I remember the first time I was observed by a principal. Brilliant man with two masters degrees and ABD PhD. He told me that he didn't understand much of what I was teaching but the students seemed to be getting it and the class ran smoothly. Not much in there to help me improve.
I believe that teaching CS is different from teaching most subjects. But each subject probably has its own nuances. That's why I think that teachers need specific training in teaching their particular subject. I know that there are MS degree programs in teaching reading and, I think, math. Probably more than those as well
There is limited training in how to teach CS though. There are some degree and certificate programs in teaching CS. As states increasingly require certification to teach computer science there will be more I am sure. Most CS teachers have to figure it out on their own though.
I think we have a lot to learn about how to teach CS well. There are a few people doing research in CS education. A lot of it gets disseminated at SIGCSE which can be hard for K-12 CS teachers to attend. That is both because of cost and because it happens during the school year. A lot of teachers have very limited options for missing school days. If nothing else it is a lot of work to create good sub plans!
Many teachers are resistant to sessions that are research based. That is often because they have had too many professional development sessions that year after year replace the previous research based methods without giving any one method a fair chance. Or worse, having failed.
It would be nice is teachers had more opportunity to observe experience CS teachers teach. (Both Mark Guzdial and Mike Zamansky have blogged about that recently – blog post links below) BTW if you ever get a chance to hear Mark Guzdial present I recommend that you do. Especially if the topic is how to teach.
In an ideal world, CS teachers would get to observe teachers in the building where they teach. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that many K-12 CS teachers are the only CS teacher in the building, that is often not possible.
CS conferences are a mixed bag. Yes, there are some great presenters. Many of them do try to model good teaching practice. There are not a lot of talks on how to teach though. I gave one at CSTA Online six years ago. (How is it that long ago?) It was well received but we could use a lot more that talk about and modeled how to teach CS.
I think we could use more talk sessions on the conference “hallway track” that informal, unscheduled time when teachers find themselves sharing ideas with like minded people.
At the heart of the issue is that teachers have to be about constant improvement. There is a difference between five years of experience and one year of experience five times.
Anyway, please read the posts linked below. Smarter people than me.
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