Intro to Computer Science

Week 36: Monday, May 13th – Friday, May 17th

It was a pleasure having you all in class this year! Seniors, good luck with all of your future endeavors, CONGRATULATIONS, and please keep in touch! Everyone else, I hope you'll consider taking AP Computer Science A with me next year. If not, stop by to say hi any time. Have a great summer, everyone!

Week 35: Monday, May 6th – Friday, May 10th

Congratulations to everyone who has already turned in their Final Project! This week, we're going to take a look at PCEP, an entry-level Python certification that can help prepare you to get a career in coding and computer science someday. We'll also discuss game design with one of my favorite classic video games – M.U.L.E. – which still has a bit of a cult following.

I hope you have an awesome first week of May! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Week 34: Monday, April 29th – Friday, May 3rd

We've finally made it to May! Great job hanging in there. For the rest of the school year, we'll be working on our Final Project in the course. I'm hoping you'll be able to find some inspiration from classic video games to come up with something really fun that you can be proud of. Have a great week, and let me know if you have any questions!

Week 33: Monday, April 22nd – Friday, April 26th

Welcome to the last full week of April! We're almost done with state testing, so please make note of our last day of the late arrival schedule on Monday. Here's the plan for this week as we wrap up Unit 11: 2D Lists and Board Games:

• finish 11.5 Unit 11 Quiz

• start 12.1 Final Project

  • 12.1.1 Images

  • 12.1.2 Sounds

  • 12.1.3 Final Project

Have a great week! Hang in there – we're almost done.

Week 31: Tuesday, April 9th – Friday, April 12th

Hello again! I hope you survived the solar eclipse and enjoyed your bonus 3-day weekend. Here's what we're doing for this week as we continue our work in 2D lists:

• finish 11.1 2D Lists

• 11.2 Board Games

The board games are really challenging so we're going to code those together in class. Let me know if you have any questions!

Week 30: Tuesday, April 2nd – Friday, April 5th

Welcome back! I hope you had a fun and relaxing Spring Break and are fully recharged. Here's what we're doing for the first week of April:

• wrap up Unit 10: Lists and Return Values

• start Unit 11: 2D Lists and Board Games

• 11.1 2D Lists

• prepare for the Great American Eclipse! 🔭☀️🌚

Speaking of the eclipse, here's some useful information about the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8th:

• 1:59:28 pm: Partial eclipse begins - the moment the edge of the Moon touches the edge of the Sun is called "first contact"

• 3:14:30 pm: Totality begins 😱 - the moment the edge of the Moon covers all of the Sun is called "second contact"

• 3:15:54 pm: Maximum eclipse‼️ - this is the deepest point of the eclipse, with the Sun at its most hidden

• 3:17:17 pm: Totality ends 😭 - the moment the edge of the Moon exposes the Sun is called "third contact"

• 4:29:17 pm: Partial eclipse ends - the moment the edge of the Moon leaves the edge of the Sun is called "fourth contact"

There's also a really cool interactive map of the eclipse path, and you can find out all about the many, many eclipse-related events happening this weekend in Kent at the Kent Total Eclipse 2024 website. Make sure to build a pinhole projector out of cardboard and aluminum foil ahead of time – they're really cool and easy to make!

I hope you have a great week back from Spring Break! As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Week 29: Monday, March 18th – Friday, March 22nd

We've made it to Spring Break! 4th Quarter has begun and we can wrap up Unit 10: Lists and Return Values. Here's what we're doing for the first week of Spring:

• 10.5 Unit 10 Creative Task

• 10.6 Unit 10 Review

• 10.7 Unit 10 Practice Quiz

• 10.8 Unit 10 Quiz

I hope you have an awesome Spring Break and get lots of rest and relaxation! I'll see you next month. 😎

Week 28: Monday, March 11th – Friday, March 15th

Welcome to the end of 3rd Quarter! I hope you survived the time change over the weekend and you're ready to finish strong. Here's what we're doing for this last week of Winter as we get into Unit 10: Lists and Return Values:

• start Unit 10: Lists and Return Values

• 10.1 Lists

• 10.2 List methods

• 10.3 Return values

• 10.4 Unit 10 Exercises

Seniors, you're 15/16ths done with high school. 😱 I hope you have a great week, and please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 27: Monday, March 4th – Friday, March 8th

Welcome to the first week of March! Here's the plan for this week as we continue our work in Unit 9: Types, Strings, and While Loops:

• finish Unit 9 Creative Task

• 9.7 Unit 9 Review

• 9.8 Unit 9 Practice Quiz

• 9.9 Unit 9 Quiz

We only have two weeks left in 3rd Quarter, so make sure you're getting all of your work completed and turned in. Let me know if you have any questions, and have a wonderful week!

