Teacher of the Month — Memorial Teacher Honored for Expanding Computer Science Knowledge – Port Arthur News

Shalequa Landry already holds many titles related to her work as a computer science teacher on the Career and Technical Education Campus of Memorial High School.

On Tuesday she added another.

Landry was busy teaching a lesson in the classroom when a few people walked in with the news that he had been named Teacher of the Month sponsored by Philpot Motors.The designation included a $500 gift card. is attached.

Teaching computer science to students brings joy to educators.

Landry said one of her goals when she first came to Memorial after teaching middle school was to start teaching computer science classes.

When she started working with her students, she found that their first task was vocabulary. They were immediately excited because they were actually about to start working on the coding.

“I started researching, I attended webinars, I joined neighborhood cohorts in Houston, and they were talking about[advanced placement]classes,” says Landry.

So Landry was joined by one of the school counselors and an extra course was added.

Shalequa Landry holds a sign showing her new honor as Teacher of the Month. (Mary Moe/News)

“When I started recruiting, I thought about diversity,” she said. “Most men are enrolled,” she thought. How can I get women to enroll in this class?” So every year I stop and ask, “Hey, what are you interested in doing in the near future?” Oh, computer science engineering? Well, you should check my class. What is your name and what is your student ID? ”

That’s why she started recruiting more women to her AP computer science classes.

Earlier this year, Landry received the College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award in recognition of the high proportion of women in the AP Computer Science Principles.

AP Computer Science Women’s Diversity Award-winning teachers and schools expand girls’ access to AP Computer Science courses.

More than 1,100 institutions have achieved 50% or more female representation in any of the two AP computer science courses in the 2021-22 school year, or the percentage of female computer science test takers is in line with the school’s female population. was equal or better.

Her students already know the basics and are working on projects such as designing their dream home.

Students’ work is proudly displayed in the hall outside the classroom for all to see. They come to class with their ideas and bring joy and excitement to the laundry.

“Most of them don’t have this at home or have access to some of these resources because we are financially disadvantaged. “It just brings us the joy of being able to give back to them,” she said.

There are also 3D modeling and animation classes where students learn to draw designs from scratch.

“When we first started the class, we took images from the Internet. But even here, they did it from scratch,” she said. I learned how to add all the diagrams of the room and its architecture.

Adrienne Lott, media and communications specialist for the Port Arthur Independent School District, said the award is like a perfect circle for her.

“MS. Landry graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1992 and returned to Port Arthur ISD to teach our children, some of whom may be the children of her classmates.” Lott said. “It’s special to have her come back and give back to the school district where she grew up and was educated. She’s now educating others in the same school district.”

Landry, along with Candice Hemert, sales consultant for the Port Arthur News, was presented with the Teacher of the Month award by Philpott Motors general manager Darling Ranger. They were joined by Lott and Vice Principal Trent Johnson.