Last March, we (CSTUY) hosted our first hackathon - def hacks():

It was a tremendous success. Fifty students of all experience levels, a bunch of great mentors and judges - added all together and it was a terrific day.

I wrote about it here.

We're doing it again. We love last years hosts SumAll and are grateful that they continue to host our Saturday Hacking Sessions but we are also grateful to Facebook NY for allowing us to use their larger space for this edition of def hacks(). Larger space = more hackers.

So, if you're a high school student who wants to spend a fun day building something cool or if you know one, more information and registration can be found here:

http://defhacks.com/

No Edu-Rant today nor a clever lesson plan.

I just thought I'd share an email exchange that cracked me up.

We're out in Ann Arbor visiting our son Natan who is in his first year at Michigan.

Devorah sent an email asking where we should meet.

It turns out that Natan's last class of the day is Music Composition.

Here's what followed:

Natan:

Composition is in the bell tower on Central. It's hard to miss. It's a bell tower. It's right by Hill Auditorium, and looks like a bell tower. It also sounds like a bell tower at certain points in the day, but I don't think I've heard it sound like a bell tower around the end of class, so you're probably better off looking for the thing that looks like a bell tower rather than listening for the thing that sounds like a bell tower. I would assume it also smells and tastes like a bell tower, but if you're in close enough proximity to smell or taste the bell tower, I think you've probably found the bell tower. It looks like a huggable building, but please, dad, do not hug the bell tower. I have class there.

Devorah:

We can meet you at the bell tower as long as we can figure out what it looks like. Can you please give us a detailed description? Maybe you should taste it just in case. Does the bell tower on Central smell like the bell tower on North?

Natan:

The bell tower is around the size and shape of a bell tower. It's ten stories high, with the first nine stories being a little less than one-tenth of a bell tower tall, and the tenth being rather more than one-tenth of a bell tower tall (the tenth story being where the bells are). The width is about equal to that of a bell tower. It has two doors, one on one side of the bell tower, and the other on the other side of the bell tower. It has clock faces on top, which should, at the point you see it, resemble a clock face indicating the time which it is. (The appearance of the clock faces should update in near-real time.) If you stick around long enough, it should start to sound like a bell tower, or perhaps like a monster descending the stairs singing Gilbert and Sullivan. I don't know what the bell tower on North smells like because the bell tower on North is currently blocked off. But it also resembles a bell tower, being approximately the same size and shape of a bell tower. It is much less likely to sound like a bell tower, though.

The StuyCS Family mailing list was host to an interesting discussion today. One of our younger members asked if the practice of giving technical problems during an interview was going to follow him throughout his career or if it goes away for more senior applicants.

An interesting discussion followed.

It reminded me of a time I was talking to a few senior engineers at a large tech company. A couple of younger engineers were with us along with a new hire. The youngsters started talking about the new hires technical interview questions. One older engineer light heartedly asked another "I don't recall any tricky technical questions, how about you?" "I don't recall any either…" and on around the table.

Of course these senior engineers had track records that stretched for miles.

I never liked those tech interview questions. If you just took algorithms, you've got an edge and it really seems to be more of a test of "have you seen this problem before" rather than a true test of ability.

I much prefer those few companies that give "take home assignments" or use other ways to determine fit.

The tech interview reminds me of the pop quiz or a poorly designed test. If you just ask the question that the kid doesn't get, the kid's in trouble. A kid could know how to handle 90% of the work but if the question is that last 10%, zero credit.

As teachers, we end up using many forms of assessment and try to develop an overall picture of a student.

Companies should try to do the same.

Why to companies still use these technical interview questions?

Quite simply because they can.

A company might miss out on a number of great candidates by using a bad technical question but they will probably get at least a reasonably strong hire that passes the test. For the company, mission accomplished.

As teachers, we can't do that. I'm not given a class of 32 kids and asked to pull out a couple of software engineers. As teachers, we're supposed to pull everyone along.

As a teacher, sometimes your gut tells you to do something and it turns out to be a really good idea.

That's what happened in October, 1994. I decided to dress up as Groo the Wanderer for Halloween. I never dressed in costume for school before and back then, no many did. A few students and very few teachers.

Afterwards, I noticed that my younger students - the ones that didn't know me that well yet, really loosened up and so a tradition was born.

Over each of the next 20 Halloweens, I did something different. Sometimes solo, sometimes as a pair and more recently as part of a team.

