I've been teaching high school computer science since the fall of 1997, and it one day occurred to me that I should try to teach some social skills to my students. Thus, in September of 2005, the "Don't Be Creepy" lecture was born. Since that first fateful presentation, I've given versions of it at schools and universities and for crowds large and small.
If you'd like to have me speak at your location, just contact me.
If you're just stumbling across this site from a link someone gave you, then you probably want this slide deck (PDF, 1.25MB). Otherwise, information and slides from past and future talks are below.
I used to be fairly... let's say "socially unaware". I eventually learned enough social skills to be comfortable in polite society despite my deeply engineer's brain. This talk is about apologetically explaining how my brain works so you can be better equipped to interact with others like me who aren't as far along in their journey.
I used to be fairly... let's say "socially unaware". I eventually learned enough social skills to be comfortable in polite society despite my deeply engineer's brain. This talk is about apologetically explaining how my brain works so you can be better equipped to interact with others like me who aren't as far along in their journey.
How I prepared a generation of students to be successful in Computer Science.
How I prepared a generation of students to be successful in Computer Science.
How I prepared a generation of students to be successful in Computer Science.
The talk that started it all!
Do you ever feel like other people just don't get you? Have a hard time understanding why others act the way they do? Learn tips to get inside the head of the socially "typical" and improve your ability to navigate relationships, job interviews, and life in general.
sponsored by WiCS
The talk that started it all! Every year I give this for my students, and this time around seventy-five of them heard it for the first time.
Do you ever feel like other people just don't get you? Have a hard time understanding why others act the way they do? Learn tips to get inside the head of the socially "typical" and improve your ability to navigate relationships, job interviews, and life in general.
Reception following.
You've already been to Why Are My Kids Weird and you understand your weird students, but for some reason what you're trying with them isn't working very well. Why does that kid do so well in other teachers' classes but not yours? This follow-up session will focus less on theory and more on practice, with battle-tested tips from a teacher who has taught mostly weird kids for over a decade!
Do you have really bright kids (especially boys) who are good at school but incredibly clueless when it comes to social skills? Brain theory, social rules, autism and Asperger's help explain why. Learn how to better understand and reach them from a formerly "weird" teacher who learned the hard way!
The talk that started it all! Every year I give this for my students, and this time around one hundred of them heard it for the first time.
A special treat for AP CS teachers on "Toy Night" at the 2010 AP Reading.
sponsored by Facebook and Women in Computer Science (WICS)
A modified version of "Don't Be Creepy" for elementary school students. Can you hold the attention of a hundred ten-year-olds? I can, apparently.
sponsored by ACM, Women in Computer Science and the Turing Scholars
This talk was filmed, but I haven't yet uploaded the 400-megabyte, hour-long recording to Google Video. Bug me about this if you're interested.
Presentations are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.
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©2005–2019 Graham Mitchell
