Show Notes

TEALS

• Teaching Education And Literacy in Schools
• High School Computer science curriculum
• Pairing Industry Volunteers with educators to get them up to speed with the material in a hands-on approach
  • Teacher has the teaching certificate but not the background on the material
  • The volunteer brings context and real world applications of principles
  • Students enjoy someone other than their teachers in front of them
  • The TEALS program can assist finding volunteers for a school that cannot identify the right kind of professionals themselves.
• Curriculum
  • Stanford developed -- Microsoft sponsored (paid)
    • Intro to comp sci - snap
    • Intro to comp sci 2 - python
    • AP Comp Sci
    • AP Computer Science Principles
  • Snap -- Based on MIT scratch
    • Block based -- teaches CS concepts
      • Loops
      • Conditionals
      • Variables
  • Python
  • More options available
    • JavaScript HTML CSS
• Types of volunteering
  • Co-teach
    • Teachers have the teaching certificate, but the volunteer leads most of the lessons
  • Teacher Assistants - Lab support
    • Support the class less frequently 2-3 times a week
    • Work hands on with students individually more
    • Support the lesson by interjecting
    • Being a backup
  • Remote instruction
• Goals
  • More awareness and introduction of CS into age where there typically is little to none means more people are exposed to it as a career option
  • Diversity. Most students (and adults) have incorrect preconceived notions of the field. This is a way to expose CS to groups of people to show how CS can be fun
    • TEALS looks to schools for a commitment to action in three categories:
      • Diversity in Enrollment
      • Inclusive Learning Space
      • Inclusive Instruction
  • Under staffed / budget schools can participate as equals since this program does not cost them anything and they can have excellent quality volunteers come in
  • This is ultimately a vehicle to enable training of teachers to succeed with the curriculum without volunteer help
• Real Numbers
  • 10,000 students a year across 455 schools in the US and Canada
  • 1,500 Tech volunteers from 650 companies
    • 85% of volunteers come from outside of Microsoft
  • 35% female students
  • 1 in 5 schools are rural
  • 94% of students believe the volunteers were effective in helping vs teachers alone
  • Students in this program score 8% higher on AP Comp Sci standard test than other programs

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