Teaching and Doing
3 min read
He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches. Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw
I’ll never forget the first time someone said that to me(1). It wasn’t directed at me—just a casual observation about teaching. But it made me so angry.
And confused. My best teachers had always been doers. My cello teachers played. My cross country coach ran. My best high school teachers were clearly engaged with their subject—whether that was English or mathematics. My favorite computer science professor built real software. So did my doctoral adviser. (It helps to study computer systems.)
As I began teaching, I kept doing. Doing computing supports many of the ways that my students learn computing, while deepening my own connection with the material. I can help students through development frustration because I experience development frustration. I can help students make design decisions because I make design decisions. I can help students see the potential of computing because I see the potential of computing. I tell students that doing computing is the most powerful way to change the world. Of course I’m doing it.
It took me a while to realize that this was unusual. Part of me probably didn’t want to believe it. But there’s more truth to that ugly saying than I was willing to admit. Most educators don’t do computing effectively. Most computing educators don’t do computing effectively. I’m not sure if they can or not—that’s harder to know. But they don’t. Draw your own conclusions.
Some attitudes displayed by computing educators towards computing practice reflect this tension. Doing isn’t connected to teaching (denial). Teaching is more than mere doing (disdain). Doing might make you worse at teaching (threat). I now realize that I internalized these messages, making it hard for me to accept the value of my approach and recognize the meaningful connections between my own teaching and doing. Students seem to view the disconnect between teaching and doing as normal. The fact that I both teach and do has always seemed to bewilder them.
It’s true that teaching and doing compete for time and energy. Truly great doers probably don’t have the bandwidth to teach well. And doers also need to learn about teaching. But it’s hard to see how you can be a truly great teacher without doing. You may not want to study cello with Yo-Yo Ma. But you want to study cello with a cellist who loves to play. And people who love to do will find time to do.
Generative AI represents a new opportunity to build connections between doing and teaching computing. Building educational tools used to feel like crawling over broken glass. You needed both a vision and a high tolerance for pain—and maybe an INTJ personality type.
No longer. So many of the barriers that discouraged teachers from doing computing are gone. Whether it’s new materials, interactive visualizations, structured group activities, automated feedback, personalized practice problems, worked examples, or assessment tools, using technology to support student learning has never been easier or more exciting. If you have ideas, there’s never been a better time to be an educator. If you’re teaching computing, there’s never been a better time to be doing computing. If you’re teaching anything, there’s never been a better time to be doing computing.