Mike Zamansky
@zamansky.bsky.social
📤 275
đź“Ą 269
đź“ť 84
The NetLogo center is running it's first in person conference at the end of June. NetLogo is a wonderful modelling and intro language. Here are my thoughts on the language, it's use and the conference:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/netlog...
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The first NetLogo Center User Conference - C’est la Z
THe Netlogo Center is running their first in person conference at the end of June in Chicago (info and registration). It's an event I'm looking forward to attending and also to be presenting at. I've ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/netlogo-conf-2026/
about 2 months ago
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I've been spending the week in Boston spending time with the Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association, Inc. and members of the StuyCS family. Here's trip report and what we're trying to do to help build a community that has more than it's share of introverts:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/stuycs...
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StuyCS in Boston - connecting generations - C’est la Z
Devorah and I are spending the week in Boston, well techincally Cambridge. We came up last year around this time and had a big StuyCS meet up hosted at Formlabs. I was talking to my friends in the Stu...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/stuycs-boston/
2 months ago
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We had a great event for budding tech entrepreneurs for Stuy alums and students last week. Had a great panel and we learned all about negotiating term sheets and funding. Here's a writeup:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/safe-t...
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Send Lawyers, VCs, and Money - C’est la Z
So, one of the things I've been doing since retirement is working for and with my alumni community. We've held focussed events like an AI panel and a blockchain talk and have had meetups in New York a...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/safe-term-sheets/
4 months ago
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Additional thoughts on why teaching CS still matters in this age of AI:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/more-w...
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More on why teaching CS matters - C’est la Z
I wanted to follow up on my earlier post on why teaching CS still matters. In that post, I cited a couple of former students. Not only former students but particularly high achieving ones. One friend ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/more-why-cs-matters/
4 months ago
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Closing thoughts on
#SIGCSE2026
- sessions and BOFS:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse...
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SIGCSE 2026 part 3 - Sessons and BOFs - C’est la Z
Still in St. Louis but we're now up to sessions and BOFs. On Thursday, I attended two sponsor sessions on AI. One by GitHub and the other Google. In retrospect, they were both really the same session ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse-2026-3/
4 months ago
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If you're concerned as to if learning CS is still relevant in the age of AI, please read:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/why-cs...
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Why CS Still Matters - C’est la Z
Still stuck in St. Louis and still haven't finished my SIGCSE series but there have been a few threads in the various CS Education groups about the big changes in code.org and how AI might be making l...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/why-cs-still-matters/
4 months ago
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The history we're taught has always been subjective and in the USA, there are efforts to rewrite and erase parts of our history. A friend of mine is working on a tech project to ensure that Black history is not erased.
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/uneras...
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Unerasable - an effort to prevent the erasure of history - C’est la Z
History is a funny thing. They say it's written by the victors but even when the "good guys" win, the history taught is often, let's say, incomplete. Back in school we'd learn about all sorts of feel ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/unerasable/
5 months ago
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Final part of my series on teacher observations - teachers observing teachers:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/observ...
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Teachers Observing Teachers - C’est la Z
Finally we get to teachers observing teachers - what Mark was writing about to begin with. These observations could be a one off, for a few days, or even through a full course. This could also be a te...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/observing-teachers/
5 months ago
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Diving into the observation model for teacher improvement and evaluation:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/being-...
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Being Observed - C’est la Z
following up on my last post, let's dive in to being oberved as a model for teacher improvement and teacher evaluation. Next time we'll look at the flip side - teachers observing for improvement. As I...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/being-observed/
5 months ago
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The other day Mark Guzdial wrote an interesting post on observing other instructors. It got me thinking about a number of things. Here's my first post on those thoughts just laying out how observations have been used in my career in K12 and College:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/improv...
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Improving Instruction - College and K12 - C’est la Z
Back in for the evening. Not in Barcelona anymore - spending a few days now in Madrid. Sadly, I got a message from a fellow CS Educator who lives in Barcelona the day we left so if any reader out ther...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/improving-instruction/
5 months ago
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I attended at talk by Ray Kurzweil last week. Not many answers but some very interesting questions raised about intelligence, education, and AI:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/kurzwe...
