9-12 Representative

Yolanda Lozano
Teacher, La Cueva High School 
Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Computer Science Alliance 
Albuquerque, New Mexico
 
Why do you want to serve on the CSTA Board and what do you hope to accomplish as a member of the Board? How does this align with current CSTA activities?
 
I want to be part of an organization that is focused and interested in actively participating in change and the advancement of Computer Education. I believe that as a board member I can help reinforce and further the general mission of teacher support, and to provide equity access and opportunity to underserved and underrepresented groups in CS. I have seen the transformation and the increased confidence levels that come from being part of a supportive community. My personal narrative as a Latina from a rural community, single-parent household and low income is beyond this space, however, it bears witness as to why the CSTA equity focus is so crucial in general and so personal to me.
 
What leadership experiences and skills can you contribute to CSTA and its Board? 
 
I have worked with a variety of constituencies in a variety of capacities: managing, writing grant proposals, developing, teaching and facilitating CS content for students and teachers. In addition, I have been networking and developing relationships across nonprofits, NM Department of Education, national labs, curriculum providers, universities and school districts. At my high school I started Cyberpatriots, Robotics and a coding club to include students who might otherwise be marginalized. I am an AP Reader in order to be able to support my students as well as teachers across my district and all of NM. I created a PLC across 13 HIgh schools and worked as its lead with the district to access Perkins funding for CS for the first time; this helped ensure equitable distribution of funding in order to provide access to all. I also worked to get CS for EL CSTA grant work approved in NM by advertising, talking to district and school leaders and teachers. As part of a nonprofit I manage HR, finances and strategic initiatives.( Quantum, AI, Art and CS) I am a CODE.org and a SCRIPT facilitator. Finally, I was in high-tech at software startups for over 15+ years where I developed skills in program management, accounting, systems integration, product marketing, international product rollouts and vendor negotiations.
 
What previous experience do you have with CSTA? 
 
I am President of the CSTA-NM chapter, where I have been an active member for 4 years. We co-sponsors NM PD week, training over 200 teachers each summer and CS Summit in October. Our volunteers support and coordinate registration and recruitment of teachers. I am one of the founding members of the LatinX affinity group- (still in early stages). I have led national-level events for the LatinX community during Latinx heritage week and have facilitated regional meetings for the region in the past. I will be doing a session at CSTA national on advanced computing topics and hope to co-host a bird of a feather for our LatinX community. I supported the CSTA for EL team with district names and supported the participation approval processes to make sure NM is part of the CS for EL project. Finally I am Co-PI on an NSF grant Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in CS project
 
What experiences and perspectives do you bring to supporting equitable participation in computing education?
 
I have always believed in leading through doing, and I have actively sponsored, mentored and supported women, low-income and Latinx students. I try to affect the largest number of students possible: so I mentor teachers and get them access to training and technology at no cost. I strongly believe that exposure to CS through art, music, math, science and Robotics increases our chances of reaching all students. My Robotics team has 10 girls who mentor/ support girls in CS. My coding club brings in girls and marginalized students to a friendly setting to talk about CS-related careers. I work with the librarian, and other teachers to reach the students that are not in a CS class or CS-related club. I am Co-PI on an NSF grant Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in CS project. Finally, I am working as a curriculum reviewer as part of the Kapor Equity Tool project. This project focuses on the development of a tool that can assess and create some external accountability for curriculum providers for the creation of culturally responsive-sustaining CS curricula to better support teachers and student learning.
 
Jose L. Silva-Smith
9-12 Teacher 
Tornillo HS/Tornillo ISD, Tornillo, Texas
 
Why do you want to serve on the CSTA Board and what do you hope to accomplish as a member of the Board? How does this align with current CSTA activities?
 
Being a relatively new Computer Science teacher, CSTA was one of the first teacher organizations that offered me the guidance and support I needed to be successful in the classroom. Through the different professional development sessions, I have been able to connect with people from different places to learn about their programs and share what we are doing in Tornillo for our students. CSTA members have been awesome at making me feel that I belong to this amazing teacher association. I will never forget that, and if given the opportunity to serve on this board of directors, I would like to be able to continue doing the same thing for our current and new members. CSTA does an incredible job of keeping its members updated about the new trends, changes, and best educational practices in CS.
 
What leadership experiences and skills can you contribute to CSTA and its Board?
 
