local community: Not only have our efforts reached out to the K-12 CS community, but we were also fortunate to have the School of Arts and Sciences take note of our efforts. Publicity never hurts! Now the entire Rutgers community is aware of our outreach and our goals. Read about our outreach efforts:
http://sas.rutgers.edu/news-a-events/feature-archive/1305-computer-scientists-reach-beyond-their-ranks-to-shape-the-future
Although we did have financial support from Google for this first event, we plan to continue our efforts throughout the school year. We are fortunate to have a group of CS educators that are committed to K-12 CS Education.
Take your first step in reaching out. Plan a professional development event for your teachers! It doesn’t have to be a multi-day event. If you have a CSTA chapter near you, reach out for their help! If you are interested in starting a chapter in your local region, contact chapters@csta.acm.org for more information.
Fran Trees
CSTA Chapter Liaison