Final Blog Post
This year I was in Computer Science II, which was a very
unique experience. I learned a lot about what it means to collaborate in a
group, and the importance of personal discipline. I realized too late that I
had squandered away an excellent learning opportunity. Computer Science II
taught me a lot about writing and design, but not much about code. Because my
group was so good at coding, it was my job to design stories and mechanics for
the games. I had a lot of fun doing this. The classroom definitely had a
creative and open feel to it, but I made the mistake of taking advantage of
that openness and using it to slack off and not learn very much about coding.
One of the reasons that this class was so great was
because of Mr. Stephens (I could have put “you” here, because I know Mr.
Stephens is the only one who reads these blog posts). Mr. Stephens knows what
he is doing with coding, and in AP I saw him use a curriculum and guide a class
to success on the AP test. This year, there was no guidance, and that worked
out for the majority of students in our CS2 class. Personally, I discovered
that when left to my own devices, I tend to not work as hard as I could. While
the class design was great and laid back, for people like me (who are susceptible
to bouts of laziness) the class did not teach me as much as it could have. The
fault is entirely mine. I did have a blast writing plot and talking with my
group about code though, and experienced what it is like to work in a group
with people that have different specialties (G did art, D did game code, A made
cool effects, I wrote the plot and game concepts).
To improve on the class, I think that the students should
at least have an option to have a curriculum taught to them. If Mr. Stephens
sees students “pulling a Frank” (you can use that if you want to) then he has
the right as a teacher to have those kids learn a language or complete labs. It
is a class, after all. The class is a great start to what could be one of the
most creative and individual classes at LASA, but at the moment there’s a lot
of room for fooling around. I took advantage of that and regret it immensely. I’m
not saying I left the class with no additional knowledge, because I did learn
some material in personal study, but I could have learned a lot more.
Thanks for a great year!
Frank F
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