Grit. Growth Mindset. Resilience. Iterative Design Process. 

We talk about these things continually, it feels, and we try and emphasize them in many classes. We want the students to dig in when presented with a challenge, and to try again when a strategy doesn’t work. 

I recently (inadvertently) got to model this entire process with my AP CS class. We were finishing up our Data unit, which has been spreadsheet-heavy. They’re learning to organize, analyze, and visualize data. Most of them claimed not to have done much with spreadsheets prior to this unit. 

I pushed them. They’re AP students, so they should expect to be challenged. They’re also a pretty sharp group all around, so I knew they could do it. They learned how tedious it can be to aggregate data from disparate sources (looking up info on colleges), how spending a bit more time up front can make your life much easier later on (setting up a spreadsheet where you can change one or two cells and force calculations through the rest of it), how to organize the data so human eyes can look at it and start to notice patterns (sort, countIF(), formatting and formulae in general), and how to visualize data so that you can present it to someone not intimately familiar with it (histograms, scatterplots with regression lines, pie charts, and pivot tables). 

They turned in good work! They did group work. They did independent work. They talked amongst their table groups and helped each other out. They asked questions and took instruction and sought out help when they needed it. 

I gave them a project (the Bean Count data), and they worked on that with minimal kvetching. 

For the unit exam, I set a practical exam, in which I gave them a mostly completed spreadsheet, asked them to complete it with some research, organize, and visualize the data. I used the standard rule of thumb of 3-4x the amount of time it takes the teacher to complete it. I did it in 25 minutes, so I figured they’d be okay, or get most of the way there. 

And then the wheels came off.

I was at my parents’ place because of a family medical issue, and I set their exam for the day I was out. I figured they’d be focused and the sub would have an easy time of it. Halfway through, I got an email from one of the students saying that everyone was really struggling. At the end of the period, they asked to be able to take it home over the weekend. I checked in with one of my stronger students, just to see if the other student was being hyperbolic. She confirmed that she had finished 2 of 6 items.I granted this request (I’d been toying with making it a take-home from the start). The next class period, I administered a survey. Here are some of the results:

I started the next class by apologizing to them and explaining that I did not intend for the exam to take them 5 hours. I owned up to the error. 

I gave an explanation of my rationale behind each aspect of the exam and how it related to assignments completed in the unit. I gave my hypotheses about where the mismatch might’ve occurred, and I asked for their feedback about what didn’t work or what was confusing. They gave me good feedback: the requirement list and the step-by-step instructions didn’t 100% agree and that was confusing; they weren’t sure what they needed to do to get full points; they didn’t know where to start. On the first point, that was intentional, as I listed intermediate steps that would get them to the product that would get them points. Being unsure about full points surprised me, because I thought my grading rubric, which I had posted a week in advance, was clear. 

Lessons learned:

• Check on hours spent on homework frequently

• Make clear the difference between instructions and what is to be submitted

• Walk through the grading rubric with them in class to ensure they understand

• Don’t confuse good work with proficiency

To be sure, it wasn’t an unmitigated disaster. Here are some other results:

1 – Strongly disagree

5 – Strongly agree

And this one is closest to my heart:

They learned things; possibly things that are more relevant than the “sexier” coding part of the class. I think I’ve given them a tool that they can use in a variety of situations 

I started the year by telling them that AP CSP is the most “applied adulting” class they’ll take in high school. Everything in the curriculum is directly related to a practical skill that most of us use daily. 

• being internet savvy

• recognizing the impact of technologies on our lives

• using spreadsheets  (how many job postings require proficiency with MS Office?)

• logical and algorithmic thought

• maybe do some code

To that, I hope I’ve also demonstrated:

• dealing with failure with grace and humility (i hope, at least!) 

• asking for and taking constructive criticism

• using that feedback to amend your design

Finally, for a bit of levity:

1 – “Everything’s fine!”

10 – “What the #%$^ even is this class?!”