Roni Habib

Hey there,

I teach it History and Economics at Gunn High School in Palo Alto. This is my 3rd year teaching at Gunn. Previous to that, I taught Math at Lexington High School in Massachusetts. I'm Israeli, and have lived in Belgium for six years as well. I therefore speak Hebrew, French and English and consider myself very lucky to have seen the world at a pretty young age. I love to play basketball, relax on my hammuck, sing, learn new things, talk politics, go camping, and the summer. I'm very much a visual learner and since most of my students are, I like to incorporate many graphic organizers, graphs, videos, and other visual devices in my teaching. I also love to discuss topics and have my students explore the topics covered in class through research, and discourse.

Looking forward to meeting everyone.

Have a good end of the school year.

Roni

Rob Bolt

Hi Gang,

After a fulfilling run as a technology professional and then full time parent, I am very blessed to have the opportunity to pursue teaching as the third and final stage of my career. Having grown up in Berkeley as the child of two PhD academics, teaching and academia have never been far from my heart. After living in India for four months a few years ago, my passion for history and the world in which we live was fired, and it became clear to me that my time as an educator had arrived. Upon returning home, I enrolled at the College of San Mateo in various Social Studies courses to deepen my subject matter expertise and to prepare for the CSET exam. The experience of being back in the classroom after so many years was transcendent and I quickly enrolled in the credential program at NDNU. To date, all the pieces of the teaching puzzle have fallen into place with my graduation just one week away. While taking a full load at NDNU, I am also teaching two sections of 9th Grade World History at Palo Alto High School as an intern. I did my first semester of student teaching at Crocker Middle School in Hillsborough in 8th Grade U.S. History.

I am incredibly excited to meet all of you and work with my Merit Program partners Jes Notte & Eric Bloom. My teaching philosophy is "Education as Theater" and I think that sums up both my teaching style and my learning style. The more dramatic it is (noisy or subtle) , the more engaged I am! And students love a show...

My technology background infuses me with passion for leveraging technology to make the World a smaller place for my students and to engage them through the mediums that they use outside of school.

Cheers,

Rob

Meera Ramachandran

Hi Everyone,

I'm Meera Ramchandran from Milpitas. I teach Science for 4th, 5th and 6th grades at Weller. This is my third year teaching and I'm learning a lot each year! Teaching Science is very enjoyable but also demands a lot of planning and organization. My students are visual learners and enjoy hands-on activities. My biggest challenge is in helping them make the connections between the experiments that we do and the concepts behind them, so they can apply them in other situations. My personal learning style is through lectures and reading, which is almost diametrically opposite from those of my students!
Both my students and I love using technology and I have noticed that my teaching is far more effective when accompanied by lots of powepoint slides and video clips. I'm very excited to be part of the KCI class this sumer and look forward to learning more ways of using technology effectively in my classroom.


Meera

Joan Love

Hi All,
I'm Joan Love from Morgan Hill. I teach 3rd grade at El Toro Elementary. I've taught for so many years that I have had almost every experience one elementary teacher could want. I've taught in Colorado and California, Special Ed, Regular Ed, and Gifted programs. I've taught many grade levels, Charter School, Private School, and Public School. I've taught part-time and full time. I've even taught my own children! Teaching has never been boring. It definitely fits my style. I am a visual learner and I try to incorporate color into every lesson. I believe students should know that learning is fun. Outside of my classroom is a "Friendship Garden". Many students choose to spend time working and learning in the garden. We play games to reinforce many concepts in Math and Science. We have a hands-on Algebra program and Zome tool workshops. I believe students learn best by doing, exploring, and playing in a classroom that values their thinking. Now I am ready to be a student and learn technology. It's an uphill climb for me so I hope I find teachers with extra patience!

Elise Jury

My name is Elise Jury and I'm a 6th grade core teacher at Graham Middle School in Mountain View.  The core position includes Language Arts and Social Studies.  In having the two subjects together, I get to do a lot of cross-curricular integration which I love! Being able to teach two subjects and have the same group of kids for longer blocks is right up my alley, as I have an elementary credential.  

I am a visual learner and need to see things and be able to write them down.  As an overall trend, my learning style is different than my students.  I find that my kids learn best when doing, so active projects are accompanied by auditory and visual activities.  Middle school is a tough time to really showcase the different learning styles.  We are at this point where we've got to get kids ready for the rigor of higher grades and high school, so note taking and study skills are those we focus on, but on the flip side, those strategies are ineffective for some kids.  