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Ray Kurzweil, AI, Intelligence, and Education - C’est la Z
Over a month since my last post. Wow. Anyway, last week was full of Artificial Intelligence events. On Wednesday, I attended a talk by Ray Kurzweil, hosted by Trinity High School - a posh private scho...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/kurzweil/
8 months ago
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One of the hot education topics in New York with the upcoming mayoral election is gifted education. From what I've seen, we usually talk about having or not having programs but not about how gifted programs should be run. Here are some of my thoughts:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/gifted...
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Gifted Education - Acceleration or Enrichment - C’est la Z
Last week my StuyCS family community had a discussion about Zohran Mamdani's plans for gifted education. For people outside of New York, Mamdani is the Democratic candidate for mayor and there was a r...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/gifted-ed-accel-or-enrich/
9 months ago
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New York State just announced that it's creating a centralized policy for Dual Credit courses - college courses in Highs school - an alternative to the AP program. My thoughts and a comparison of both approaches:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/dual-c...
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Dual Credit Or AP - C’est la Z
I saw this release from NYSED the other day. New York State wants to create a standard set of policies and procedures for schools implementing Dual Credit programs. A Duel Credit class is a college cl...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/dual-credit-or-ap/
10 months ago
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In the latest CSEd Podcast, Kristin Stephens-Martinez talks to William Griswold about his practice of meeting with students outside of class. Great episode. My spin over on my blog relates this to high school as well:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csed-p...
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CS Ed Podcast, connecting with students, and a little AI - C’est la Z
I listened to the latest episode of Kristen Stephen-Martinez's CS Ed Podcast. The episode focused on Professor Emeritus, William G. Griswold, of UCSD's practice of requiring students meet with him out...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csed-podacst-meet-prof/
10 months ago
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A couple of things I want to keep an eye on over the upcoming school year:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/school...
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Looking at the start of school for 2025 - C’est la Z
Today is Labor Day. That means that tomorrow NYC public school teachers return to work. I mean, not me - I'm still happily retired but still I have many friends going back. Kids come back on Thursday....
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/school-start-fall-2025/
10 months ago
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My final post on
#CSTA2025
- what was good, what was bad, some suggestions and a bit on Cleveland.
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2...
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CSTA 2025 7 - the good, the bad, and the Cleveland - C’est la Z
Lets start off with Cleveland and then we'll get to my suggestions for the CSTA. Cleveland I never had a chance to explore Cleveland before. I was actually in the city once before, for a junior nation...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2025-7/
12 months ago
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My final post on
#CSTA2025
- a little on a couple of specific good points from the conference and a couple of suggestions for improvement. That plus a bit of Cleveland.
12 months ago
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More on
#CSTA2025
#CSED
. The Exhibit hall, hallway track and receptions. Spent most of the time at the Pickcode and CodeHS booths but there was a lot more going on.
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2...
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CSTA 2025 6 - Exhibit hall and receptions - C’est la Z
Exhibit Hall Let's start with the exhibit hall. First things I noticed that while Amazon, Google, and Microsoft were all listed as sponsors, none of them had booths in the exhibition space. This was a...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2025-6/
12 months ago
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The rest of the the sessions I attended at
#CSTA2025
, Great panel on CS Ed in the age of AI moderated by Pat Yongpradit and BT Twarek consisting of Julie York, Maya Israel, Allen Antoine and Jacob Shulman followed by a discussion of the CSTA teacher survey
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2...
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CSTA 2025 5 - Day 3 part 2 - C’est la Z
Let's talk about the final two sessions I attended. The Future of Computer Science Education in an Age of AI This was a panel. Pat Yongpradit and BT Twarek co-moderated a panel consisting of Julie Yor...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2025-5/
12 months ago
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Continuing my recap of
#SIGCSE2025
- today two more sessions. One by
@neilcbrown.bsky.social
showing off a nice new Python programming environment and one by Joseph Maxwell sharing a program he built that gives students a chance to learn real SWE skills.
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2...
