Tess Ramsey (they/them) is a new media artist, technologist, and educator based in New York City. They run a makerspace and teach creative and computational thinking classes to students in grades 5–8 at the Speyer Legacy School. In addition to teaching technical skills of design, engineering, and computer science, they help students develop a “maker mindset” by celebrating creative agency, collaboration, problem solving, and resiliency. Before becoming a teacher, Tess received their BFA in sculpture from the Tyler School of Art, where they focused on promoting gender equality through performance art, interactive installations, and community workshops. In their free time, they love to knit and search for rare vintage virtual pets to add to their ever growing collection.
Tess tries to meet students where they’re at, recognizing that nothing impedes learning like the feeling that you’ve already fallen behind. When creating their lesson plans, they make sure to lower the barrier to entry for students who may be new to CS, or may not see a place for themselves in tech. They provide pre-assessments at the start of each project to establish a baseline to measure the specific growth and subject mastery of each student, inspired by the mindset and diverse assessment tools in Maker Ed’s Beyond Rubrics Toolkit. “Anyone can feel empowered to gain a new skill,” says Tess, “regardless of what they think their aptitude or ambitions may be.”
Tess also created a web app called Take Some Time to support their neurodivergent students and/or students with disabilities. The app encourages students to clear their minds, stop engaging in negative self-talk, avoid behaviors that disrupt class, and regain their focus through one of several mindfulness activities, including digital doodling, writing a letter, or doing timed breathing. Rather than letting neurodivergence become an impediment to learning, Tess encourages students to develop strategies that build their resilience.
When designing lessons, Tess takes special care to make tech feel concrete, to help students understand how CS, design, and engineering can improve their lives and the world around them. One of Tess’s most popular units—among students of all genders—focuses on electronic textiles and disrupts the gendered stereotypes connected with textile crafts and coding. In this unit, students create an e-textile “mixtape” bracelet that lets students play their favorite songs via a sewable buzzer. In another lesson, students consider the toy aisles at their favorite stores, analyze the identities that are and aren’t represented in such spaces, and consider the gender segregation of toys for girls versus boys. Then they design a collection of custom-made action figures that reflect their own identities or the role models they admire.
At a previous school, Tess and their students created a student-run gift shop called Gifts for Good, using laser cutters and 3D printers to create products for the shop. They collaborated with a second-grade teacher to raise funds for a local food pantry, raising over $1000 to donate to the pantry. The following year, they partnered with a different organization to raise money to support a public park. Tess says proudly, “This project showed students how to use technology to create positive change in the world.” Although Tess has moved to a new school, the Gifts for Good project continues.
As a teacher who prioritizes community-building within their classroom, and who learns so much from their own colleagues, Tess is excited to join the community of CSTA Equity Fellows. The fellowship will offer them a space for collaboration and shared inspiration that stretches past their own school to have an impact on a much wider audience of CS educators. “I hope to put my leadership skills into action and inspire other teachers to make meaningful impacts for their students and beyond,” says Tess.
In their time as a fellow, Tess loves the idea of putting together research and resources on some of the pioneering creators of generative art, such as the Hungarian artist Vera Molnár. They would also like to explore strategies to make tech freshly visible to a student population that’s never known a world without computers or smartphones. In addition, they would like to encourage technology teachers to share their hardware and tech project kits with each other to increase access to technology for schools in need. Of their goals as an educator and a CSTA Fellow, Tess says, “I want my students to think critically about the socio-technical systems in their lives, fearlessly express themselves, create with confidence, and respect their peers.”