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I agree with Alfred completely.  This was the BEST workshop I’ve ever been to and here’s why.

1.  The conversations.  After every block of sessions, I ended up at a meal where we discussed the previous sessions and how to use the information.  That has NOT happened at other workshops.

Quoted from http://blogs.msdn.com/alfredth/archive/2008/03/03/game-development-in-computer-science-education-day-1.aspx:

Computer Science Teacher – Thoughts and Information from Alfred Thompson : Game Development in Computer Science Education Day 1

 

Being at a conference on a cruise ship is different from being on a land based conference. For one thing we are out of range of shore based Internet and cell phone coverage. For another there are not the same distractions that one sees on land. Oh sure there are stores and swimming pools and the casino. But all the places to eat are on the ship and you can’t really go that far without seeing people who are also on the conference. What happens is that people wind up talking to each other – a lot!

2.  The lack of snarkiness. AP Computer Science teachers are snarky.  They have their cliques, and they have their courts.  If you don’t long belong to one of those, you are just left out period.   After having said this, I should probably never attend another AP CS conference again, but then oh, well, I’ve always been left out.

3.  The level of interaction.  I never felt in over my head.  I did a lot at the last CMU AP CS conference.  I always felt that I could take something out of the workshop and bring it back to my school and disctrict.  However, I will admit I skipped all the robotics sessions — it bugs we that we can’t afford them, and I did skip the sessions on how to set up college curriculum.  I do that on a regular basis, and have a master’s degree in it. 

All in all, it was good, I recommend the cruise format — and the Landry / King company did a fabulous job of taking care of us. Carlyn and Vera provided top notch service, and I really appeciate the private room.

My cell phone came in REAL handy.  I haven’t seen the full bill yet, as Cingular is processing it and March 3 is the first date of my cell phone month.

However, I was on the Cingular network all day Thursday, all day on Friday, or most of it, and then again on Monday morning.  I was able to get some grading done on Thursday and Friday, which is a good thing. I was also able to commincate with some students.

It was even better in Miami at the airport, I was waiting on a plane for about 4 hours and was able to get quite a bit of grading done, more if I had had a power outlet, I didn’t want to completely drain my battery, not sure why.

This website gives lots of good travel information, and this type of article in particular is one of the two reasons I did not go on shore:  http://www.frommers.com/blog/2008/02/next-time-cruiseline-tries-to-sell-you.html

The first reason though was because it was the only downtime we had, and I need to de-stress, de-frizz, and just relax for a few hours.  And the best thing I did on the trip was to have a cute Austrialian gal french braid my hair — which de-frizzed me.  I didn’t have to touch a brush for three days she did it so well.  It really simplified my life. And the price was reaonable.

I drank the Koolaid and was good — but I already like that flavor.

I will be honest, this is one of the best events I’ve ever attended.

Better than TCEA, better than SIGSCE in Auston, and we won’t talk about the AP Workshops….

The premise is:  Microsoft and their partners in the game industry are having trouble attracting people wo work for them.  There are two issues:  One issue that there are not enough applicant to hire, and the other issue is that the ones they do hire often do not have what they feel are "basic skills".

The sessions we went to addressed both.  Some concentrated on the first issue — attracting students to computer science since game programming is motivating to a lot of students.  Some concentrated on the skills that game programs need. 

They also addressed the overall problem — which is decreased enrollment in all computer science programs.

The best thing about this workshop, is I was treated with respect and as an equal. 

I also got to play some Xbox — that was just a few hours each night, and I got to be one of the first people to play a particular game written for the Zune.

I’d LOVE to go back.

I am having fun!  I’ve had trouble being able to stay in workshops, mainly due to diabetes issues, but it is getting better.

Microsoft, especially Kent, is treating me exceptionally well.  Their representatives are fantasic, and I love the ship.  As always the first day was very rough, but at least I didn’t fall out of bed.

More when I actually have time to write something thoughtful.

I have a bunch of really good blog entries are they are ALL ON THE OLD SERVER!  I am going to try to figure out how to move them over, but it might not happen until Spring Break — only a few weeks ago.

