My students are my motivation. Our campus is located in south Texas in one of the lowest socio-economic cities where the unemployment rate is higher than the national average.
These students understand the importance of hard work, dedication, and the value of a world-class education.
Most of these students do not have access to a computer other than at school or at their local library. I‘ve had the privilege to work with these amazing students day after day. These students have pushed me to become a better teacher every year.
My students are excited knowing they will have the opportunity to take Computer Science classes this upcoming school year. I want them to look forward to going to school and taking my class.
In order to get the excitement going, I was able to encourage them to attend a 4-week summer school boot camp. I was able to introduce them to the Computer Science way of thinking using collaborative projects and class discussions. Needless to say, I’m also excited for this upcoming year!
This project will cover the cost of a computer science professional development class and a stipend. This class will allow me to acquire and lay the groundwork for encouraging a growth mindset in our students to major in Computer Science. Not surprisingly, there is a growing demand to provide computer science courses to high school students.
This gap between the desire for computer science classes and the availability of prepared teachers exists across the country.
Often these students do not have the preparation or encouragement to succeed in college-level work. We face many challenges. Students who want to major in computer science are not well-prepared to do so because they do not have the computational thinking or mathematical preparation to succeed in college.
I want to change that at my school. I want to prepare myself this fall through the help of the professional development class provided by “Beauty and Joy of Computing”.
With your help, I will be able to learn and teach the knowledge acquired to my students. I will prepare them not only for the AP Computer Science Principles Exam, but also to be able to have the computational thinking and mathematical preparation needed to succeed in college. Thanks for coordinating this event, CSTA.