Lessons Learned in Teaching Python by Sandy Strong and Christine Cheung

Transcript

1. Lessons Learned in
   Teaching Python
   Sandy Strong and Christine Cheung
   PyCon 2013
   

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2. About the Speakers
   Sandy Strong
   Sandy Strong (@sandymahalo)
   Systems Engineer at DreamHost
   Tutoring and workshops for high schoolers and adults
   Christine Cheung (@plaidxtine)
   Freelance web developer
   Workshop organizing/teaching for local user groups
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3. Why Teaching?
   Passion for sharing
   Contribution to the community
   Diversity efforts
   “Teaching is learning twice”
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4. Expectations
   What do YOU want?
   Reasoning for teaching
   Determine motivation and goals
   WHO do you want to teach?
   Target a specific type of
   audience
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5. Entry Points
   Volunteer for user group
   Form your own
   Tutoring
   For-profit training
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6. Lesson Planning
   

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7. Making Lesson Plans
   Adapt from existing
   don’t “read from book”
   Write your own
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8. Know Your Material
   Be prepared
   Review your slides
   Functional code demos
   Answers you don’t know
   Be honest, figure it out together
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9. Time Constraints
   More material than time
   Omit/edit parts during teaching
   Flexible ending points
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10. Know Your Audience
    

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11. Are they...
    1. Beginners
    2. Intermediates
    3. Experts
    4. Mix of skill level
    

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12. Assess Skill Level
    Do it early
    Survey
    Gauge pacing of class
    While teaching
    Interact + listen
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13. Classroom
    Demographics
    Age Groups
    Gender
    Career Backgrounds
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14. Student Environment
    Plan for an hour of setup time
    List requirements early
    Offer early setup time
    List minimum requirements
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15. OS Challenges
    Windows
    Have documentation ready
    Environment variables
    Older OSes
    Dependencies may not be met
    Consider “loaner laptops”
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16. Python Versions
    Standarize
    2.7 or 3?
    Do not mix and match
    Consider virtualenv
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17. Engaging With
    Students
    

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18. Three Types of
    Students
    Falling behind
    Right on track
    Zipping ahead
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19. Types of Beginners
    Younger beginners
    More adventurous / experimental
    Older beginners
    More conservative
    Stay within bounds of exercises
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20. Absolute Beginners
    Don’t make assumptions
    everyone learns differently
    Explain concepts in different ways
    Take it slow
    Encourage questions
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21. Identifying Struggle
    Less likely to engage
    May “give up” silently
    Beginners in an experienced room
    intimidated / shy
    utilize mentors to help them
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22. Identifying Boredom
    Engaged but work ahead
    Will utilize mentors
    Bonus exercises
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23. Keep Them Interested
    Encourage them to work with
    neighbors
    Group work
    Short social breaks
    Anecdotes and humor
    Demo interesting projects
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24. Common Beginner
    Questions
    Using the shell vs. interpreter
    String formatting
    Types of data structures
    List vs Tuple
    Math
    Boolean logic
    Order of operations
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25. More Common
    Questions
    Debugging (pdb)
    OOP class design
    Application deployment
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26. No Questions?
    Beginners may be shy
    Use relatable stories
    Ask questions:
    “Can anyone tell me why ____
    worked the way it did?”
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27. Dealing With
    Difficult Students
    Answer questions
    ...but don’t feed the troll(s)
    offer to talk later
    Class disruption
    Handle during break
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28. Location
    

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29. Venues
    Decide the type of venue
    Getting a venue
    existing group
    businesses / hackerspaces /
    school
    rent a venue (for profit)
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30. Knowing Your Venue
    Internet
    Power outlets and capacity
    Tables and chairs
    Projector
    Backup plans (extra supplies)
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31. Know the
    Neighborhood
    Travel Options
    Parking
    Restaurants / Bars
    Conflicting events
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32. Retention
    Enthusiasm fades quickly
    Have another session planned
    Extra assignments
    Community resources
    Communication channels
    Meetup, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
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33. Wrap-Up
    

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34. Questions?
    

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