TEALS Update
Regular readers will recall this great program called TEALS that I've blogged about a few times that brings software engineers into schools to teach CS classes before they go to work. We have hosted two information sessions that have attracted almost 200 software engineers interested in teaching next school year.
We now have ten schools in NYC that have signed on to have a TEALS program in their school. We need 40 software engineers to do the programs in all 10 schools. The last time I checked, there were 24 who had applied. So we need some more applications. The deadline to apply is May 1st. You can apply online here.
Here's a map of the 65 schools around the country that have TEALS programs in their schools. The NYC closeup looks like this:
I realize this is just a drop in the bucket as we have thousands of schools in NYC. But seeing this map makes me very happy because we don't have a single TEALS school in NYC in the current school year.
If you are a software engineer working in NYC and want to teach computer science at one of these ten schools next year, please apply online. You can make a real difference and help bring opportunities to kids who want them badly.
Comments (Archived):
Wish you well with this.This is one thing I simply can’t help with although I’ve spread the word out through my clients engineering teams.
that is fantastic. thanks for doing it. check out this photo of me and some kids from a coding class called codenow that i talked to on Sunday. this is what it is all about.
So cool.I’ve spoken about my father before who decided to become a science teacher in his Patterson neighborhood. He so believed that science education was a ladder to a better life (says his English major son!).This project is a great one Fred. A proud endeavor!
So you were rebelling with that English major?
No question about it.Hippy English teacher, wrote everything from short stories to environmental impact statement to ghostwritten books and speeches.Interesting though that for 20 years I’ve been the marketing guy in pure computer and tech companies working hand in hand with the most brilliant geeks imaginable.This would have made my father smile.Funny how it all rolls forward.
a picture says a thousand words.
that’s why i really like the photo feature in disqus
I like the update as well. I also noticed the new-ish embed theme being here and on the Disqus blog. The only thing I don’t like about this is the dark post button…I’m used to the other one 🙂
Reminded me of this classic…http://www.engadget.com/200…
that’s cool. I’m working on a project engaging youth filmmakers across Canada and doing workshops etc. including at risk youth and kids who normally woudn’t get an opportunity. It’s really hard to find the them (especially if you do it outside the school system) but once you find them, omg blow one’s mind creative/smart/awesome. as i said to someone in my team, i wish i could do this all the time.
That’s a great pic. It deserved to be in the post itself 🙂
well that program is not TEALS. it’s a different one. i am working with between a half dozen and a dozen of these efforts. i believe that if you want to change something you have to let a thousand flowers bloom
Are they teaching the same curriculum?
no
Great. #upvoted it already to keep it on top.
That sounds like it must be a tremendous impact time wise.
true, because evolution states that only some of the flowers will have offspring – same is true with these programs..or even startups
You buried the lede, Fred. Fantastic pic.
Love this pic
When kids – and adults for that matter – do something out-of-hours that’s all the endorsement you need. My wife is taking some of her kids on a 200 mile round-trip each Thursday evening, after regular classes, so they can get more exposure to the veterinary profession. She and they all get home about 1am Friday morning and are back in class first-thing the next day, red-eyed – but, worth it! Thumbs-up.It used to be considered a kitsch/trite lyric soundbite, but more than ever before we all need to see that ‘the children are our future’.
High school field trips are so amazing. I still have vivid memories about some of them.
Beautiful picture.Fred, You seem as happy as a guy who just had his first baby. Two-thumbs-up for making the change IN and around you.
Look at all the girls! Woot!Side note: hoodies suit you.
hoodies at playhttp://www.avc.com/a_vc/201…
Love it! “Geek heaven.”
dawwwwwwwwwww
Awesome! Can you tell us how much it pays? If there is one thing I’ve learned about software engineers it’s that you can always get them if you offer free beer or high wages.
they get paid a small stipend but it is almost nothing. they do it because they want to give back.
So, no free beer? lol
I guess not. This program is more about generosity of the software engineers, not an actual “job” for them to do.