Week 26: Monday, February 26th – Friday, March 1st

Welcome to the end of February! To wrap up Black History Month, I'd like to tell you about John Henry Thompson (b. 1959), the creator of the influential Lingo programming language. The son of Jamaican immigrants, Mr. Thompson got his first opportunity to work with a computer as a 10th grader at the Bronx High School of Science when his geometry teacher, Ms. Strauss, gave him early access to the math department's computer lab and helped him get his first job as a computer operator in the New York State Psychiatric Institute. After graduation, he earned his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Visual Studies from MIT in 1983 and continued on as a technical instructor, developed an early color pre-press design system for the Visible Language Workshop, which is now part of the MIT Media Lab. Mr. Thompson then became a project lead at Lucasfilm on the EditDroid project, an early nonlinear editing system that was a precursor to Final Cut, the industry standard in video editing. In 1987 he joined Macromedia (now part of Adobe), where he contributed to the development of a number of products, including Macromedia Director, and he invented the Lingo programming language and XObjects, which made it easier to create interactive multimedia content like Flash, Shockwave and graphics-based CD-ROMs. If you've ever played an interactive game in a web browser, his work helped make that possible! For the past two decades, Mr. Thompson has continued teaching in New York City, Philadelphia, Jamaica, and online, and he has since become an outspoken critic of social media companies such as Facebook for how they use personal data and what he describes as their negative impacts on society.

Here's the plan for this week as we continue our work in Unit 9: Types, Strings, and While Loops:

• 9.3 String Methods

• 9.4 While Loops

• 9.5 Unit 9 Exercises

• start Unit 9 Creative Task

Good luck to the Freshmen and Juniors taking tests on Tuesday! Remember, no school for Sophomores and Seniors. As always, please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week!

Week 25: Tuesday, February 20th – Friday, February 23rd

Welcome back from your extended weekend! This week I'd like to tell you about Dr. Clarence "Skip" Ellis (1943-2014), the first Black person to earn a PhD in computer science. Dr. Ellis grew up in Chicago and graduated from Parker High School while also working as a part-time night shift security guard for the Dover Corporation. While at Dover, he watched over the company's mainframe computers and became fascinated by them, so he read over the manuals during his shift and learned how to operate and repair the vacuum-tube-based machines. He earned degrees in mathematics and physics from Beloit College in Wisconsin, and while at Beloit, he was one of 10 North American college students to attend a computer science program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Based on his experiences there, he earned his PhD in computer science from Urbana-Champaign in 1969, making him the first Black person to ever do so. Dr. Ellis worked at Bell Labs, IBM, and Xerox, and from 1976–1984, he worked at the Palo Alto Research Center, where he led the team that created Officetalk, the first program to use icons and the Internet to allow for long-distance collaboration. This means that every icon-based app or operating system you've ever used was directly influenced by Skip Ellis. You could say he's "iconic"! (Sorry.)

Here's the plan for this short week as we start Unit 9: Types, Strings, and While Loops:

• 9.1 Types and Input

• 9.2 Strings

Strings are pretty easy, but as always, please let me know if you have any questions. Enjoy your abbreviated week!

Week 24: Monday, February 12th – Thursday, February 15th

Hello again! This week I'd like to tell you about Dr. Timnit Gebru, a Black computer scientist who studies artificial intelligence (AI), algorithmic bias and data mining. Dr. Gebru was born in Ethiopia and fled the Eritrean–Ethiopian War when she was 15, eventually receiving political asylum in the Unites States. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees as well as her PhD from Stanford University. While at Stanford, she worked as an intern at Apple making audio circuitry and later developed signal processing algorithms for the first iPad. After brief stint at Microsoft where she investigated racial bias in facial recognition software, she joined Google in 2018 to co-lead a team the ethics of artificial intelligence. However, in late 2020, her employment at Google was terminated when she refused to withdraw a research paper about the serious risks of large language model AI systems (Dr. Gebru claims that she was fired, while Google has refused to say whether she resigned or was terminated). Since leaving Google, Dr. Gebru has co-founded Black in AI, a community of Black researchers working in AI, and the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR), a "space for independent, community-rooted AI research, free from Big Tech's pervasive influence". She has earned numerous accolades, including being named one of the world's 50 greatest leaders by Fortune Magazine in 2021 and one of Time Magazine's most influential people of 2022.

