I am teaching AP CSP this coming school year. I have no background. I am very anxious! I have taught for 25 years (10 in science and 15 in Computer Applications). I am scheduled to go to code.org training in a couple of weeks and then AP training in July. I really want to learn or at last familiarize myself with it before I go. Suggestions?
I wanted to work through the code.org lessons as a student before I went. I created a class on my account and then created a student. I started to work through a couple of lessons and realized that so many of the lessons required students to work together. So I’m stuck!
HELP! I want to teach myself before I go. Suggestions??
I did the week-long Code.org training for CSP last year and it was super helpful in terms of familiarizing teachers with their lesson plans. I am positive that after going through that you will feel much more confident and ready to teach the class.
Many of the collaborative lessons are covered and practiced during that training week so it isn’t necessary to fully understand or even review them beforehand. However, if I were to recommend one thing that would likely be helpful to go through on your own it would be the programming units (3 and 5). These are the ones that I think that students are most likely to struggle with and it will pay to have some experience with them before the questions come up. Reviewing them before the Code.org training will also give you the opportunity to come in with questions of your own if you need to.
These forums are a great place to come for support as well, either beforehand or during the school year. Also, there is a very active and helpful Facebook group for CSP teachers that I recommend signing up for… https://www.facebook.com/groups/1029824640390220/
You’ll do great and you’ve got plenty of support if you need it so don’t worry !
I too went to the week long conference in Arizona. I’m actually there right now!
My recommendation for you is to get connected with your regions facilitator. They will advise you on the best option to get you started.
This is me…first year teaching AP CSP…didn’t get to go to the week long conference…going to be flying a little blind. Bit nervous. I can handle the tech. More nervous about the pacing. Have taught MS Computer Science past 2 years and I have a tech background a bit.
Keep in mind, YOU are the LEAD LEARNER You are not supposed to be Confucius, your supposed to be a tad less CONFUSED than your students. Be sure to prepare one or 3 days in advance, but be sure to tell the kids your learning too. Use your local PD Team, if your not sure who they are just post it out here and ask, you will find each other. Get involved with them, attend your local meetings b/c you will be able to help others newer than you. Use this forum, it is a great tool and CODE professionals ALWAYS have our backs, ANYTHING you get stuck on you can ask them and it will be resolved very quickly. Most importantly, you can’t force anyone to learn. Students chose to take your course (we hope) if they CHOOSE to do well they will. I’m sure you will find the best way to help them make good choices every day. Good Luck! Have a Great Year!!
I found what Mlieber said to be true. I stay a day or two ahead of the students and they know we are in this together. Next year I’ll be even better as I’ll be more familiar with the curriculum, but I find it to be so well done that this year is going well (in my opinion). How’s it going for everyone else this year?
