I spent the past week in Kansas City, Missouri reading the AP Computer Science Principles exam. “Reading” is a euphemism for “grading”, and I graded somewhere between 300 and 400 student responses over the past week. I’ll write here about my experience grading the exams, but won’t get specific about the exam responses I read … Read more
Apple notified me today that I’ve been selected to join the Apple Distinguished Educators class of 2017. To enter myself into consideration I had to write a few things about myself and also make a two minute video about how I use Apple stuff in my teaching work at Lincoln Sudbury. Here is the video … Read more
Last week I cancelled my cable television. When my two year contract with Verizon ran out, I received a bill $20 higher than the previous one. I contacted them to see what they would do for me over the next two years. Turned out, they wouldn’t do anything but raise my bill. So after doing a … Read more
This past week, I spent three days visiting High Tech High in San Diego with four other teachers and administrators from Lincoln Sudbury RHS. Our high school is in the early stages of building an Innovation Center, and we are looking for good ideas wherever we can find them. Our trip was supported by a … Read more
For several years I’ve been following news of the College Board creating a new Computer Science course, called AP CS Principles. It sounds like a great course outline, with algorithmic thinking and creativity emphasized over pure programming exercises. While the curriculum does require some programming, it is language agnostic and some of the first and … Read more
Women are underrepresented in tech jobs across the nation. In Massachusetts, about 27 percent of tech jobs were held by women in 2014. Apple, while actively engaged in efforts to recruit women, had 22 percent of its tech positions filled by women in 2015. The situation at Facebook and Microsoft is even worse, with less … Read more
I’m teaching a new course, Learn Python Programming with Minecraft, through Acton Boxborough Community Ed this summer. The course will run for two weeks, from July 11 to July 22, in the mornings from 9am to 12pm. Students should bring a laptop computer running OS X or Windows. You can sign up here. The … Read more
I’m planning to offer a course on Python programming through Acton Boxborough Community Ed during April break from Tuesday to Friday. To get notified when registration is available, sign up for my mailing list.