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CSTA 2025 part 4 - day 3, part 1 - C’est la Z
Thursday, day 3. This was my last conference day since I had to leave bright and early on Friday. Four more sessions. As I started to write them up I thought things were getting a little long so this ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2025-4/
12 months ago
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#CSTA2025
day 3. Four talks including a great session by Chris Orban, Mahmoud Harding, Jacob Koressel, and Tiffany Davis and another fun one by Colleen Lewis and Maria Camarena:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2...
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CSTA 2025 3 - day 2 - C’est la Z
Four sessions up for today. First one "Certified to Rock: Cleveland's Journey in CS Teacher Prep." Basically a discussion of the pathways for teachers to become CS certified in Cleveland. It wasn't a ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2025-3/
12 months ago
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#CSTA2025
- the sessions I attended on the first day. One great session on AI and one not so great:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2...
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CSTA 2025 Part 2- Opening day - C’est la Z
With the keynotes out of the way, let's get to some sessions. First up, Tuesday - day 1. The morning was set for workshops. I didn't attend any of those but I did go to two afternoon sessions. One was...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2025-2/
12 months ago
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Start of my recap series for
#CSTA2025
- keynotes and overview:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2...
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CSTA 2025 Part 1 - overview and keynotes - C’est la Z
Just got back from CSTA 2025. Well, not directly. Last Monday Devorah and I got in the car and drove to Cleveland for the festivities. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the duration - I had to miss ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/csta-2025-1/
12 months ago
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reposted by
Mike Zamansky
Alfred Thompson
about 1 year ago
Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
blog.acthompson.net/2025/06/teac...
#CSed
#AI
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Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
A blog about computer science education. Projects, resources, and ideas for teaching, learning, and using computer science. By a teacher for teachers.
https://blog.acthompson.net/2025/06/teaching-computer-science-in-age-of.html
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There was an article recently in the NYT on teaching CS in the age of AI. It discussed challenges for colleges as well industry demands. My take:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/teachi...
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Teaching CS in the Age of AI - my two cents - C’est la Z
Saw this article in the New York Times yesterday. It's been making its rounds. There was some discussion in some of the CS Ed related online groups, my friend Alfred Thompson posted his take here, and...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/teaching-cs-in-ai/
about 1 year ago
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I'm seeing more and more antisemitism out there from people who should know better. I wrote this post about a really cool store I visited recently, what they had up, why it's antisemitic and why it's important to speak out against it.
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/cool-s...
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Cool store that I can’t support. Maybe ignorance, maybe antisemitism. - C’est la Z
Warning: This post is political and involves my views on antisemitism and the Gaza situation. So, in my travels over the past year or so, I've been trying to hit independent book stores or otherwise c...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/cool-store-cant-support/
about 1 year ago
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Saw an article the other day saying that CS teachers without a strong background might be better than teachers in other areas with strong backgrounds (article linked in blog post) - I disagree
#CSEd
:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/better...
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Better teachers - CS teachers without CS or Math teachers with math - C’est la Z
This article made its rounds this past week. It cites a couple of papers claiming that CS teachers are delivering better instruction and might be better qualified than teachers in other subject areas....
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/better-teachers/
about 1 year ago
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Recently, an article has been making it's rounds in the
#CSEd
community on having different intro CS classes for different purposes. My thoughts here:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/pathwa...
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How many roads for intro CS - C’est la Z
How many different intro CS courses should we have? A question that resurfaces periodically. This time due to an article in which C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup posits that different audiences would be...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/pathways/
about 1 year ago
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I've been seeing a lot on vibe coding recently. "Coding" by prompting AI repeatedly - no actual problem solving involved. I've also seen people saying how great it is as an educational tool, something I disagree with.
#CSED
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/vibe-c...
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Vibe coding doesn’t jibe - C’est la Z
The truth is, I don't use those modern AI tools much. I'm not doing much coding and when I do, I've been using Clojure or Elisp - not so mainstream so as to have all sorts of AI support. For writing? ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/vibe-coding/
about 1 year ago
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Following up on my last post: On using slide decks in teaching:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/on-sli...
