Mark Suter

Why We Need More Ignite Talks and Less Software Training in High School

“Why do we have to give a speech during a Microsoft Office class?” – Disgruntled Student “Software changes too fast. Let’s learn something you’ll use your whole life, like how to talk about something you care about in a clear, concise way.” – Me. “Enlighten us, but make it quick.” An Ignite talk is exactly […]

Taking Students to Conferences

A teacher friend told me, “Why did you bring students to the conference..that’s where you go to get AWAY from them!” I bit my tongue, but I thought to myself, “Because I LIKE my students, and I want to help them become young professionals.” Isn’t that why we became teachers? To make a difference? Why Take […]

Building a Business in the Classroom Part 4: Traction

For weeks my students and I gathered, asking “Where are the customers? Why aren’t they responding to our advertising?” Some students got frustrated that customers weren’t breaking down the door to give us money. Turns out, this struggle was just what we needed. The Push The more frustrated we got, the more determined we were […]

3 Ways to Teach Computer Science through Game Design

There is more to computer science than programming, I know. So just for fun, let’s see the ways game design meets ALL the CS strands as defined in the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) K-12 Computer Science Standards. Each time I see a standard being met, I’ll shout out in parenthesis one of the below strands. I’m […]

Building a Business in the Classroom Part 3: Grit9 Emerges

We finally have a name, we are “Grit 9 Design”. Grit9 came out of many iterations and consults with trusted peers, former students, colleagues, and other business owners. We even utilized the pros-in-the-classroom services of Nepris, who hooked us up with Colin Dwan, owner of Prologue Games, to help us choose a good name. Why the […]

Learning to Program in Minecraft with turtles

The TL:DR version to start programming with turtles as of October 2016. If you like visual steps, watch this video or this video. Buy/Download plain ol’ Minecraft on minecraft.net Download the free Computercraftedu.com mod (click “I’m a teacher”) Download Minecraft Forge 1.89 or higher (requires a Java runtime environment, which you may already have, but here’s […]

Building a Business in the Classroom Part 2: The Plan

Our entrepreneurial club’s identity is being formed.  We actually are not even a club, we’re an EdCorp, (created by the twitch-inducing minds at Real World Scholars) which is defined as : EdCorp: Education Corporation – a web ­based, student ­run business that operates out of a K-­12 classroom as a way to foster real world skills. As […]

LARP in school, Not Just Gen Con

Call me Jeffery Baker. I’m a coal baron in the United States circa 1874. Along with my good buddy David Montgomery (and real life good friend Steve Isaacs) who owns most of the railroads, are at a wedding reception in Long Island, NY for the wedding reception of Jacob Tyler (TX redneck cattleman) and Paulette […]