“Champion of Computer Science ”
by Lawrence Ramos
Names from Left to Right
Efrain Lopez from J. W. Nixon High School (Laredo, TX) Diane Neville from Gulfstream Academy of Hallandale Beach (Hallandale Beach, FL) Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Heather Sutkowski from CREC Montessori Magnet School (Hartford, CT) Lawrence Ramos from Emerson Community Charter Middle School (Los Angeles, CA)
Lawrence Ramos (right) from Emerson Middle School and three other educators from across the US received the Champion of Computer Science - Teacher Innovation Award from the Computer Science Teachers Association and Code.org. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, presented the award and delivered the keynote address at the awarding ceremony in Silicon Valley in December 2017.
I started a coding class at Emerson Middle School as a teacher initiative, as part of our affiliated charter status. When I started in 2015, I had a very limited knowledge of coding, with my experience just limited to what I saw what my elementary students were doing with their technology teacher. I trained with Code.org and implemented the Accelerated Computer Science Course on my first year. The following year, I expanded to Scratch via Google’s Computer Science First curriculum and acquired Chromebooks and Arduino kits through DonorsChoose that helped build more interest among students. This year I implemented Code.org's Computer Science Discoveries and made the environment as our primary content when creating their websites and eventually their apps and games using this platform.
As primarily a special education teacher at this school, my main advocacy is to give as many opportunities for students of all demographics and abilities when it comes to education. When I found out about the homeroom program where I can teach something that interests me and offer this as an option to students picking a homeroom course of their liking, I thought technology would be the best way to reach many students and make it a great investment and use of their time. I made an effort to study and do my own research on teaching coding. I was able to get training through DonorsChoose on two PDs on Bootstrap and the Beauty and Joy of Computing, aside from the 2-day Code.org training.
When I started, I only had a little over 10 students, and mostly boys. It grew to 35 this year, with mostly all demographics represented, e.g., Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Special Education, boys, and girls. Our coding class is one of the most sought-after homeroom course at Emerson and prides itself with students that have gone beyond the courses they learn by enrolling in after-school and summer coding courses. We have a great group of students that take this course very seriously and sparked an interest in pursuing coding further when they grow up. I realized how taking the risk of venturing into the unknown, as long as you have a clear purpose in mind could allow you to accomplish a goal that students benefit a lot from and makes a huge difference in them. They do not only get interested in coding, but they come to school with a lot of excitement, having identified a purpose and a goal that could give them a lifetime of benefits.
Champion of Computer Science - Teacher Innovation Award
Lawrence Ramos was awarded the 2017 Champion of Computer Science - Teacher Innovation Award by the Computer Science Teachers Association and Code.org. He was selected from almost 1,000 nominations, and the judges were particularly impressed with his work in building equity and access to Computer Science. He was a special education teacher at Emerson Middle School and is currently an Assistive Technology Assessor with the Division of Special Education. He started as an exchange teacher from the Philippines and has taught in elementary special education programs for students with Autism and Specific Learning Disability, teaching in both LA's inner city and beach city schools. He has participated in national teacher science academies, namely the Exxon Mobil-Mickelson Science Teachers Academy in New Jersey, Space Camp for Teachers in Huntsville, Alabama, and most recently, the Earth Echo Expeditions. This is all because of his interest in the sciences, having majored in medical technology, and was preparing to go to medical school before he got an invitation to teach in an exclusive school for boys in the southern part of Manila. The rest is history as to how he ended up in the business of educating our children. He continues to teach STEM as a Coding teacher at Emerson, as he tries to bring coding to all demographics and make coders out of students of all abilities, instilling in them the knowledge and the consequent passion. This year, he aims to focus all his class' coding projects in creating awareness of environmental issues and in challenging his students to propose solutions through websites, games, and apps. As a special education teacher, his aim is to create opportunities for students with special needs and give them access to all curricular requirements by developing their self-advocacy, socio-emotional, and executive functioning skills.