Computer Science. Lake Brantley High School. Seth Reichelson

Transcription

1 Computer Science At Lake Brantley High School Seth Reichelson

2 Biographical Data TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2010 Current Lake Brantley High School, Altamonte Springs Fl AP Computer Science, Honors Physics, Engineering Ocoee High School (Apopka Relief School), Ocoee Fl AP Computer Science A / AP Computer Science AB AP Physics C, Concepts of Engineering Physics II Apopka High School, Apopka Fl Honors Physics, Concepts of Engineering EDUCATION University of Buffalo, Mechanical Engineering

3 TEACHING AWARDS 2012 Air Force Teacher of the Year 2012 North American Mainframe Teacher of the year 2011 NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award 2010 FIU ACM Computer Programming Teacher of the Year 2010 IBM North American Mainframe Teacher of the Year 2009 Bright House Star Teacher of the Year 2009 Florida School Board Innovation in Technology Award 2008 Central Florida Air Force Teacher of the Year 2010,2009,2006 SECME Engineering Mousetrap Car Design National Champions 2007 SECME Engineering Mousetrap Car Design Runner Up 2010,2009,2008 Won ALL ACM High School Programming Contests in UF, UCF, FIU and Stetson (10 in a row)

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5 Where I Taught Before D School (Failing School)

6 Needed to win to get any academic respect

7 My Journey Before and after Tapestry workshop

8 BEFORE TAPESTRY WORKSHOP 1 st and 2 nd place at FIU s ACM Programming contest.(no Girls on the team)

9 No Girls but lots of big trophies Girls but we didn t know them $24,000 scholarships Big Trophies Big $10,000 Check (that they kept)

10 Never asked myself if girls see themselves in the Iron Sheik.

11 Serious but Silly

12 Always looking for ideas Once I stop looking to improve myself I am done teaching. It would be nice for my boys to know a girl before they graduate.

13 AFTER TAPESTRY WORKSHOP

14 Overall message I got Didn t have to compete to win. Added projects that don t end with a trophy. Still killer but more differentiated. Applied strategies learned. Reached out to yearbook, student government, NHS and GSA.

15 Didn t stop winning. Look Girls!..and one ninja?

16 and winning..

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18 Outreach Projects Worked with yearbook Picture blending Worked with leadership GSA Children's games for relay for life and pep rallies Knitting club NHS (Sneaky) Hate the club but it is where the money is Combined my AP CS with a 2 nd grade class

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22 She was amazing.

23 COMPUTER SCIENCE 40 STUDENTS IN AP

24 Context of Where I Teach Now Lake Brantley High School A School Supportive 9 12 th graders 3000 students Staff of 235 which includes 155 teachers NO AP COMPUTER SCIENCE OFFERED

25 Problems with changing schools Started from zero No word of mouth Students had prior bad experiences with Computer Science One Week before school starts 0 students enrolled in AP Computer Science

26 My concerns in starting a CS department at Lake Brantley Need enough students to hold the class. Cost? How do I get the AP Calculus type students to take my class? How do I get girls to take the class?

27 The perfect storm Sponsored a troubled NHS Students looking for a home Used to working hard at D school Calculus teachers liked me Students stay in school all periods Principal not afraid of anything Top notch CS Department head

28 Just hand out your syllabus. -my boss

29 lol they are going to find out anyway

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31 Recruiting Methods & Results AP Night at Lake Brantley. Keeping it loud and fun. No syllabus. Communicated a message that this course is possible for anyone to accomplish. Targeted to High School Students with no prior knowledge. No Computer Science Jokes or any reference to Nerds or Geeks

32 General selling points AP CS is a must have for all engineering majors Any top engineering school will laugh at you if you don t take AP CS No prior experience needed to take AP CS Except counting (from zero), divide and get remainder Computer Science makes you special Resume Builder IBM masters of the main frame contest Engineering Team Programming Team All grades 9-12th can do it Students who can handle AP Biology, can handle CS We have fun We start programming day one!

