Building a program by yourself
Takes time. I have to remember this. I also have to remember that I’m not currently teaching the course that will be the foundation of the program. It’s all still just on paper. And it’s only 50% of my job. The other 50% is also in need of some support and building, but I have colleagues to help with that. That program is about supporting the teachers in using technology and I’ve found a pretty receptive audience for that. There’s more to be done, and I have some ideas for that that I’m planning to implement soon.
The other program, the CS program, I’m not worried (that much) about, but still I feel like I should do something. Here’s what I am doing so far: talking up the program with parents and kids; running a MS CS club to build interest early; running an after-school program for 4-5 graders to build interest even earlier; promoting the program through the web site, open houses, and more. I get this feeling there’s more. The robotics club for high school is basically run at another school and I haven’t been able to attend since winter break. It’s mostly attended by seniors, kids I haven’t really connected with, which is not helping my cause I’m sure. I’d like to do something club-wise for CS that’s not robotics perhaps this year, but definitely next year. I still might have to do robotics because a) there’s some demand for it, though more demand than actual commitment; and b) we have the materials lying around. I guess I get the feeling that if I just do the right extra thing, suddenly 14 kids will show up wanting to take CS in the fall. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that thing is. So I keep trying different things. What I know for sure is that it’s just going to take time.
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