Resources for Teaching C to High School Students?

mctk asks: "I'm a high school teacher who, disappointed with the lack of computer science in school, has promised to teach a few motivated students programming after school. As an enthusiastic novice with three semesters of C under my belt and a few side projects worth of experience, I feel competent yet ignorant. I would really appreciate suggestions for resources on C that are written to be accessible to high school students and contain lots of ideas for activities. Perhaps you've had success with a series of books that spans beginner to advanced? Do you have any activities you would recommend? How would you map a student's first year of coding? I welcome any and all suggestions. While we're on the subject, is there a brace style that is most standard in the industry?"

You need more...

[ForestGrump]

You need more of 3 things.
1. Funding to buy letters.
2. A better lesson plan so you can aim for something higher than a class of C students.
3. A tech savvy room of students.

1. For a class of 30, I would suggest 10 As, 20 Bs, 10 Cs, 5 Ds and 2 Fs. Yes, it doesn't add up to 30, but you should give mostly As and Bs, a couple Cs for those seniors who just want something, anything to take and pass while they transition from HS to college, and the D/Fs are for those who are truly slackers and just don't even give you the half effort.

2. Sorry, I hate to shoot down others, but you seriously want a class of C students? I'm sure administration wouldn't be too happy with that.

3. I hate to lay it to you, but I've seen average college students have a hard time dealing with scripting, and teaching programming is thinking differently to a higher level. You said you want to teach a few motivated students, yet you need to be open to everyone who enrolls. I would suggest you have lower and upper level classes. Lower level will teach the basics of how a computer thinks, and how to write a basic program. Those in the upper level, is more independent study and you're there as their troubleshooter, adviser, and teacher for when they need new concepts and get stuck. And while you're at it, make writing a short paper (maybe 300-1000 words) on the project they did. It's good for them to learn documentation, communication and know you're boss.

Ok, 1 and 2 were a joke, but 3 was serious. If anyone is upset, laugh. it's meant to enlighten your day. god its 3am, and i have a final in 5 hours and i'm only 50% prepared.

Grump.

I share your sentiment

[A beautiful mind]

For example, did you know that 99.99% of high school students can't read Perl? [bbspot.com]. Shameful, shameful.

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