Job Posting: Google Teaching Fellow

Here's what you need to know, Google's looking for an awesome educator.

A couple of years ago, +Dan Meyer  posted that the Curriculum Fellow job at Google he had previously worked on was hiring again. I saw that post, and immediately posted my resume to the Google Jobs website. I had no idea how much that action would change my life.

I was very happy as an educator. I worked at an awesome school that used Project Based Learning and had a great robotics team. But there were two things that compelled me to apply. First off I told my students and friends that the only two things that would make me leave my classroom were if the Mythbusters or Google wanted me to work for them. The second was how much I wanted to see others use Computer Science and Computational Thinking in their classroom.

I blogged often about Computational Thinking but I still wanted to reach a wider audience, plus it is difficult to create high quality lessons when you have a class everyday. Since working at Google I've been able to accomplish both of those things (in my humble opinion). The Exploring Computational Thinking reaches many educators each month who are starting to implement the lessons but more importantly the philosophy and tools into their classes. I've also had the privilege of working on many other awesome projects impacting education.

I'm happy to pay it forward and let you know about another awesome opportunity for educators, take a look at the job posting and see if it would work for you. You will have amazing managers, an exciting mission, and you will have freedom to create and innovate. Sounds awesome? You have no idea....

Updated Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

I hold a special place in my heart for the How to Think Like a Computer Scientist tutorial. When my former teacher and then colleague Michel Paul told me about this great language Python I went home and checked out a few tutorials.

Jeff Elkner's How to Think... was not only the easiest introduction to the syntax of the language, I still use it as one of my references as well as for my students. The tutorial started out as a series of explanations and tutorials but recently has evolved into a much more interactive experience. For many students it is difficult to get software installed on their home computers and sadly it can be difficult for teachers to have it on their school network. Brad Miller has released an updated version of How to Think Like a Computer Scientist with interpreters built into the lesson so students can learn right from the browser.

The ability to program from within the browser is making a huge impact on one's ability to learn right away. Some great examples of this beyond How to Think... are: W3 School (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc), SAGE (Math), and CodeAcademy (lots of great potential here).

You will need a Google account (free) and an up to date browser (Chrome, Firefox, IE). In addition to the interactivity, video tutorials and an administrative back end is being tested and will be opened up at the end of the semester for use with your students. Brad Miller, continues to refine this project and is committed to making it useful and open to as many as possible. New tutorials have been added to take you from Hello World to full blown Object Oriented Programming (trust me it's awesome).

I can personally testify to the quality of these lessons. If you are motivated you could go through these in a weekend or so and be off and running to the great possibilities in using programming with your students. As I have said before, it will provide opportunities for students to try ideas they never could have before. I think of all my students and I have been able to accomplish with Python and it all started with the How to Think Like a Computer Scientist tutorial. I can only imagine what could happen if every teacher who read this blog gave it a shot and passed it on to their students.

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Women Want to Change The World: STEM Can Make That Possible

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I had a great conversation with Shyno from WGBH Boston (makers of Design Squad and Fetch) about their organization's passion for increasing the involvement of women in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics). This is a personal goal for me, as I love to see the perspective and creativity that women bring to the field. She asked if I could share two links with you: Dot Diva and Engineer Your Life. Both sites are devoted to breaking down stereotypes and showing women what is possible in a STEM career.

Social pressures that we are all aware of in our culture tend to make STEM something uncool  (HA!) and the peer pressure drives women away from that. Not to mention the one sided portrayal of STEM as the lonely, male dominated, nerdy field of study. WGBH has researched what women want out of a career and overwhelmingly they want to make a difference and be a part of a bigger story. They want to create with their hands and ask why do we do what we do? So their sites and outreach events are intended to give a much needed makeover to STEM's image and show women everywhere the possibilities. The video below comes from the Dot Diva site and is intended to do just that. (By the way, I held a women-only premier for my students of the webisode and they loved it! They were so sad that there was no other episode, yet).

Wired Magazine did a great cover story about Limor Fried (aka Ladyada) and Make Magazine made an excellent observation about the negative role models women see everyday. We need more positive examples and opportunities for women to look up to.

This powerpoint came from the Dot Diva Resources Page

Some of WGBH's effective outreach has involved: role models, STEM + Art, using computers for storytelling, and generally being able to be creative and express their ideas. Keep in mind this is good for guys as well! The links throughout this post are great for sharing and using with your students. I did for mine and the women loved the videos and resources.

If you need ideas on getting started with programming, robotics, Arduino, Alice, and more, you can check out the BrokenAirplane programming resources page, Dot Diva, and Engineer Your Life. Discuss your successes or struggles in the comments and lets encourage women to join STEM fields, the World will be better for it!

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