I just got back from an intensive boot camp hosted by Microsoft and Harvard’s CS50 in Seattle (technically Redmond). If you haven’t heard of CS50, you absolutely must check it out! It’s a rigorous but fun Harvard computer science course that they’ve made available via edX. CS50, in collaboration with Microsoft, is launching an initiative to bring the fabulous CS50 curriculum to high schools across the world. I was fortunate enough to be part of the pilot group of teachers to launch this curriculum starting this fall. Here are the highlights and takeaways of my experience:

Highlights

Welcome Reception: It was surreal to walk into Microsoft’s Visitor Center where I was surrounded by beautiful lighting with a futuristic, minimalist vibe. I was immediately greeted by Zamyla which was awesome because her problem set walkthroughs on CS50 have been so helpful in my own CS50 journey. I got my name tag and a puzzle to solve (naturally!). Microsoft kindly provided food and beverages for the evening while the visiting teachers worked collaboratively to problem solve the puzzles together. I met some great people and shared struggles and triumphs from the computer science classroom. It was a great way to build up relationships and energy for the next day.

It was surreal to walk into Microsoft’s Visitor Center where I was surrounded by beautiful lighting with a futuristic, minimalist vibe. I was immediately greeted by Zamyla which was awesome because her problem set walkthroughs on CS50 have been so helpful in my own CS50 journey. I got my name tag and a puzzle to solve (naturally!). Microsoft kindly provided food and beverages for the evening while the visiting teachers worked collaboratively to problem solve the puzzles together. I met some great people and shared struggles and triumphs from the computer science classroom. It was a great way to build up relationships and energy for the next day. Surprise Teaching: On day 0, we started developing our own programming lessons using Scratch. During our lesson development, Zamyla stealthily ushered in scores of children from Microsoft families. We didn’t know it but this was a “surprise” teaching opportunity (sort of like a surprise trust fall but with more computer science concepts). I got to work with another teacher from Colorado and rising 6th and 8th graders Pablo and Eman. Eman was my official partner, so I was able to talk to her more in-depth. Over lunch, I discovered how awesome she is! We chatted about her love of tennis and fossils. In working with her on Scratch, I was left deeply impressed by her problem-solving instincts and skills. It’s refreshing to know that young students are capable of such complex tasks!

Lecture & Section: Professor David Malan of Harvard gave an immersive lecture from his CS50 material. To say that I was excited about this is an understatement. I’ve spent the last three years teaching, so it was a fun opportunity to feel like a student again. I think it’s really important for teachers to take as many chances as they can to feel like students. These experiences help inform our teaching in a way that talking about it never can. Professor Malan’s lecture gave me great ideas for how to make the computer science concepts and materials accessible to my diverse group of students. We were also treated to a live mini-section from the CS50 staff where we went over some computer programming concepts. I couldn’t stop smiling because I was having too much fun (seriously).

Takeaways

Teachers are a diverse group of amazing individuals. Okay, you’re probably thinking, “You’re just saying that because you’re a teacher.” In reality, I’ve never met a group of more caring, driven individuals. This boot camp allowed me to connect with an incredible group of educators with varying but equally important backgrounds. There were individuals with strong computer science backgrounds and those who were coming into the experience with no programming under their belts. We were all treated equally and supported in a way that best fit our needs. I’m excited to stay connected with the people I met as we launch CS50 in classes this year. The CS50 and Microsoft staff are the best. Seriously. Jeff Maxim, a fellow boot camp attendee who teaches in New York, mentioned in one of the discussions how both groups were intent on making rigorous yet accessible computer science curriculum for all. He emphasized that they have no other agenda; they simply want to assist educators in sharing the beauty that is using computer science tools to solve problems. I think that is a wonderful thing and feel honored to have been a part of this experience in order to assist in that goal.





This year is going to be awesome. I am beyond excited. I’ve never felt this pumped up about teaching and working with my students. I can easily see how I would put my own individual teaching twist on each new item that the CS50 staff introduced us to throughout the boot camp. My students have no idea what’s coming their way, but I know they will be ready to tackle the challenge and express themselves through computer science. I’m lucky to join them on this adventure!

Everything that I’ve discussed represents just a small snippet of these last few days. I am forever grateful to Microsoft and CS50 for allowing me to be a part of such a meaningful endeavor. I am further indebted to my fellow teachers who are bravely taking it upon themselves to create the best classroom for their students.