Consider it mentorship.
No guns? No lawmaking? No campaign finance reform? No polarizing topics where people posses completely closed minds to the opposite opinion. Blasphemous. You should be ashamed. #punkPS: This is very cool.
I’m so with you!
you made the first move yesterday. Thanks.
what you get here is me. all of me. the good comes with the bad.
Definitely. Of course you know I was kidding. This is your casa do as you please. The beautiful thing about the Internet/blogs is one can easily choose to skip anything.
Well said.
thinking back to earlier in the week, the US needs education reform before it needs immigration reform. A country is its people, and when it fails at people it fails at country.
You can be planning and brainstorming both at the same time, and you really should – especially as immigrants will likely need education, too – hopefully everyone is always continuing to learn more.
yes.and yet, domestic education reform equates to strategic independence. immigration reform does not.
Very true. In some respects too much emphasis on needing immigration only reflects the failings of one’s own system – ‘Physician, heal thyself’ as it were…
We are pulling money from the young to pay for the old. Our balance is out of whack.
one’s mind creative/smart/awesome. as i said to someone in my team, i wish i could do this all the time.
it is not either or. we need both.
http://neil.fraser.name/new…
Good blog on k12 CS training in Vietnam. (Google engineer points out that half of their high school grass could pass a google interview exam)http://neil.fraser.name/new…
How much fun is Blockly?!
From that post:”Vietnam is a 100% Windows XP monoculture. Probably all with the same serial number. However, given that a copy of Windows costs one month’s salary, it’s easy to understand.”The overwhelming majority of fraud orders we get are from Vietnam with stolen credit cards. Most are easy to spot but some have good enough english to correct capitalize the credit card owners name and address. In those the tell tale sign is the email address they use which is normally a dead giveaway it doesn’t triangulate with the name registered or the credit card details.Also:”Whereas Vietnam is the exact opposite. Schools, teachers, parents, and students are eager in a way I’ve never seen here in the US.”Why is this so hard for people to understand? People here are spoiled and it makes total sense that if you are raised in a suburban home with all the comforts and everything is given to you only a fraction of those people will be motivated? And others will spend their spare time on entertainment, sports and socializing without a care in the world for what the future holds job wise………..
I dont trust the numbers that rank the US near the bottom in the STEMs and CS. While i haven’t looked at the scores, I’d bet that they are very tightly bunched, particularly when controlling for certain variables, e.g., native asians vs asia-americans.
I wish I was qualified to do this. Maybe this time next year, I will be 🙂
An incredible way to learn is to teach others at the same time.
“We need 40 software engineers to do the programs in all 10 schools. The last time I checked, there were 24 who had applied.”One of the ways to make this happen is to contact large NY firms and have them get the word out to people that work there to see who is interested in participating and who is properly qualified. [1]In some companies in order to make partner, or to advance, it is compulsory to do some community service and this more or less fits that perfectly. I would think it would be trivial if this avenue was taken to get the needed participation….
As in the analogy of bring me a thousand who each have a thread, a drop does lead to a bucket that is heavy. Thumbs up!
Fred, you’re a genius!!!You put in 5 minutes on a blog post. You offer up someone else’s time (the software engineer’s). You post a picture that’s not even a TEALS picture. You get free labor for a school that’s probably sucking up enough tax dollars to choke an elephant.And you take major credit for the whole thing. I love ya’ Fred!!! This is called genius! I once saw a quote “If you want to build a shipping industry. Don’t teach people to build ships. Teach them to yearn for the sea.”Totally awesome! Teach us more!
i learned everything i know from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
Cool, a fast learner you might be.
Thanks for the reminder. Now we have 25 volunteers. I noticed there’s an opportunity to do remote teaching, so I volunteered for NC as well (my home state).If other folks are interested but unsure of the commute, remote is definitely also an option.
What VC software are you using for remote teaching?
Fred, get this into Friends’ Central School!!