#summerhonorsprogram — Public Fediverse posts

Day 7/10 of teaching the Summer Honors Program Computer Science course in Holdrege, NE:

Seems like the second Tuesday is always the point that everyone hits a wall. Even when things are going smoothly, intensely learning and practicing one subject for 8 hrs a day is hard!

This afternoon I encouraged my students to come out with me to the local park for a little nature break. I sat on a merry-go-round to write out a thank you note to the teacher whose classroom we're using, while a spontaneous game of tag broke out. It was good to see kids being kids.

At meal breaks with the other instructors today we had some good discussions about how to best help the program continue well past its 50th year in 2027. I mentioned the idea of an endowment fund, as my college theater/film department had received one from Johnny Carson back in 2009. Lots of good ideas to mull over.

#GiftedEducation
#Nebraska
#ComputerScience
#SummerHonorsProgram
#HighSchool
#SHP
#Rural

Day 5.1/10, Summer Honors Program, Holdrege, NE.

Sitting at the local Lost Way Brewery enjoying a "Peelin' Good" lime Pilsner after wandering downtown with my camera during the Swedish Days festivities. (And trying my best not to feel self-conscious about wearing a shirt that reads "The Woman Rebel: No Gods No Masters" in deep Red middle America.)

The other day some students asked the art teacher, "Who's the Severus Snape professor?" and she deduced they meant me! 😅

#GiftedEducation
#Nebraska
#ComputerScience
#SummerHonorsProgram
#HighSchool
#SHP
#Rural #GameMaker

Day 5/10 of Summer Honors Program, Computer Science course:

Phew! Currently melted into a recliner at my host parents' house. This first week of teaching is always a doozy, even when it's going really well (and thankfully it is.)

Yesterday I had all of my students present to me a verbal proposal for what kind of game prototype they wanted to create by next Friday. Nobody chose to adapt a board game like I had planned, but I rolled with it because they all gave me very clear ideas of their vision. Friday morning is the "graduation" ceremony, and I want them each to set up a demo station of their games to display for their peers and families.

Good group of kids, as always. Now for a weekend alone in small town Nebraska. Maybe I'll take my camera down to the "Swedish Days" festivities and see what kind of street photography comes out of it.

#GiftedEducation
#Nebraska
#ComputerScience
#SummerHonorsProgram
#HighSchool
#SHP
#Rural #GameMaker

Day 3/10 of Summer Honors, Computer Science: One of my students has modified his Asteroids game to have a capuchin monkey firing bananas, which themselves have enough recoil to rocket the monkey backwards across the screen at high velocity.

I am delighted.

#GiftedEducation
#Nebraska
#ComputerScience
#SummerHonorsProgram
#HighSchool
#SHP
#Rural #GameMaker

Day 2/10 of my Computer Science course is wrapped. We've been working our way through the "Space Rocks" tutorial for GameMaker Studio, an Asteroids clone that does a good job of introducing most of the concepts needed for creating a computer game.

Tomorrow we'll be adding music and sound effects, and finally adding some sweet power-ups. Sometimes it feels like I'm having to go pretty slow in demonstrating, but on the other hand my students are totally engaged and having a great time tricking out their projects to make them unique, so I have no problem going whatever speed they need.

#GiftedEducation
#Nebraska
#ComputerScience
#SummerHonorsProgram
#HighSchool
#SHP
#Rural #GameMaker

Just got back to my host family's house in Holdrege after happily reuniting with the other instructors and giving the students and their parents a video conference introducing ourselves and what they can expect over the next two weeks.

For most of the Summer Honors Program's history, students from up to an hour's drive away would be assigned a host family in Holdrege to stay with for the full two weeks. The willingness of local residents to house and corral multiple energetic teenagers ebbed over the years, and once COVID hit we switched entirely to having kids travel in each day.

Thankfully my lovely host parents Sheri and Ron have continued providing myself and the other out-of-state instructors with beds every year, and at this point I'd say I feel closer to them than I was to any of my actual grandparents.

#GiftedEducation #Nebraska #ComputerScience #SummerHonorsProgram #HighSchool #SHP #Rural

Waiting to board my next flight on my annual journey to Holdrege, Nebraska, pop. 5,515.

This will be my 12th time as the Computer Science instructor for their high school "Summer Honors Program," which is now in its 47th year!

Taking a page out of @pluralistic's many books,, this is going to be a Long thread. (Sorry to name drop you, you've just given me so many great ideas!)

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#GiftedEducation #Nebraska #ComputerScience #SummerHonorsProgram #HighSchool #SHP #Rural