Saturday, May 26, 2012

Final Blog Post


It has been a year. And recounting a year takes a while (much longer than a page and the hour in which I have left to write this), so I will attempt to do justice to the impact your class has had on me. In Sci-Tech, Mr. Pace told us that his class would change our lives. It didn't. I don't know if Comp Sci changed my life (that sounds too philosophical), but I am really glad I took it and know I would miss the experiences it gave me if I hadn't. Incidentally, on the AP survey questions before every exam, Comp Sci was the only one that I said had a profound impact on my decision in what to major. I do not want to major in Comp Sci. But that's okay, because it is a very good thing to do hard and unknown things and I am glad I pushed my boundaries into practical education. That said, I think I'm gonna stay on the liberal arts side from now on. Throughout the whole year you mentioned that the farther we got along, the easier the things at the beginning would seem. I think that is true. Sorting and searching seems difficult and “Hello World” seems elementary. It seems silly to think at one point I had trouble writing that simple 3 line piece of code. In any case, I have come a long way since then and I'm happy to have made the journey. It was difficult, humbling and educational, so I think I can safely say I learned the most from your class out of all my classes this year (though perhaps not enough to get a 4 on the AP).

I don't know what you could have done better as a teacher. I am no expert on Computer Science and can't advise you on what topics to cover more; my only experience comes from the AP. I think we were all very prepared for the multiple choice. Worksheets, quizzes and tests drilled those questions into our heads. Keep up the good work, it helps. As for free response, apparently most other people liked it on the AP, but I didn't. I would request you do more free response on paper throughout the year, and cut people off from their partners earlier. Maybe let them use the powerpoints more instead. I think that would have helped me.
You should definitely give people more work. Because I didn't do a lot of the work the first semester and kind of skated by. I don't know how hard a class AP Comp Sci is supposed to be, but if it prepares most people for the AP, then I guess it succeeds regardless of difficulty. That said, I know if I really cared and didn't waste time or stare blankly at the screen, I would have achieved much more. The people who actually understand the material get it done in a fraction of the time it takes us stragglers. I don't know if the stragglers should be so accommodated for...I certainly feel that in my case my inability to get work done was a lack of effort in learning it. If someone can learn it in a second and it takes me a day then I ought to spend the day. Of course, a lot of people will just take the zero (including myself in practice more often than not...) I don't actually know what I am trying to suggest exactly, but maybe you could give weekly multiple choice packets for homework or something, I don't know. Just make the class harder to keep people like me from thinking it won't require effort.

On a nicer note, I really enjoyed having you as a teacher. I enjoyed talking to you after tutoring and I think you are a really chill guy. And thanks for letting me borrow the X-Box controllers, I am gonna get those (with the ethernet cord) back to you on Tuesday. Maybe I will have already if you don't read this this weekend.

So yeah, thank you Mr. Stephens. Thank you for being a nurturing teacher, thank you for trying time and time again to shove Java into my stubborn brain, and thank you for being a nice guy. When people ask me if they should take Computer Science I tell them that if they are good at Comp Sci they ought to take it because it will be easy. Then I tell them that if they are bad at Comp Sci they should take it anyway because it will make them a better person and they can't do too badly because Mr. Stephens is really chill. I hope you get cursed with an endless string of people like me for as long as you teach here as your reputation of chillness permeates throughout the congregations of liberal arts students. And I do hope you teach here for a while longer because I do plan to come back and visit.

Thanks for a great year. Take care, Mr. Stephens.

Post before the final blog post

I understand Jeroo.  This is like the one thing I have understood this entire year, and it took me until the end of the year to get it.  Maybe getting 4 maps done isnt that big a deal because the last 3 are pretty much the same as the 1st one just slightly different.  Still though, I understood how to arrange the if statements to get the desired result and really enjoyed troubleshooting the program.  And seeing it work, that was nice too.  Jeroo was really fun and I kind of wished we had done it earlier in the year, but you know, that isnt on the AP syllabus.  Still, this has been one of the only things I have understood with confidence, as well as one of the only things I have had fun with, throughout the entire year, so I am very glad we didn't just party after the AP.  That quiz was fun, you were right.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Processing

I really like processing.  A lot.  I don't know if I would prefer to have started with processing and then worked up to java, but processing seems much simpler.  A lot of that might be that having learned java makes processing look easy, but I still think processing might provide a less steep learning curve.  For me, at least.  That said, I know that success on the AP is the end goal of this course and processing probably doesn't further that goal.  That is why we start processing at the end, and not at the beginning.  That makes sense.  But I am actually reasonably enjoying myself using processing.  This might be because the goal for processing is whatever I want it to be, as opposed to being set by you.  Still, it's fun, and I am kind of happy to actually be doing work after the AP instead of just screwing around (like in my other classes).  I didn't think I could get tired of playing Medieval II Total War so quickly, but I did.  School just makes fun things less fun. Have you noticed that?  My friends and I comment pretty frequently on the fact that a book assigned by an English teacher becomes far less interesting than if we had chosen to read it ourselves.  Not that I really choose to read books on my own time anymore.  I would love to, but video games, movies and the internet have destroyed my attention span.  Plus between playing video games, school, sleep, homework, naps, eating and power naps, I just don't have enough time for reading any more.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

More Blog Post

The AP is next week.  I am certainly a lot more prepared than I was at the beginning of the year, and the review is helping a lot, but I still don't feel prepared.  I like having done some practice free response, and I have more yet to do, but I'm still pretty worried about having everything syntactically correct.

I haven't been doing well on multiple choice as of late, but I think review has been helping with that.  Since they don't subtract points for wrong answers, I ought to be able to do alright.  You seem to have a lot of faith that everyone will do fine.  If I make a 3 I will be pretty happy I think.  I really need a 4 though.  A 2 would make me sad though.  I might actually miss this class.  I have learned a lot, work hard (hardly worked?) and I'll be sad to see it over.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

New Post

AP review is really nice, especially because I am getting a lot of the questions right and really understanding the things we did first semester.  The only issue is that I am no longer getting work done after school, meaning my grades are going to be really bad.  Unless I actually do the work in class.  I should do that.  Still, I think I can do alright on the AP if I keep coming in to review.  I really feel like I have learned a lot from this class, and I am happy to know I am not the only one struggling.  I do seem to be the only one struggling who signed up for the AP though...

The free response questions we have done recently haven't been too bad though, I actually liked doing them because it gave me a chance to better my abilities at answering the questions.  I kinda feel like I can maybe answer free response questions now!  Hooray!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

AP Review Sessions

We should definitely have lots of AP review sessions because I need them.  I can't believe the test is so close.  The year has passed so quickly, it's scary to think that the AP is just a month away.  But I feel like this in all my classes.  I am so glad I am only taking 3 APs next year. 
Yup.  It's almost over.  The final stretch.  Yay.  I think.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Tests

I wasn't so sure about recursion, but after figuring out the worksheets, I feel pretty prepared for the quiz.  It certainly isn't that bad.  It just looks confusing at first blush.  In any case, I think I will do well this 6 weeks, assuming my current grade isn't cast down by my poor performance on next week's test.  Then again, I might do really well.  To be honest, if I were to do well on any test, it would be this one, as I have really pushed myself this 6 weeks, I think.  Some good studying will help me succeed, I am sure.  This should give me (barely) an 80 for the semester and not have to take the final.  Yay!