Here's the plan for this week as we wrap up Unit 8: Math Functions, Random Values, and Nested Loops:

• finish Unit 8 Creative Task

• 8.6 Unit 8 Review

• 8.7 Unit 8 Practice Quiz

• 8.8 Unit 8 Quiz

Enjoy your looong weekend, and please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 23: Monday, February 5th – Friday, February 9th

Happy Black History Month! Before I list this week's activities, I'd like to tell you about Dorothy J. Vaughan (1910–2008), the first African-American female supervisor of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) who became an expert in digital computers and their applications in NASA programs. Ms. Vaughan graduated from Wilberforce University in Ohio with a degree in mathematics and started out as a math teacher. In 1943, to support our country's efforts in World War II, she joined NACA as a human "computer" who did complex calculations for engineers and scientists. She worked with computers Vera Huckel and Sara Bullock to create an algebraic methods handbook for mechanical calculating machines, and when NACA became NASA, she joined its new Analysis and Computation Division and became an expert FORTRAN programmer. Ms. Vaughan and her countless calculations supported NACA and NASA accomplishments and helped to achieve our country’s aerospace goals. Very impressive!

Here's the plan for this week as we continue Unit 8: Math Functions, Random Values, and Nested Loops:

• 8.3 Nested For Loops

• 8.4 Unit 8 Exercises

• start Unit 8 Creative Task

This is our last full week of school for a while, because next week we'll only have three and a half school days before having a four-and-a-half day weekend, and then we'll have other interruptions like the ACT. I hope you have a great week, and as always, let me know if you have any questions!

Week 22: Monday, January 29th – Friday, February 2nd

Welcome to the end of January! This month has really flown by, although I'm sure that having Winter Break, MLK Jr. Day and three calamity days all helped with that. Here's the plan for this week as we start Unit 8: Math Functions, Random Values, and Nested Loops:

• 8.1 Math Functions

• 8.2 Random Values

Working with random values can be lots of fun, so with any luck we'll be able to get through a full week without any interruptions as we move into February and one month closer to the end of the school year. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 21: Monday, January 22nd – Friday, January 26th

Hello again! Last week was certainly an interesting series of events. I hope you took advantage of your bonus three-day weekend and got some rest and relaxation! Here's the plan for this week as we wrap up Unit 7: New Shapes, Local Variables, and For Loops:

• 7.6 Unit 7 Creative Task

• 7.7 Unit 7 Review

• 7.8 Unit 7 Practice Quiz

• 7.9 Unit 7 Quiz

The weather this week looks to be much warmer and rainy, so I'm hoping we'll be able to get through all five days without any interruptions. Have a great week, and let me know if you have any questions!

Week 20: Tuesday, January 16th – Friday, January 19th

I hope you enjoyed your three day weekend! Here's the plan for this abbreviated week as we start to wrap up Unit 7:

• 7.4 Unit 7 Exercises

• 7.5 Unit 7 Challenge Exercises

• 7.6 Unit 7 Creative Task

As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 19: Monday, January 8th – Friday, January 12th

Happy New Year, and welcome back from Winter Break! I hope you were able to take some time to rest, relax and recharge before we get right back into the thick of things. Here's the plan for our first school week of 2024 as we start Unit 7: New Shapes, Local Variables, and For Loops:

• 7.1 New Shapes

• 7.2 Local Variables

• 7.3 For Loops

Arcs are a little challenging, but everything else this week should be pretty straightforward. I hope you have a great first week back! Let me know if you have any questions.

PS: If you were in 3rd period Intro CS last semester, remember that I'm teaching a different class this semester, so make sure you check your schedule so you know where to go!

