The Presidential Award is for me a high recognition for my long-standing teaching career. It's an award that extends to my students, from whom I learn everyday; to my co-workers, who collaborate as a team; and to the institution for which I work for their support. It reaffirms that my passion for teaching has its merits and encourages me to continue improving by accepting new challenges and aspiring to new goals that inspire my students to never stop learning. To teach is to touch lives forever.

Audha Ramírez San Juan, PR | K-6, Mathematics, 2020

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Audha V. Ramírez has been a teacher at Colegio Sagrado Corazón de Jesús since the 1988-1989 school year. She has spent the last 15 years teaching mathematics in first, second, and fourth grades, with second grade being the grade taught for the past four years of her teaching tenure. Some years ago, Audha conducted a tutoring program at her home to help students with academic lags. Later, she joined the supervised study program at Colegio Sagrado Corazón de Jesús helping students with their mathematics assignments among others. In 2011, Audha attended the NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition and had the opportunity to participate in workshops, attend conferences, and exchange ideas with other mathematics teachers to implement new strategies in her classes. She has also attended an educational trip to NASA with students during the summer. For the 2018-2019 school year, she presented to the school's Math Department the idea of celebrating mathematics week on the week of March 14, International Pi Day, and using it as the theme for that week. The idea was welcomed by all the mathematics teachers and the week was a success as students learned about Pi by working on activities according to their grade level. Teaching mathematics in a fun and understandable way to help students lose fear of it is one of Audha's goals. She wants her students to love mathematics and to develop logical thinking rather than mechanical understanding or reasoning. That is why the use of manipulatives, active learning, group work, and peer teaching is used and encouraged in classes. Audha has a B.A., magna cum laude, in education from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. She is a certified kindergarten to third grade elementary education teacher and a certified Apple Teacher.

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