What do computer science and technology have to do with school counseling? Can counselors really increase diversity in the technology field? After attending the Counselors for Computing program this summer, I say the answer is YES! The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) exists to increase women’s participation in computing by working with K-12, higher education organizations and industry to decrease gaps in diversity. NCWIT reports there is a dire shortage of trained professionals in computer science fields. By 2024 only 45% of computing related jobs will be filled by US graduates completing a computing bachelor’s degree. In 2016, women comprised only 26% of the computing workforce and less than 10% were women of color. While workforce issues should concern us, we should think of this as an equity consideration, too. All young people should have the opportunity to prepare for high-paying and creative careers in tech. Did you know a software engineer at Salesforce, Inc. in Indianapolis stands to make between $86,000 and $128,000 a year? School counselors have a direct influence on students’ postsecondary career and education choices. From kindergarten through 12th grade school counselors encourage students daily to investigate potential careers and academic interests. NCWIT recognizes the role professional school counselors play in decreasing diversity gaps and leverages this human resource by sponsoring the Counselors for Computing program through regional workshops and during July’s Computer Science Professional Development Week (CSPdWeek). I was first introduced to Counselors for Computing by my school’s AP Computer Science teacher. I applied for the summer 2017 CSPdWeek program and was one of 50 counselors who attended the program in Golden, Colorado. My goal was to learn more about achieving better diversity in the tech field and ways to eliminate bias in education. The Counselors for Computing workshop taught me that school counselors can and should get involved in the push for more diversity in STEM and computer science by learning new computer skills. It is necessary for school counselors to reframe the idea that computer science is only for a specific type of person. Counselors must also confront their own biases and lack of confidence in regards to how they present computer science options to their students. After the conference I applied for Pike’s Digital Learning Cadre - a professional development course intended to increase knowledge in integrating technology into education using a variety of tools including Twitter, Canvas and Google Drive. This course has expanded on what I learned at CSPdWeek, I am now creating content on Canvas to push out to 500 students at a time. I encourage all school counselors to take look at the list below. What can you do right now to increase knowledge and pass it on to your students? Just a few ways school counselors can use technology to better assist students: ●Integrate more technology to streamline your day. Read this article if you are looking for a place to start. ●Know what you are talking about...learn to code for yourself. code.org has easy tutorials that are accessible to kids and adults. ●Run an Hour of Code activity during Computer Science Education Week or at any time that is convenient for your school. You don’t even need computers! ●Support an after school club related to technology or computer science (Girls Who Code, CoderDojo, FIRST Robotics/FIRST Lego League, AspireIT). ●Make connections with technology companies in your area to have them present at career days, host job shadow opportunities or mentor students. ●Use Twitter to reach more families and students and to interact with other school counselors. Follow the hashtag #scchat to grow your Professional Learning Community. ●Increase diversity in computer science by ADVOCATING for equal access to computer science curriculum for all students. ●Nominate a high school girl for the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing award. You can also encourage a colleague or apply yourself for the Educator Award Today's thoughts come to us from Ms. Jamila Nassar. Jamila is a school counselor at Pike High School. She has been a school counselor for 10 years. Jamila embraces using technology in the workplace and is the faculty advisor for Girls Who Code and the school’s robotics team - the Pike RoboDevils.
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As I write this, I’m getting ready for the holiday season and wishing for more time! More time to catch up on grading, more time to plan engaging lessons, more time to spend with my family, more time to get Christmas shopping done, more time to write this blog, more time for….etc. You name it, I wish I had more time for it! Don’t we all? So when I was asked to write this blog (which was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago), I’m just thinking of how efficient I really am with my time. As a mom of 3 and with a husband who travels a lot for work, I don’t have a lot of time to spare when it comes to my profession/passion/career of teaching. SO, when I have to go to a PLC almost every Monday afternoon and am told to “work on preparing your midterm exams” (which later becomes “work on preparing your final exams”) for an hour, I tend to get a little aggravated. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the people I get to work with in my PLC (they are like family to me), but even they get annoyed with the task(s) we are given to do every Monday afternoon. So many times we find ourselves “beating a dead horse” for 5 minutes and then we just “shoot the breeze” for the next 55 minutes until FINALLY the clock says 3:30 and we can officially leave. I wish there was something more that we could do to be more productive and worth our time. After reading the book, “Ditch That Textbook”, I’ve been picturing this BETTER PLC idea in my head and how we, as teachers, could spend our time more wisely to enhance our students learning. I’m wishing/hoping/begging for the day when our administrators say to us, “you are professionals, use your one hour of PLC time and work on your canvas page, create a new Quizlet activity, play around with Padlet, figure out how to incorporate smore.com into a lesson…and so on”. How I just wish I had the one hour of time to myself, in my classroom, using all my resources to potentially make my life easier and my student’s learning more of their own. I don’t want the time for grading papers or doing some mundane task, but the chance to really explore, on my own, new possibilities for my students. So, why can’t we have this fantasy PLC? When will the time come when we can spend the time doing something more productive for our classes and our students? If it’s a problem of keeping teachers accountable, then I think we can fix this problem quickly and easily. I think we can help to keep teachers accountable for this sacred PLC time/one hour on Mondays, by using some of these newer tools and websites that we could/should be using in our own classrooms. I think it would be super easy for every department chair to create a Padlet, Canvas page, Google form, or something, that teachers would have to get on and just say what they worked on that day. For example, “Today I spent my one hour creating a new activity for my classes to use Canva to create a flyer that someone in Europe might have seen back in the early 1900’s to entice someone to migrate to the USA,” OR maybe it’s “I spent my one hour fixing my Canvas page and making it easier for my students to navigate,” OR maybe it’s “I spent my one hour to create a new assessment of how Osmosis works by having students use Smore.com”! Whatever it might be, I think it’s time for us teachers to be allowed to be “Professionals” and use our own time wisely and efficient. Heck, what do we have to lose? It’s only one hour a week that we will never get back! Let’s make it the best and the most efficient hour of our week! Today's thoughts come to us from Ms. Mary Sims. Mary is in her 13th year as a high school Social Studies teacher, mostly teaching Economics. She has a husband of 13 years who she met in preschool and 3 fun, crazy, smart children, Anna, Nate, and Will. |
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