Week 18: Monday, December 18th – Friday, December 22nd

We finally made it to the end of 1st Semester! Your 1st Semester Exam this week will be on Google Forms and will include 60 multiple choice questions from all six units so far. You'll need your school Chromebook to take the exam, so make sure it's fully charged! The exam will look a lot like the Practice Quizzes in CS Academy, so I strongly recommend you go back and redo all of those so that you're well prepared for the exam. Here's the exam schedule for this week:

Wednesday, December 20th:

• 1st period exam: 7:30–9:00am

• 2nd period exam: 9:15–10:45am

• Lunch: 10:50–11:20am

• 6/7 or 7/8th period exam: 11:25am–12:55pm

Thursday, December 21st:

• 9th period exam: 7:30–9:00am

• 10th period exam: 9:15–10:45am

• Lunch: 10:50–11:20am

• Make-up exams: 11:25am–12:55pm

Friday, December 22nd:

• 3rd period exam: 7:30–9:00am

• 4/5 or 5/6th period exam: 9:15–10:45am

• Lunch: 10:50–11:20am

• Make-up exams: 11:25am–12:55pm

• ALL WORK DUE FOR 1st SEMESTER

The entire exam schedule is available here so you can save it to your phone. I hope all of your exams go smoothly and you have a restful Winter Break. Have a happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2024!

PS: Students in 3rd period Intro to CS who want to continue the course into 2nd Semester will either need to switch to the 10th period class or take it as an independent study. If you'd like to take 2nd Semester as an independent study, I can give you the Credit Flex form in class.

Week 17: Monday, December 11th – Friday, December 15th

Welcome back! Here's the plan for the last full week of 1st Semester as we wrap up Unit 6: Groups, Step Events, and Motion:

• 6.5 Unit 6 Creative Task

• 6.7 Unit 6 Practice Quiz

• 6.8 Unit 6 Quiz

Your 1st Semester Exam will be next week and will cover Units 1-6 in CS Academy. 3rd period will take their exam on Friday, December 22nd at 7:30am, and 10th period will take their exam on Thursday, December 21st at 9:15am. The entire exam schedule is available here. I strongly recommend reviewing all of the Practice Quizzes in CS Academy to prepare for the semester exam. Let me know if you have any questions at all. Have a great week!

Week 16: Monday, December 4th – Friday, December 8th

Hello again! We're going to continue our work on Unit 6: Groups, Step Events, and Motion so we have all the tools we need to make a really impressive Creative Task next week. Here's the plan for the first full week of December:

• finish 6.3 Step Events and Motion

• 6.4 Unit 6 Exercises

I hope you find these motion and animation activities to be interesting, because I think they're a lot of fun! As always, let me know if you have any questions. Have a wonderful week!

Week 15: Monday, November 27th – Friday, December 1st

Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break! I hope you were able to rest and recharge so we can make it through the next four weeks before we go on Winter Break. Here's the plan for the last week of November:

• start Unit 6: Groups, Step Events, and Motion

• 6.1 Groups

• 6.2 Group Methods

• start 6.3 Step Events and Motion

I hope your first week back goes well! As always, let me know if you have any questions.

PS: Make sure you plug in your Chromebook to charge overnight!

Week 14: Monday, November 13th – Friday, November 17th

We finally made it to Thanksgiving Break! 🦃 This week we'll wrap up Unit 5: Complex Conditionals and More Key Events with the following activities:

• 5.4 Unit 5 Creative Task

• 5.5 Unit 5 Review

• 5.6 Unit 5 Practice Quiz

• 5.7 Unit 5 Quiz

I hope you have a restful and relaxing Thanksgiving Break! Please let me know if you have any questions on anything you're working on.

Week 13: Monday, November 6th – Friday, November 10th

Here's the plan for the first full week of November as we continue our work in Unit 5: Complex Conditionals and More Key Events:

• finish 5.1 Complex Conditionals

• 5.2 More Key Events

• 5.3 Unit 5 Exercises

Next week, we'll wrap up Unit 5 with the Creative Task and Quiz, just in time for Thanksgiving Break. Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great week!

Week 12: Monday, October 30th – Friday, November 3rd

It's the last week of October, and it's finally starting to feel like Fall! 🎃 I hope you got out and enjoyed the last bits of nice weather. Here's the plan for this week as we wrap up Unit 4: More Conditionals, Key Events, and Methods:

• 4.5 Unit 4 Creative Task

• 4.6 Unit 4 Review

• 4.7 Unit 4 Practice Quiz

• 4.8 Unit 4 Quiz

• begin Unit 5: Complex Conditionals and More Key Events

• start 5.1 Complex Conditionals

As always, let me know if you have any questions. Stay warm!

