From your Board: Help your friends, get involved, connect your students to opportunities!
Hello everyone, it's your President, Christopher here. This bulletin has some specific calls to action and some great opportunities for you to enrich your teaching. Before we get to that I've been doing a deep dive into Glenn Singleton's "Courageous Conversations about Race" and "Unconscious Bias in Schools" by Tracey Benson this year as a part of my PLC and it has me thinking about how great Computer Science is for creating a classroom for all students and their "right to learn." CS can empower people and give voices to the unheard. As I reflect back on my classroom, the achievement gap, and my pedagogy I'm finding the real gains are coming not from finding the next great piece of software but on investing into building student relationships. Take the time to get to know your students on a personal level, don't define them by your lens.
At least that's where I currently am in my learning, and like all learning, current learning is imperfect as we learn new things.
~Christopher
In this bulletin, you will find:
Calls to action:
Information about how you can help support the Lt. Governors Coding Challenge.
Video, minutes, and timestamps from our February Chapter Meeting
News! 089, 090, and 098 Endorsement holders can now cross endorse
Opportunities for Professional Development!
3.2.1 GO!!!
A call to action!
The Lt. Governor's Computing Challenge needs your support! (Volunteer and potentially stipend-able opportunities!)
Convince Governor Lamont to endorse the Computer Science Education Initiative. (Letter writing)
Lt. Governor's Computing Challenge Support
The Lt. Governor's Computing Challenge is looking for students and teachers to fill a variety of roles, some of these will come with compensation for work and time.
Specifically:
Video Creation on CS Topics (3-5 mins)
Proctoring "Office Hours" to support students and teachers alike in pursuing their CS-related questions.
Did you miss our February chapter meeting? Worry not wonderful educator here is our video with time stamps so you can access the portions of the meeting you found most valuable. Also below is the agenda/minutes so you can get any links mentioned.
1:23:00 - Prompt and Perfect Praxis Prep - Programming!
1:32:35 - A quick share out with a Developer from Trace!
1:36:57 - Tallan speaks about a scholarship for Womxn!
1:46:22 - Presidential Address (Cross Endorsements available + IST Training for March) & Closing moments!
News
❗Big news for 089, 090, and 098 Endorsement holders! You can now cross endorse! ❗
I am excited to share that the Bureau, in partnership with their legal team, has developed a pathway for educators who hold the 089, 090 and 098 to obtain a cross endorsement in an academic area, including the #110 Computer Science endorsement. This is in addition to those with current Teaching certificates, now additional certificate types can cross endorse into Teaching certificates. The Certification Alert is attached, or can be accessed on the Bureau’s webpages here
Opportunities for YOU!
The University of Nebraska Kearny invites you to attend the free Tech EDGE 2022 conference on Saturday, February 12th.
The goal of Tech EDGE is to bring together educators and administrators from K12 as well as higher education faculty, and educational researchers to exchange and share experiences and expertise on all aspects of education. This year's conference will focus on educational technology and post-COVID learning and will feature NCWIT social scientist Brad McLain, Ph.D. as a keynote speaker.
The registration deadline is February 10th for this free, in-person event. To learn more visit: go.unk.edu/techedge
Offer Mobile Computer Science Principles for College Credit in your high school next year!
Connecticut high schools can partner with Capital Community College's (CCC) College Career Pathways (CCP) program to offer Mobile CSP for college credit. Eligible teachers will receive professional development and the full curriculum at no cost and have the opportunity to earn a stipend, thanks to a National Science Foundation grant. Schools and teachers must agree to offer the course the following academic year and recruit students to enroll. In our pilot year, more than 90% of students earned college credit . For more information visit mobile-csp.org/ce and see attached info. To apply, email Karen Binkhorst at KBinkhorst@ccc.commnet.edu.
This year our theme is all about building community, leadership, and uplifting our educators. Each meeting will have time for the Computer Science Praxis preparation, sharing out of best practices in the five TEAM modules, and more! Take a look below at a VERY brief view of what we've put together. Each meeting will also have a guest speaker, product demo, or the like.
Praxis Subject Area: Computing Systems and Networks
TEAM Module Show & Tell - Module 5 - Professional Responsibilities (Share out that cool website, PD, you've found! Self-nominate for a CT CSTA position!)
Remember, your Connecticut Computer Science Teacher's association loves you! Thanks for everything you do!
