Laurie Ransom

MS English and Literacy Coach

My third year teaching at ICS, I am pleased to be working in the Middle School where, this year, I teach Grade 6 and Grade 8 English and am the Literacy Coach. Additionally, I teach two art electives: Book Arts and Printmaking. My home is beautiful Portland, Oregon, but I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. I have lived in places such as New York City, San Francisco, Chennai, India, and Guangzhou, China.

In terms of my training, I hold a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College Columbia University where I studied with Lucy Calkins, the founder of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, which provides the foundation for our language arts program in kindergarten through 8th grade. I also hold a California teaching credential and a B.A. in Liberal Studies. My career in education began at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery where I developed curriculum materials and trained graduate students within the public arts department. For the last 17 years, I have taught in the upper elementary classroom or the middle school English classroom. Within that time, I also served in the capacity of elementary school coordinator and school-wide curriculum coordinator, and I have conducted literacy workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as overseas.

Deron Marvin is my husband and middle school principal at ICS, and our daughter, LuLu, is in second grade.

My happiest moments are spending time with Deron and LuLu, and I also enjoy my passions for traveling, music, art, and eating good food. I am grateful to be experiencing life in Addis Ababa, which is our happy home overseas.