Young Computer Graphics Programmers

This class is taught in English.

Students will improve their computational thinking skills, their geometry, their algebra and might get a brief introduction to some concepts in calculus. 

I have a masters degree in computer science and over a decade of industry and research experience.

Outschool has 3 rules they ask us to follow: Be Kind, Be Safe, and Be Respectful. I agree with each of these rules completely.

Be Kind - Help all learners feel welcome and included. 

Be Safe - Keep your personal information private and never ask other learners for theirs. Feel free to use a different name!
Personal things are personal. Keep your full name, home address, gaming or social media name, email, and school name private.

Be Respectful - Treat others how you want to be treated.
Keep language clean and information you share safe. Treat Outschool like a public place. When in doubt err on the side of caution, professional dress is encouraged.

These are my guidelines:
I will run the group using the socratic method. I will make use of guiding principles outlined here: https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/810
1. Conversational guidelines:
* Students and myself will learn each others names or "handles" (for example if a student would like to go by a different name) and have the students learn each other's names (or handles) and their preferred pronouns.
* Participation requires listening and active engagement and that it is not enough to just insert a single comment in class and then be silent for the rest of the session. 
* Students should focus their comments on concepts or principles, not first-person narratives. IE: instead of "Whenever I solve problems like this I use Dijkstra's algorithm" students should use language like "Graphs can be represented in a matrix by...."
2. Ask questions and be comfortable with silence. Silence is productive. Be willing to wait for students to respond. There is no need to fill a conversational void; silence creates a kind of helpful tension. Use the "ten-second wait" rule before you attempt to re-phrase your questions!
3. There may be "productive discomfort." I might use tools like cold-calling, tempered with small group work so students can talk to their neighbors.
4. I may ask follow-up questions if students propose an answer or method to solve a problem! Get students to account for themselves, not just to regurgitate readings and lectures.
5. I am always open to learning something new, if the student can cite a resource I will read it. I am not a sage on the stage or a guide on the side. I reserve the right to say, "I don't know the answer to that question."
6. I welcome the "crazy idea" that offers a new perspective on the topic, but will discourage those ideas which are not serious.
7. I will try to use brevity and short interventions. No speeches or long lectures.
8. I will discourage cringe-worthy references to authority and status, for example: "Turing said it, so it must be true always!". I dislike this, and will encourage those that do it to change their ways.
9. Come to class in a space that encourages interaction. Beds put one at an immediate disadvantage.

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