When you serve a small rural learning community like Tornillo, there are several skills you must possess to be successful at any given task: having a growth mindset, a desire to experience discomfort by exploring new learning, and having great communication and social skills. I have been with Tornillo ISD for 25 years and during my time with the district I have taken different leadership roles in the school and in my community. I have served on various school, district, and regional committees for the Bilingual and CTE programs. I was one of the founder board members of the Rural Schools Programs and Scholarship Foundation with State Board of Education Representative Georgina Perez, and I currently serve as our CTE department chair as well as a member of the Transcend Tornillo Design Team.
 
What previous experience do you have with CSTA? 
 
I am a member of our local CSTA Paso Del Norte chapter and I take advantage of every professional development opportunity provided by CSTA because I know the better prepared and informed I am about new developments in the field of Computer Science, the more prepared I will be to share those new trends and practices with my students. For that I am very thankful to CSTA and whenever I can, I donate some of my time to review some of the applications for conference presentations as a small token of appreciation for all the support that CSTA has provided for me and my students. CSTA Paso Del Norte has been and continue to be an incredible support group for me and I can only hope I can somehow pay back all that with my service as a CSTA member of the board of directors.
 
What experiences and perspectives do you bring to supporting equitable participation in computing education?
 
All students can learn, but what is most important is all students deserve the opportunity to learn about Computer Science. As a teacher, I am always challenging students to take one of my classes and be ready to experience something different by applying their creative, critical thinking, and coding skills as they complete the various class projects. I am proud to say that Tornillo HS was one of the recipients of the 2021 College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award. I am a firm believer that all students, when provided with the necessary supports, can be successful in any class. It is my goal to provide my students with the best computer science learning experience so they can seriously consider joining this amazing and fascinating field of computer science as a career.
Debbie Weissmann
Teacher
New Roads School, Santa Monica, California 
 
Why do you want to serve on the CSTA Board and what do you hope to accomplish as a member of the Board? How does this align with current CSTA activities?
 
I believe one path to increasing diversity and promoting equity in CS is to increase the diversity of teachers who teach CS. CSTA has developed its Standards for CS Teachers. Its next step will be to promote the Standards and to support an increasingly diverse cohort of CS teachers  I hope to serve on the CSTA board as the 9-12 grade representative to join the conversations about initiatives and projects, to help guide fiscal responsibility, and to advocate, at the board’s level, the promoting of CSTA’s Standards for CS Teachers to all CSTA chapters, for all grade bands, while maintaining an eye on the particular needs for 9th - 12th grade teachers.  
 
What leadership experiences and skills can you contribute to CSTA and its Board?
 
I have been an active board member for three CSTA chapters (IE, SoCalSoBay, GLA) because I believe the most effective way to support teachers is to provide a space for discussion, camaraderie, and collaboration. I have facilitated board meetings, created MemberNova Bulletins, written and published MemberNova Stories. I have facilitated multi-chapter meetings as well as single chapter meetings. I have allocated time for a by-laws and a budget discussion at each regular board meeting. In addition, I have led a number Professional Development sessions including one for CSTA members. I am also a CodeHS Teacher Trainer. Additionally, I am an ardent advocate for Inclusive Teaching Practices, including Differentiated Instruction methods to meet the needs of every CS learner.
 
What previous experience do you have with CSTA? 
 
I am the founder of the GLA chapter. I have offered numerous Professional Development opportunities including: Cal State University where I have led PD sessions for faculty on best practices of online instruction; K-12 schools where I have led PD sessions for faculty on accessibility, UDL and DI. CodeHS and CSTA where I have led PD sessions for CS teachers on student engagement, getting a quick start to setting up CS courses, strategies for student collaboration, and collaborative debugging strategies.
 
What experiences and perspectives do you bring to supporting equitable participation in computing education?
 
I have a passion for CS, in teaching and continual learning. I believe that anyone with an interest in CS should have the opportunity to learn its skills and concepts, to join attendant conversations. With the CSTA Standards for Teachers as my roadmap, I employ to conical CS teaching methods as well as paradigms from other disciplines to support the learning needs of a diverse student population. As a Quality Assurance Instructor I provide strategies to teachers to help them lower barriers of access (economic, physical abilities, mental abilities) for their learners. My goal in the CSTA community and in my work is to provide intellectual, physical, and technological access to CS skills and concepts to the widest spectrum of students that we can reach.