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On Slide Decks - C’est la Z
Based on some of the feedback I got on my last post, I thought I'd dive a little deeper on using slide decks. I had some people tell me that they too found that slide decks didn't work for them while ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/on-slide-decks/
over 1 year ago
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I read a great blog post the other day by Kristin Stephens-Martinez. Got me thinking about the practice described and differences in teacher prep in K12 vs what instructors get in college. Here I rif on it (and the original blog post is linked in mine):
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/daily-...
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The Daily Aim - C’est la Z
The other day I read Kristin Stephens-Martinez's latest blog post talking about how she has started to insert a daily plan slide at the front of her class slide decks. Stephens-Martinez, you might kno...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/daily-aim/
over 1 year ago
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reposted by
Mike Zamansky
Alfred Thompson
over 1 year ago
What really is in a cyber security course in high schools?
blog.acthompson.net/2025/03/high...
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High School Cybersecurity Course–What Belongs
A blog about computer science education. Projects, resources, and ideas for teaching, learning, and using computer science. By a teacher for teachers.
https://blog.acthompson.net/2025/03/high-school-cybersecurity-coursewhat.html
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Do we teach CS in K12 for future CS majors, for non CS majors or both? Riffing on recent posts by Mark Guzdial and Alfred Thompson
#CSEd
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/cs-for...
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CS For All or All for CS? - C’est la Z
Is it CS for All or is it All for CS? CS for All, to me has always meant exposing all students to CS for two reasons. First, so that every student gains some understanding of CS and also so that some ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/cs-for-all-or-all-for-cs/
over 1 year ago
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Wrapping up my
#SIGCSETS2025
coverage
#CSD
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse...
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Sigcse 2025 part 4 - sessions and the rest - C’est la Z
To finish up, we'll look at some of the other sessions I attended but first a couple of notes. One thing I again noticed was the lack of pedagogy sessions. Maybe I missed something but other than Nift...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse-2025-4/
over 1 year ago
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Last week was my second and final week back at Stuy teaching CS. Here's what went down
#CSEd
:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-i...
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Back in the Classroom - Week 2 - C’est la Z
So last week I completed my second and final week back at Stuy teaching CS. We spent Monday finishing up the mode lesson and then spent most of the week on this topic - writing a computer program to a...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-in-classroom2/
over 1 year ago
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More thoughts on
#SIGCSETS2025
, this time, Birds of a Feather sessions
#CSED
:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse...
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SIGCSETS 2025 part 3 - BOFs - C’est la Z
Once again, there were three sets of Birds of a Feather sessions. Two at the end of the day on Thursday but before the big reception and one partly over lunch on Friday. Last year I enjoyed two but wa...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse-2025-3/
over 1 year ago
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So I've been back teaching CS at Stuy for the past week with one more week to go. Here's how it's going:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-i...
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Back in the classroom - week 1 - C’est la Z
As you might have heard, I'm back at Stuyvesant teaching. Not permanent or full time - just covering for a CS teacher who's on grand jury duty. She's out for three week but since I was at SIGCSETS for...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-in-classroom1/
over 1 year ago
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#SIGCSETS2025
Keynote day 2 - what belongs in CS
#CSED
:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse...
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SIGCSETS 2025 - day 2 keynote - What belongs in CS - C’est la Z
The day 2 keynote was really a treat. After giving out the years SIGCSE awards, instead of getting a standard talk, all three recipients, Jonathan Mwaura, Mitchel Resnick and Manuel Pérez-Quiñones par...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse-2025-2/
over 1 year ago
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Starting my coverage of
#SIGCSETS2025
by looking at the opening keynote
#CSED
:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse...
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SIGCSE 2025 - Opening Keynote - C’est la Z
I spent last week in Pittsburgh for The SIGCSE Technical Symposium, that's SIGCSETS to you. Lots of talks, lots of sessions and lots of people. We drove in on Tuesday since Batya had a workshop Wednes...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/sigcse-2025-1/
over 1 year ago
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reposted by
Mike Zamansky
Alfred Thompson
over 1 year ago
Computer Science Teacher: CSTA Ends Free Membership
blog.acthompson.net/2025/02/csta...
