motiv8r
07-27-2009, 06:19 PM
Hi,
I've posted earlier about motivation in general. This time, I wish to consider details about one school subject.
How do you sell your computer science students, on Day One of the school year, about the value of what you're teaching? In other words, do you somehow appeal to their self-interest and talk about the payoffs they personally will experience?
How do they respond? :ziplip:
I'm making a set of "sales pitches" that parents and teachers can use. The sales pitches' purpose is for children to try harder, to feel enthusiasm, or at least to not hate the schoolwork so much.
Imagine starting the first day of your class by introducing yourself and then telling the kids what selfish reasons they have to learn the subject you're teaching. Alternatively, you could give it to them as a printed handout which they would read while you check attendance. That's how I'm guessing a sales pitch should be delivered. If you do it differently, I hope you'll tell about it.
Following are some reasons for learning programming that I came up with.
---
Many university areas of study require programming as part of the coursework. This includes seemingly nontechnical fields like psychology.
High school programming classes are a good warmup for difficult college classes in technical subjects. Even if you are "gifted", it takes a while to get used to the kind of complex logical reasoning that many technical classes demand.
Programming lets you practice applying logic creatively to create useful systems and to troubleshoot malfunctions. This kind of mental exercise is useful for many technical fields.
People sometimes switch careers to programming, even though they did not get a degree in computer science (a majority of programmers don't have that degree). If you ever become dissatisfied with your non-programming career, it would be helpful if you felt capable of attempting a programming career. This kind of career change will be more doable if you have some programming experience. Programming can be a well-paying career option.
Starting your own computer software company is relatively easy. If you decide someday that you would like to be self-employed, having experience with programming would make it easier to try this option.
For aspiring artists: Careers that use both artistic and technical skills can pay well, because not many people can combine art and technology well. If you learn programming, you can create your own games and websites, or you can run an interactive advertising agency.
For aspiring engineers: many kinds of devices or constructions, and the machines used to fabricate them, will use some kind of computer control. In many cases, you will need to program that computer.
I've posted earlier about motivation in general. This time, I wish to consider details about one school subject.
How do you sell your computer science students, on Day One of the school year, about the value of what you're teaching? In other words, do you somehow appeal to their self-interest and talk about the payoffs they personally will experience?
How do they respond? :ziplip:
I'm making a set of "sales pitches" that parents and teachers can use. The sales pitches' purpose is for children to try harder, to feel enthusiasm, or at least to not hate the schoolwork so much.
Imagine starting the first day of your class by introducing yourself and then telling the kids what selfish reasons they have to learn the subject you're teaching. Alternatively, you could give it to them as a printed handout which they would read while you check attendance. That's how I'm guessing a sales pitch should be delivered. If you do it differently, I hope you'll tell about it.
Following are some reasons for learning programming that I came up with.
---
Many university areas of study require programming as part of the coursework. This includes seemingly nontechnical fields like psychology.
High school programming classes are a good warmup for difficult college classes in technical subjects. Even if you are "gifted", it takes a while to get used to the kind of complex logical reasoning that many technical classes demand.
Programming lets you practice applying logic creatively to create useful systems and to troubleshoot malfunctions. This kind of mental exercise is useful for many technical fields.
People sometimes switch careers to programming, even though they did not get a degree in computer science (a majority of programmers don't have that degree). If you ever become dissatisfied with your non-programming career, it would be helpful if you felt capable of attempting a programming career. This kind of career change will be more doable if you have some programming experience. Programming can be a well-paying career option.
Starting your own computer software company is relatively easy. If you decide someday that you would like to be self-employed, having experience with programming would make it easier to try this option.
For aspiring artists: Careers that use both artistic and technical skills can pay well, because not many people can combine art and technology well. If you learn programming, you can create your own games and websites, or you can run an interactive advertising agency.
For aspiring engineers: many kinds of devices or constructions, and the machines used to fabricate them, will use some kind of computer control. In many cases, you will need to program that computer.