Owen Astrachan
Professor of the Practice
Duke
Durham, NC USA
Duke
Durham, NC USA
Professor of the Practice
I work to change what computer science education means.
I get to my office and go through email to see if there are any "must answer now" messages. I look particularly for email from students who might need a quick response. I make sure I connect to anyone I haven't met before, so that unsolicited email from people is answered more quickly than email from those down the hall. I think about what I'll be teaching in my next class and whether I have to develop anything for that. I make sure I have room to read new stuff online.
Here's the first step for high school students
Push yourself to go further than you think you can. Value reading and do that widely, don't think that what you're doing now makes a difference in terms of what you study --- but how you study and what you do outside of school makes a huge difference. Get better at talking in groups, pay attention to what those around you are doing and saying.
"You are capable of much more than you're doing now, you can do more."