#CSed
#CSTA
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CSTA Ends Free Membership
A blog about computer science education. Projects, resources, and ideas for teaching, learning, and using computer science. By a teacher for teachers.
https://blog.acthompson.net/2025/02/csta-ends-free-membership.html
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There are some interesting challenges with preparing HS kids for apprenticeships. It's one of the things I'm doing to get back in the game (part time):
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-i...
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Getting Back in the Game - C’est la Z
Even before I retired I knew that after a break I'd want to get back in the game. Not full time, but in a limited capacity when interesting opportunities presented themselves. Well, it's time to start...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/back-in-the-game/
over 1 year ago
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Elon's false statement about 150 year old people made me think about some of the CS and Tech history that's never talked about in
#CSed
:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/know-c...
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https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/know-cs-history/
over 1 year ago
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Devorah and I just spent the week in Savannah - here's what we did:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/savann...
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Savannah Trip Report - C’est la Z
Devorah and I spent this week in Savannah Georgia. Our first time. For the past few years, we've taken a trip mid winter to someplace warmer. Not necessarily warm but warmer. Last year was Charleston ...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/savannah/
over 1 year ago
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Some thoughts on what we teach and when we teach it (specifically Abstract types and interfaces)
#CSed
:
cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/what-w...
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What we teach and when we teach it Java edition - C’est la Z
It seems that every year or so we have a discussion as to what's the best programming language to teach first. I thought today I'd look at a variation of that question. What language features should w...
https://cestlaz.zamansky.net/posts/what-when/
over 1 year ago
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The CS Education community is pretty active on Facebook, specifically in Facebook Groups. With Zuck and other tech leaders actions and behaviour, perhaps we should consider what platforms we should support:
cestlaz.github.io/posts/choose...
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Choosing our platforms - C’est la Z
In my Blog Reboot post I talked about blogging being a fading pastime. Over at Irreal, JCS responded that his experience says otherwise and that his RSS feeds in fact experiencing a rebirth. Both can ...
https://cestlaz.github.io/posts/choose-platform/
over 1 year ago
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Some thoughts on classic movies classic comedy and current culture:
cestlaz.github.io/posts/hitchc...
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Hitch, Groucho, and Cavett - C’est la Z
I spent yesterday evening at the Leanord Nimoy Thalia theater. Once an art house cinema, I spent many hours there watching all sorts of movies - timeless classics, B films, cult movies, and cartoon ni...
https://cestlaz.github.io/posts/hitchcock-groucho-cavett/
over 1 year ago
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Time for a blog reboot:
cestlaz.github.io/posts/blog-r...
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Blog Reboot - C’est la Z
Time to reboot the blog. Why? Because of my new tablet. So, I got a new tablet a week or so ago. A Oneplus Pad 2. It's a 12" android tablet. I really only use it in the mornings in the winter and incl...
https://cestlaz.github.io/posts/blog-reboot-2025/
over 1 year ago
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Some thoughts on making mistakes and on what makes a good teacher great:
cestlaz.github.io/post/great-t...
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Making mistakes and what makes a great teacher
As he usually does (and of which I'm always appreciative) JCS shared my most recent Emacs post in which I go over a small Elisp routine that I wrote. JCS commented that he liked that I don't post proc...
https://cestlaz.github.io/post/great-teacher/
over 1 year ago
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One of the things I love about Emacs is its extensibility. Here's how I used Emacs and a bit of Elisp to extract emails from unformatted text:
cestlaz.github.io/post/extract...
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Extracting Emails (with Emacs)
Yesterday I found myself in a situation where I had a text document interspersed with a bunch of email addresses and I wanted to extract those email addresses. Specifically, I had to copy email addres...
https://cestlaz.github.io/post/extracting-emails/
over 1 year ago
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I usually write "A teacher's view of
adventofcode.com
where I write up some of the problems. I haven't done that yet this year (still might) but though I'd share a teachers overall thoughts on this years
#AdventOfCode
:
cestlaz.github.io/post/advent-...
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Advent of Code 2024
Happy holiday season to all. Blogging wise, I usually write up a bunch of posts on Advent of Code - a 25 day programming event where each day a new two part challenge is released. It's been running si...
https://cestlaz.github.io/post/advent-2024/
over 1 year ago
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