33 Taking the Fear out of AP CS 9th grade parents want to know that their daughters will be safe in a class that is commonly male dominated They don t want to start high school with a class that is over their head and be buried in work with no chance for an A Mastery Learning reduces their fears I assured the parents that if their child gets a bad grade I would call or them and figure out what their kid needs to master and will supply them with additional resources. Once the concept is mastered I will change their grade. Some parents consider anything less then an A to be a bad grade. This works out great for everyone. The student gets an A and I get a 5 on the AP test.

34 Specialized Sell Boys Said the word ROBOTS Repeated the word ROBOTS Repeated the word ROBOTS Repeated the word ROBOTS Girls Surf Camp (wait for it) NASA and the Girls Get It program had given 7 of my girls a free 4 day sleepover surf camp ($500 value) NCWIT Aspirations award Had one girl win the national award and 2 girls win the runner up award Flying Squirrels Robot Club Providing for community service by forming a robot club to teach girl middle school and girl elementary school students computer science using robots (either Scribbler w/ Georgia Tech Fluke or Fitch robots) Girls comprised 46% of Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus test-takers, but only 19% of AP Computer Science test-takers AP CS will make you special If you want to stand out take AP CS

35 Instructional Design Methods Differential instruction Students don t start at same level Mastery Learning Open Enrollment (One of my rules) Never touch projects (My other rule)

36 Add drop is the first two weeks Objects first Don t start with your most boring material when students can add drop.

37 Start Strong While other teachers are boring their students with syllabus and rules my class is programming objects using turtles. My numbers went up the second week. The moan when the class is over means it is working!

38 Assignment 0 Make something pretty. I want something to do with a warren of bunnies doing something cute with bears. The teacher (me) will be the sole judge of the cuteness. Your program must include a for loop and at least 8 different Turtle methods. So hop to it. All worlds will be displayed. No violence. Extra credit will be awarded for the best integration of unicorn and Billy Mitchell.

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44 And we train during the summer

45 Science meets fun at Lake Brantley Word of Mouth Magazine article written by APCS student and NCWIT Aspirations winner, Alex Mickler, for a community publication of over 60,000 local homes

46 Puppies always help!

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50 Wow!!! 4 day free sleep over surf camp run by NASA

51 No Posters Four Shirts and Sweatpants Walking Billboards for AP Computer Science

52 Announcements

53 IBM Masters of Main Frame

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56 SECME / Cyber Patriot / Masters of the Mainframe/ACM Programming Contests / IBM Innovation Contest Succeed All Team projects No time limit High retention Mentoring Students want in

57 NCWIT Aspirations Winners

58 NCWIT Winners

59 Don t mess with my girls!

60 AP Computer Science 1 st Year at Lake Brantley about 60 AP Computer Science students

61 Lake Brantley High School students in AP Computer Science 45 % female.5 % mascot

62 Next Year Programming One This is for students who want to take CS but don t want to commit to AP. This class will use Alice, Green foot and anything else I can get my hands on including scribbler robots. AP Computer Science Students do not have to take Programming One to take AP Programming Research This is for students who have taken the AP class but want to program more. We will be focusing on contest problems and other languages besides JAVA

63 Results for Computer Programming I 3 female (13%) 20 male AP Computer Science (after scheduling, original total 191) 55 female (39%) 87 male Research III 13 female (36%) 23 male

64 Differences Explained All three classes Listed in Curriculum Guide Open enrollment Computer Programming I (non-weighted) Just listed in the Curriculum Guide Did not sell the class AP Computer Science (AP weight) Listed in the Curriculum Guide Heavily sold class using techniques developed by NCWIT Research III (Honors weight) Listed in Curriculum Guide Spread by word of mouth from current students

65 Next Year 296 signed up for AP Computer Science

66 The End