[Noisebridge-discuss] a little bit of info on the excel program, and an idea to move forward

[Mitch Altman]

Thanks for the first contact, Michael!

 

 

I like your general outline of 6 weeks.  10 kids per class is nice, but maybe we'll have a better chance of acceptance if we teach more?  (That's a question.)  I'd be most up for high school aged kids, myself, since we can go more into things.  And if these classes are for people who volunteer themselves to be a part of, then I think we'll get some really interesting kids.  If we have a 6-week curriculum then we could do it twice per semester, if we like, plus once in the summer.

 

 

We could have 1 teacher per week (or a set of teachers), with that 1 teacher (or set of teachers) teaching 1 topic.  I don't think the topics need to be closely knitted together, but just fit under a general umbrella, such as "making cool things".  What do others think?  We should pick the number of days/times that each teacher (or set) will teach -- I think we need to have this consistent for all 6 weeks.

 

 

I'd like to teach kids how to make cool things with microcontrollers.  I'll be doing this for a week at a high school in NYC for learning disability kids.  The administration put out the word to the whole school that this class was available, thinking that 20 to 30 kids would sign up for it -- but 118 did, which is half the school. (!)  In this case, I'm teaching 6 individual 3-hour classes, where each kid goes to one of the 6 classes, and everyone builds one of the 5 projects that I offered (TV-B-Gone kit, Mignonette Game kit, Brain Machine kit, Trippy RGB Waves kit, MiniPOV3 kit).  The school is buying all of the tools so that they will be able to teach this class without me in the future.  I'll see how this goes at the NYC high school.  Much of what I do there will be directly applicable for teaching for the ExCEL program.  Any comments/thoughts?

 

 

I leave for 6 weeks of travel starting tomorrow morning.  I'll be checking my email every day, and I'll have my phone, if anyone wants to call for any reason:

     415-377-5993

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mitch.

 

 

 


------------------------

 
> Date: Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:52:04 -0700
> From: michaelshiloh1010 at gmail.com
> To: noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> Subject: [Noisebridge-discuss] a little bit of info on the excel program, and an idea to move forward
> 
> Man, these guys are hard to get in touch with, in spite of the handy 
> contacts list on their web page.
> 
> My (soon-to-be-ex) wife spent some time on the phone and was able to get 
> through to Jason Rigg, the new manager. He does not accept direct emails 
> (can we work with someone like this?) and he directed her to the two 
> documents we've already seen: the RFP and the spreadsheet.
> 
> He said to think "pie in the sky" and when they review the proposals 
> they might want to negotiate down to something that they can fund.
> 
> I will next follow up on the leads that Lee got from 826 Valencia: 
> Marisa and Dave.
> 
> Meanwhile, I get the impression that we can propose pretty much whatever 
> we would like, so in order to keep the ball rolling, and since the 
> deadline is the end of this month, let's start talking about this.
> 
> So, if we could propose our ideal program, what would it look like?
> 
> I'll toss out some of my ideas, but please let's hear yours, and don't 
> take mine as a firm proposal:
> 
> Number of kids per class? I like no more than 10, although you do get a 
> different dynamic with a larger group, assuming you have enough teachers.
> 
> Ages? I just finished teaching a bunch of 8-10 year olds. Very high 
> energy, very low attention span. Sweet kids, though, and good work when 
> they focused, but I spent too much of my time telling them not to bother 
> each other etc.
> 
> 7th-8th grades have the hormones making them crazy. I should know, I 
> have a 14 year old daughter. Keep away.
> 
> High school can be the most rewarding, but is challenging. OTOH, this is 
> probably the group that can most benefit from learning a creative skill 
> in an after-school setting, and might especially enjoy the cool stuff we 
> can teach. And, at their age especially, this could have a real impact 
> on their future.
> 
> My preference? 10-12 or high school.
> 
> Subjects?
> Let's keep this very broad.
> 
> Duration?
> I think for the first time we do this, I suggest we do something like a 
> 6 week program, perhaps 2-3 times a week, and then expand as our 
> confidence and experience dictates.
> 
> Let's also discuss philosophy. I really am not interested in working 
> with "gifted" or even those already interested in science. The ones I 
> prefer are those who think they can not understand this, or can not 
> learn how to do this. And I like to draw out the kids who are quiet and 
> don't jump up and raise their hands the first time. And I want to use 
> materials and supplies that are cheap and readily available, so that 
> after class they can continue or duplicate without having to spend lots 
> of money. I want to keep this accessible to all, and especially the 
> underserved.
> 
> I'm also particularly interested in getting more girls involved in what 
> we do. We might consider having one group be a girls-only group, so they 
> can develop their skills without having to compete with the guys. There 
> are arguments on both sides of this issue, and I lean towards having a 
> girls-only session.
> 
> Have at it!
> 
> M
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> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
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