Chief Delphi - Quotes from the Chief Engineer and I

Quote:

Originally Posted by wireties (Post 1452321)

Better training for the teachers is the preferred option. Teaching is not solely about mastering content. Plus students tend to think they are further along than is true. Java/C/C++/C# or any other language is like a fancy hammer. The languages are used as tools to solve problems. We encounter lots of students who don't get that. With respect, you are a good example. Many of your comments and "solutions" in the CD fora are very clever and I would say you have great potential. But many of your comments and "solutions" are without merit.

That's not to say that this teacher with less experience wouldn't have any computer science knowledge. He has done a bit of it in college, and I think is currently doing the training for the AP CS course. He is also by far a better teacher overall, not just subject wise. I would very much prefer him as the teacher of the class, if only to get to test out this format for the class. I understand kids can get arrogant at times, but that's why we always have to have a teacher advisor there. For example if we set up the AP CS class it would probably work like this: Teacher presents topic to study, let's use arrays for the example. Students would probably talk about what they already know, teacher would most likely present practice problems from the AP test to see how much we already know. We would probably then spend some time looking up the topic, and the teacher would probably recommend resources. Later we would probably have a test based off of what both the students and teacher have learned.
I think if we did this format it would probably only last one year. After that year the teacher would probably have learned enough to make a curriculum to teach, but even then I think most of the research would be student led.
Also, would you happen to know a Laurie Buchanan? She was one of my favorite teachers last year, and I noticed you guys have the same last name. Just wondering.