This sort of thing makes me crazy, but probably gives the least painful outcome.  Though I’m afraid he’ll try something like this again… so many do.

One thing I’ve done since day one, is to think of my students as babies — even the 21 year olds, and yes, I’ve had 21 year old students in my classroom.  In Texas, as long as you haven’t graduated, AND you don’t give a discipline problem, you have the right to be in the classroom until you are 21 or you graduate.

Quoted from http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/021608dnmetursuline.3358120.html:

Ex-Ursuline Academy teacher gets probation for sexual contact with student | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News

If Mr. Novinski successfully completes his probation, he will not have a criminal record. He is not required to register as a sex offender.

 

But as a condition of his probation, he is prohibited from teaching or doing counseling work.

I like to play it very safe on my blogs, but did comment on this with my real name, though the comment hasn’t shown up yet. 

Dallas ISD Blog | The Dallas Morning News

 

Ward English, associate principal at Skyline High School, has this to say about alleged cheating at his school.

 

You need to read the memo. 

Ward was dean at my school for several years, when I worked very closely with him.  When I was teacher tech, the deans relied heavily on my technology expertise, and the ones we have had since then have relied on me some.

First, I have my own policy in similar matters — if a kid gets put in my class in the middle of the semester, I’m always kind grade wise.  It happens too often.  In fact, whenever I know a kid’s schedule was screwed up by adults, I’m not only kind in grading, but do what I can to fix the situation.

I will say that over my 16 years, several athletes have been placed in the wrong level of technology class and they honestly couldn’t handle the work.  Many have been special ed — remember I teach CS and it’s not always the right placement. On several different occasions administrators have asked the following question:

“What can this kid do to pass your class”?

One or two times, I’ve honestly said, put them in the appropriate class (which I usually name) and I’ll give the kid a 70.  The good news is that all parties involved are relieved, me, the kid, the parents AND the administrator.  And the kid does better in the right class.  Though sometimes I have to smooth over the feathers of the receiving teacher. 

On other occasions I’ve said, “the kid needs to do this work, and I’m available at these times”. The kid always shows up at the time and place indicated, often with a teammate to help him.  And I help too, but the kid does the work.

Those two answers have always worked well for both me and the kids.  Even when I teach math.

We’ve had one other school year since I’ve been teaching, when we had finals after Christmas, however, I don’t remember the schedule being this odd.  We just returned back from finals, MLK, AND a teacher workday, meaning we haven’t had a full day of class since last Monday. Yesterday was our first full day. 

The good news is that my students did fairly well on the district finals.  A lot of kids passed their finals who were not passing with me — my policy is to make sure you pass the entire semester if you can pass the district final because they ARE hard.

That’s other thing my district does well by the way. Our students are mobile, especially when apartment complexes are offering free rent, and can you blame their families?  We’ve also tried to have a standard curriculum, but we didn’t really have the funding for it.  However, we had had the district finals. By the way, one of my projects right now is to create a standard curriculum, which is going well, but seems like a daunting task.  I’m on week 6 of 36 weeks!

The worse part of our schedule, is that the work ethic of my students is terrible.  Even before this week, they were waiting until the last minute.  Though I do think I’ve always had a group that does this, this year seems worse.  However, I also have to remember I haven’t had a student load this high in years, especially when it comes to webmastering.  I do not believe I’ve ever had this many webmastering students, and I just got 5 more.  Two had me first semester in previous years, the others all failed the other webmastering teacher at some point.

More good news, I"ve managed to convince administration to drop Webmasteirng as an option on the choice sheet, though I bet we have to keep a section open next year for those who failed it.  They really can’t come into the second semester of CS.

I’m really glad I went and I participated.  I wish I had more knowledge going in, and had better expectations on what we were doing etc. but now I do.  I’ll definately participate again next year.

I hope other people besides Microsoft start doing this type of event.  For example Adobe/Macromedia.  While I think that Microsoft has good tools, hosting their sites tends to be a bit more expensive.  However, Verio did provide hosting free for two years.

All in all, it was a good weekend.