Unfettered geekiness

Not sure exactly who reads this digital garden, if anybody, but if you’re not into coding geekery, this is your trigger warning. When I get all excited about geeky stuff and wax poetic, people either join me or stare at me and back away slowly. It’s always a reminder to… Continue reading

An Irving Christmas memory

I was probably about 13, so Brooke would have been 11, Sue 9. We had a tradition of going to Christmas Eve service at St. Mary’s, our Episcopal church in downtown Wayne. This particular Christmas was one of those magical ones where it actually snowed a lot! In fact, it… Continue reading

Mid-year musings — CS in Progressive Ed, pt. 1

I’m learning in public. Which means that I’m not doing the normal everything-is-awesome social media post. I’m trying to figure something out and navigate some tricky pedagogical terrain as a kind of newbie. Just a bit of backstory….. I was hired by a local independent school to teach computer science… Continue reading

CheatGPT?

I’ve written about how AI is going to change education here. But that was back when the AI bomb first detonated and incurred widespread panic in the education field. A year later, and we all know it’s here to stay and we can’t keep it out. And we need to… Continue reading

Computer Science and Progressive Ed?

How can we make CS work in a student voice and choice-driven, gradeless learning environment with true differentiation allowing for student levels and learning styles? That’s the essential question. I know that student engagement is key. I know that big projects are the way to go. I know that "just-in-time"… Continue reading

There are worse addictions

Hi. My name is Bob, and I’m a lifelong learner. Just can’t help it, really. I love learning about almost anything, but my main jam is coding, whether that’s text-based, block-based, Minecraft-based, robots, microBits, art, music, whatever. I love making the language actually DO something, then tinkering with it to… Continue reading

Giving the eulogy

Last week I did one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. I wrote and delivered the eulogy for my father. I find it pretty easy to write about other things (thanks to my father, who was a writer). But this one really hit me hard. He… Continue reading

After 1 week back in the saddle

It’s been quite a ride so far, and not one that can be easily reduced to one post. But here’s a start: First, I’m very happy to have found something that just works for me and my schedule at this point in my life. It’s 4 afternoons a week, 2… Continue reading

Back in the saddle again

It’s now officially the night before the first day of school. For me! Again. Only a year ago, I retired from full time classroom teaching. I spent the year busy as always, putting lots of effort into whatever might be next for me. A new business venture, possibilities of tutoring,… Continue reading

A week of Minecraft mania!

This was a first for me — a complete week of doing Minecraft all day, every day. How did I get so lucky? I taught a week of Minecraft in Computer Science at a CSTA PD event for the state of South Carolina, put on by the awesome folks at… Continue reading