What started as a lark has now become something of an obligation but it's still fun.

So, with no further ado, let's go to the video tape:

And of course, the full playlist:

It's Halloween again. This time, "Inside Out."

No video yet, but stay tuned.

For the time being, enjoy some of our past madness:

While looking over my tweet stream, I noticed this:

RSVP today for the K-12 CS Education Panel, presented by @Uber + @FlatironSchool: https://t.co/nVBbSbRn9d pic.twitter.com/NAxowSIfff

— Flatiron School (@FlatironSchool) October 26, 2015

So, on November 12, one can head over to Uber and listen to three experts talk about K12 CS Education. To quote the landing page:

• How can we engage our students in CS, and train our teachers to teach it?
• What are the biggest obstacles to overcome?
• What is the future of K-12 CS Education?
• What's working?`

Sound great.

The problem?

Who are these expert voices that we're supposed to be listening to.

The panel consists of three people: Adam Enbar of Flatiron School, Rebecca Novak of ScriptEd, and Debbie Marcus, the Executive Director of CS Education for the New York City Department of Education.

Sounds interesting.

As a disclaimer, I have to say that I know Adam and Rebecca and consider them friends. I like ScriptEd and what they do in the schools. In fact, I think that my CSTUY programs are terrific next steps for ScriptEd kids. ScriptEd is becoming good at what they do and I think they're also aware of their limitations as an ed program. I also know that Flatiron has done a solid job retraining adults for the workforce. I don't think I've ever met Debbie Marcus. I also believe all these people are well meaning.

What's the lay of the land?

Given her position, Ms. Marcus will be considered a voice of authority and I can't seem to go to a CS Ed event without someone from the Flatiron School or someone from ScriptEd there in a place indicating that they should be considered an authority on K12 CS Education.

As much as I like what ScriptEd does in the schools and as much as the Flatiron School has a strong reputation as an adult coding school / workforce program should these voices be the ones we're listening to?

Let's dig deeper.

Higher up in this post, I link to all three panelists LinkedIn profiles. All three are conspicuously missing one thing - experience in CS and Rebecca is the only one who's LinkedIn profile indicates any time teaching.

Now, let's contrast that with the CSTUY and Stuy teams. Regular readers know what I've done building Stuyvesant's CS program and CSTUY over the past 25 years and if you look at my team they all have considerably more CS experience, Ed experience, and of course CS Ed experience.

Who's driving the train?

Who's being excluded?

What's wrong with this picture.

Scale, scale, scale. Scripted lessons. Online resources, Moocs. No excuses schools. All of these are modern trends in education. None of these are about good education. It's really demoralizing reading article after article devaluing true master teachers and real education.

So, last night was a real pleasure.

I attended a talk, given by Alan Alda on communicating science. The talk was sponsored by The Academy for Teachers. I grew up watching Hawkeye on MASH and more recently Arnold Vinick on The West Wing but Mr. Alda has really been keeping himself busy in the world of education. Check out what he's doing at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.

At it's core, Mr. Alda's talk was about teaching. Making a connection with your students and engaging them. The exact opposite of many of the current ed reform trends.

Mr. Alda talked about the Flame Challenge where he challenged scientists to teach 11 year olds all about a candle without dumbing it down. Communication.

He also talked about story telling. At one point he had a volunteer from the audience carry a glass across the stage. He then had her do it again, but this time with a full glass telling her "if you spill a drop everyone in your village will die." The difference in audience attention was striking.

Mr. Alda also talked about using improvisational games to help students open up as well as about the curse of knowledge.

One of my favorite parts of the talk was when an audience member asked for a few teaching tips. He replied that he hates tips because out of context, without the connection to the class, they're meaningless. Mr. Alda used as an example:

Imagine that you're about to give a piano recital at Carnegie Hall and you asked for a few tips.

If you've never played before, those tips aren't going to help you.

I'm asked for CS teaching tips all the time, and Mr. Alda very much captured my feelings on the subject. My friend and Colleague Jim Cocoros also captured the feeling when he reminded me that the only "tip" he gives new teachers is "be yourself." I couldn't agree more.

It was a delightful and a refreshing evening. I very much appreciate and admire what Mr. Alda is doing beyond his acting and while I very much hope he's able to extend his reach to more high school teachers as he continues to work on communicating in science.