Week 11: Monday, October 23rd – Friday, October 27th

Welcome to 2nd Quarter – we're 1/4th done with the school year! Here's the plan for this week as we continue our work Unit 4: More Conditionals, Key Events, and Methods:

• BEGIN 2nd QUARTER

• finish 4.3 Methods

• Tuesday 10/24: Security Summit Field Trip to I-X Center (meet at the cafeteria entrance at 8:45am!)

• Wednesday 10/25: Capture the Flag Competition! (in class)

• 4.4 Unit 4 Exercises

I hope you have a great week, and get outside and enjoy the nice weather while it lasts! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Week 10: Monday, October 16th – Friday, October 20th

Welcome back from your 3-day weekend! Here's what we're doing for the last week of 1st Quarter as we start Unit 4: More Conditionals, Key Events, and Methods:

• 4.1 More Conditionals (if-elif-else Statements)

• 4.2 Key Events

• 4.3 Methods

• END OF 1st QUARTER

Remember, Friday is the last day to turn in any work from Units 1, 2 or 3 for credit in 1st Quarter. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week!

Week 9: Monday, October 9th – Thursday, October 12th

I hope you had a great weekend! Here's the plan for this abbreviated week as we wrap up Unit 3:

• finish Unit 3 Creative Task

• Unit 3 Review

• Unit 3 Quiz

Unit 3 will be the last unit on your 1st Quarter grade.

We'll also have these important events this week:

Monday 10/9: Parent-Teacher Conferences @5-8pm – sign up here!
Tuesday 10/10: Passport to IT Careers field trip (8:15am-2:00pm)
Thursday 10/12: Early Release Day
Friday 10/13: Teacher PD Day – NO SCHOOL

Enjoy your three-and-a-half-day weekend! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Week 8: Monday, October 2nd – Friday, October 6th

Welcome to the first week of October! We're going to wrap up Unit 3 with some lessons on helper functions, which are snippets of code that CMU has provided to help you with the lesson exercises. You'll use helper functions throughout the remainder of the course. Here's the plan for this week:

• 3.3 Helper Functions

• 3.4 Unit 3 Exercises

• start Unit 3 Creative Task

As always, let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week!

Week 7: Monday, September 25th – Friday, September 29th

Hi there! For the first week of autumn 🍂, we're going to learn some additional mouse events as well as conditionals, which are a critical aspect of computer science and found in every programming language. Here's the plan:

• Unit 2 Quiz

• 3.1 Mouse Motion Events

• 3.2 Conditionals (if Statements)

I hope you have a great week! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Week 6: Monday, September 18th – Friday, September 22nd

Welcome to the last week of summer! Here are the topics we'll be working on as we wrap up Unit 2 on functions, mouse events, and properties:

• 2.4 Unit 2 Exercises

• Unit 2 Creative Task

• Unit 2 Review

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Week 5: Monday, September 11th – Friday, September 15th

Welcome back! I hope you had a great Homecoming weekend. This week, we're starting Unit 2: Functions, Mouse Events, and Properties, which will allow us to add some interactivity to our programs. Here are the topics we'll be working on:

• 2.1 Functions

• 2.2 Mouse Events

• 2.3 Properties

These coding activities should be a lot of fun. Let me know if you have any questions, and have a great week!

Week 4: Tuesday, September 5th – Friday, September 8th

I hope you enjoyed your 3-day weekend! We're wrapping up Unit 1 this week, just in time for our very first quiz. Here's the plan for this hot, hot week:

• Unit 1 Creative Task

• Unit 1 Quiz

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything at all. Stay cool!

Week 3: Monday, August 28th – Friday, September 1st

I hope you enjoyed your unexpected 3-day weekend! Here's what we're doing in class for the last week of August:

• 1.3 Shapes - Notes and Exercises

• start 1.4 Unit 1 Exercises

Keep up the great work, and as always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Week 2: Monday, August 21st – Friday, August 25th

Welcome to the first full week of the 2023-2024 school year! Now that we've had a few days to get to know each other and get everyone logged in to CMU CS Academy, we can get to work! Here's what we're doing in class this week:

• 1.1 Basics - Notes and Exercises

• 1.2 Colors - Notes and Exercises

I hope you had a great first week and that you were able to get some rest this weekend before we attempt to go to school for five full days without strange bell schedules or burning birds. Let me know you have any questions!