quisquous · December 14, 2015 23:39 · Lyla-Fischer · Mar 16, 2013 · quisquous · Mar 26, 2013
diff --git a/gistfile1.txt b/gistfile1.txt
 How not to be scary (when introducing programming)

 A transcribed lightning talk given by Lyla Fischer at the PyCon 2013 Education Summit


 What are people scared of?  The main thing that people are scared of is that
 they don't belong.  The rest of my talk is mainly going to center on this one
 point.

 I'm going to let you take 15 seconds to think of stereotypes of programmers.
 If you have a new programmer walking into a meetup or user group, what kind of
 programmer do they think that they will have to be?

 <pause>

 If I were a good teacher and had more time, the question I just asked would
 have been a group discussion and I would have waited for somebody to say that
 this new programmer thinks that they have to be a genius.  That's one of the
 biggest stereotypes that you as a meetup leader has to overcome. There are a
 lot of other stereotypes that especially affect how minorities feel themselves
 fitting into a programming environment, but the most important of these
 stereotypes is a fear of not being smart enough.  There is this expectation
 that you have to be super duper smart, and many newbies are just trying as hard
 as they can not to break the machine.

 First off, I want to give a quick warning about competitions. There, the
 biggest fear is of coming in last, or almost last. If you have 60% of the folks
 in your room worrying that they are the stupidest person in the room, and that
 everyone else is going to find out, that is no good.  So, stay away from
 competitions.

 More commonly, folks are afraid of asking stupid questions.  There are lots of
 stupid questions, especially for newbies talking to an experienced programmer.
 I'm not talking about mistaking CD trays for cupholders here - most people have
 used computers and GUIs.  I'm talking about fundamental things like how to
 navigate a file system, what a terminal is, or what a text file is.  These are
 the questions that make some experienced programmers shake their head and sigh.
 The moment you let that kind of expression onto your face is the moment that
 you lose your audience.  That is the moment when you confirm student fears that
 they're stupid.

 One of the ways you (as a teacher) can know you're on the right track is if
 your students ask "stupid" questions.  You can pat yourself on the back.  If
 students feel safe asking you what a terminal is, then you've succeeded in
 creating a space where they feel comfortable exposing what they don't know. You
 should consider a stupid question one of the greatest triumphs of your teaching
 experience!

 Another thing to stay on watch for is the blank stare.  The blank stare is
 someone implicitly saying with their face: "I don't want to reveal what I'm
 thinking about".  Most of the time, that means "I don't know." or "I don't
 care." Occasionally, it's "I did this 5 years ago and am too smart for this."
 but that's really rare in practice. If your students DON'T feel comfortable
 showing confusion on their face, then you have a problem, and you should pause
 to address it.

 Teachers should also be scared of the leading question. A lot of instructors
 try to get feedback from students by getting students to say something that is
 true. That is generally a good strategy, but if the answer is ridiculously
 obvious by the way you ask it, you won't get real information about whether the
 students understand what's going on.  If you ask them, "Should I put this in a
 text file?" That's a leading question with a yes or no answer, and it's pretty
 clear that what you're looking for is a "yes."

 Making sure that students don't feel stupid is a very intuitive skill.  It's
 about reading faces.  It's about thinking about what kind of questions to ask
 in order to get good facial expressions and verbal feedback.  The best kind of
 situation is one in which students are comfortable asking questions.  But most
 importantly - don't ever sigh at a question, because that is going to shut
 everything down and you will lose your students forever.
	How not to be scary (when introducing programming)

	A transcribed lightning talk given by Lyla Fischer at the PyCon 2013 Education Summit


	What are people scared of? The main thing that people are scared of is that
	they don't belong. The rest of my talk is mainly going to center on this one
	point.

	I'm going to let you take 15 seconds to think of stereotypes of programmers.
	If you have a new programmer walking into a meetup or user group, what kind of
	programmer do they think that they will have to be?

	<pause>

	If I were a good teacher and had more time, the question I just asked would
	have been a group discussion and I would have waited for somebody to say that
	this new programmer thinks that they have to be a genius. That's one of the
	biggest stereotypes that you as a meetup leader has to overcome. There are a
	lot of other stereotypes that especially affect how minorities feel themselves
	fitting into a programming environment, but the most important of these
	stereotypes is a fear of not being smart enough. There is this expectation
	that you have to be super duper smart, and many newbies are just trying as hard
	as they can not to break the machine.

	First off, I want to give a quick warning about competitions. There, the
	biggest fear is of coming in last, or almost last. If you have 60% of the folks
	in your room worrying that they are the stupidest person in the room, and that
	everyone else is going to find out, that is no good. So, stay away from
	competitions.

	More commonly, folks are afraid of asking stupid questions. There are lots of
	stupid questions, especially for newbies talking to an experienced programmer.
	I'm not talking about mistaking CD trays for cupholders here - most people have
	used computers and GUIs. I'm talking about fundamental things like how to
	navigate a file system, what a terminal is, or what a text file is. These are
	the questions that make some experienced programmers shake their head and sigh.
	The moment you let that kind of expression onto your face is the moment that
	you lose your audience. That is the moment when you confirm student fears that
	they're stupid.

	One of the ways you (as a teacher) can know you're on the right track is if
	your students ask "stupid" questions. You can pat yourself on the back. If
	students feel safe asking you what a terminal is, then you've succeeded in
	creating a space where they feel comfortable exposing what they don't know. You
	should consider a stupid question one of the greatest triumphs of your teaching
	experience!

	Another thing to stay on watch for is the blank stare. The blank stare is
	someone implicitly saying with their face: "I don't want to reveal what I'm
	thinking about". Most of the time, that means "I don't know." or "I don't
	care." Occasionally, it's "I did this 5 years ago and am too smart for this."
	but that's really rare in practice. If your students DON'T feel comfortable
	showing confusion on their face, then you have a problem, and you should pause
	to address it.

	Teachers should also be scared of the leading question. A lot of instructors
	try to get feedback from students by getting students to say something that is
	true. That is generally a good strategy, but if the answer is ridiculously
	obvious by the way you ask it, you won't get real information about whether the
	students understand what's going on. If you ask them, "Should I put this in a
	text file?" That's a leading question with a yes or no answer, and it's pretty
	clear that what you're looking for is a "yes."

	Making sure that students don't feel stupid is a very intuitive skill. It's
	about reading faces. It's about thinking about what kind of questions to ask
	in order to get good facial expressions and verbal feedback. The best kind of
	situation is one in which students are comfortable asking questions. But most
	importantly - don't ever sigh at a question, because that is going to shut
	everything down and you will lose your students forever.