I saw three keynotes, I also went to three Birds of a Feather sessions (BOFS). Three was possible as SIGCSE added a third "flock" this year. I didn't take notes since BOFS should be pretty interactive so I won't be able to give too much in terms of content summaries bu hopefully I'll be able to convey the gist of what went on. Two of the BOFS I attended were good, the third was, if I'm to be honest, pretty awful.

I wrote about the first keynote in my day 1 post. Today I'll talk about two more. There were two additional keynotes during luncheons but I didn't attend those. First up was Jane Plane titled "Find Your Drop and Add to the River." Strong keynote but it spoke to me in a very different way than the first keynote. The first keynote was maybe the first talk I've heard by someone thought of as an education expert who actually spoke the measured truth rather than eduspeak propaganda.

We stayed an extra day in Portland to do some site seeing. I'll write about the tourist side in my final SIGCSE2024 post. Right now, we're back in the hotel resting before dinner so I thought I'd start the next part of my SIGCSE2024 report. For Day one's first session, I attended Colleen Lewis's Microteaching session. I've wrote about this session last year and also about Colleen's recent appearance on the CSEd podcast where she discussed manipulatives.

Last time I was in Portland Oregon was March 2020. Came in for SIGCSE - the big CS Education conference. Got in a couple of days early, played tourist, and then morning of, everything was canceled. Flew back to NYC on a near empty jet and Covid became very, very real. March 2024 and I'm back in Portland and SIGCSE's giving it another go. This time I came out with my daughter Batya who's developed an interest in CS education and my wife Devorah who's been playing tourist while we've been conferencing.

I saw a few days ago that Yale was reinstating the SAT. They're joining Dartmouth and Brown of the Ivies as well as MIT. I have no idea what percent of applicants, let alone percent those receiving offers, took the exam anyway for other school applications. Some of my friends thought this was great - a return to standards!!!! Others felt it was a regressive move and it will hurt diversity and equity.

As I mentioned in my CS-Ed Podcast post, yesterday was a washout. Seriously scary storms. We ended up spending the entire day in the hotel but was able to get to Middleton Place for dinner. The original plan was to do the entire plantation during the afternoon but that was a no go. Instead we got there a little before our reservation time which did let us wander the grounds a little before heading in to the restaurant.

It's our third day in Charleston and we're stuck in our hotel. Stormy rains and strong winds and a coastal flood alert telling everyone to stay home. Our car is in the parking lot with water halfway up the wheels. We had tickets to go to the International African American Museum this morning but got an email saying they won't be open until the afternoon and that our tickets would automatically be refunded.

We started day 2 with a walking tour. We've been using Free Tours by Foot or similar services. No fee or a small reservation fee up front and then pay what you want at the end. We generally haven't been disappointed and also generally end up tipping voluntarily about the same amount as what we'd pay for a pay up front tour. We walked around downtown getting more local and US history and learning about the city.

Depending how you looked at things, I started my retirement this past Fall. Part of the plan was for Devorah and I to travel a bit more - something we rarely got to do when we were younger. I did have a great trip with Batya to Holland and Belgium but Devorah and I, other than a couple of weekend getaways, weren't able to go anywhere. We planned to finally have a trip in January but I broke a toe.

Saw this earlier as posted on Linkedin by Pat Yongpradit of code.org. According to the article, nine out of ten educators think that students should be taught how AI works prior to graduating from high school. How it works, not just how to use it. This is a good thing. Sure, opinions vary as to when to teach it - elementary, high school, or across the board but still, a good thing.