I am really excited to be a part of the KCI program!  A few teachers at Graham have gone through and have sort of brought me into the world of KCI this year.  I am really looking forward to learning more about technology, using it more fluidly in my classroom, and collaborating with colleagues in technology integration.  

Michael Kaelin

Greetings, Michael Kaelin here. I teach seventh grade English, reading, social studies, video production, television production, and basic web design (whew!). That makes me tired just looking at it. I've been at Hillview Middle School for ten years.

Effective integration of technology is one of my professional passions, but I hardly know it all. The open-source web world is exciting and full of possibility. My own sense is that using these tools can reduce consumption of material while making learning more powerful and relevant to my students.

Ironically, I'm primarily an auditory learner; however, I teach in a very kinesthetic manner. I work hard to differentiate. For every teaching success, there's always a disaster to improve - such is the art of teaching. Refine, implement, evaluate - refine, implement, evaluate.

On a personal note, my wife and I just celebrate our tenth anniversary and we are expecting twin girls any day. We also have Lucy, our six-year-old, and Ollie, our two-year-old.

I feel blessed to be a teacher and I'm stoked to be a part of this program.

Rylan Stewart

Hey there~ My name is Rylan Stewart and I am a 2nd grade teacher at Scott Lane Elementary School in Santa Clara. I have been teaching for 2 years and I absolutely love it. I am a person who cannot sit still, and I am often moving around when I teach. I am a kinesthetic learner. I believe learning is an exploratory process and that students learn more by inquiry and exploring themselves. 

I am excited to learn some new ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. I know that there are some useful tools out there that my students would benefit from using. 

In my spare time, I enjoy surfing in Santa Cruz and hiking. I enjoy traveling to new places and I love reading comic books. 

I am very excited to be joining the Merit Program and look forward to meeting all of you. 

Whitney Uyeda

I am a 3rd grade teacher. Previously, I taught 4th and 5th grade. This is my ninth year in Santa Clara Unified. I enjoy what I do! Teaching vs. Learning: I am more of an auditory learner, but for my students, I try to consider all the ways in which they learn. I incorporate visual and kinesthetic strategies on a daily basis. I try to create a learning environment which is inclusive, respectful, and challenging.

Michael Bautista

Hello - My name is Michael Bautista and I'm a math teacher at Milpitas High School. I currently teach AP Calculus, Precalculus, and Algebra II and I'm having a great time. I'm looking forward to learning many new tools and techniques during the summer session to help create exciting lessons for next year. I've discovered that I learn well by relating material to goofy, fun ideas (e.g. teaching a lesson about trigonometry and the road-runner), real-world applications, or blending other subjects with math such as art/music. So, I try to incorporate these ideas into my teaching style. I strive for a relaxed classroom environment where students develop high expectations for themselves but have fun at the same time -- and that's something I'm always working on: how to get students enjoying/looking forward to math class. Looking forward to meeting everyone.

V. Hinkle

Hello, everyone,

It's fun reading about you and "meeting" you online. Looking forward to the real thing!

Here's a photo of American and Tanzanian teachers at the Olasiti village school last July. We're posing in front of the office, the only room with a glass window. I'm on the right in the middle row.

I've taught 7th grade core at Redwood MS for a million years, and still love it. My teaching style aims to engage the students, who are typically kinesthetic and interpersonal -- can you picture the noisy groups? However, my personal learning style is linguistic and visual, so that naturally spills over into my teaching. Lots of art, for example.

I have 3 web sites: school at vhinkle.com, photography at pbase.com, and the nonprofit Tanzanian Orphans. As you can guess, my personal interests include travel and photography.

My family includes my darling husband Phil and our grown children Jeff and Dawn. Oh, and the real ruler of the house, Motor the cat. We live in the Santa Cruz mountains.

See you soon,
V

Maggie Welsh

Hi, my name is Maggie Welsh and I am an English teacher at Lynbrook High School. I am currently teaching American Literature and love it. I will be teaching AP Language and Composition to 11th graders next year and am very interested in learning about creating Wikis and Blogs for the course. We have an excellent staff here at Lynbrook that shares and plays well together - I would like to bring back some knowledge from the KCI program to share with them! I look forward to this program because I desperately need to learn about new technology. I have been teaching for nine years and know that the key to success is innovation and willingness to change. I am a learner that likes to listen and watch before doing, so I am looking forward to the seminar this summer where I can learn from all of you.

On a personal note, I have a nine year daughter (not pictured;) named Olivia.

See you all soon!

Nicole Gordon

Hi all,

I am Nicole Gordon and I am in my third year of teaching at Lynbrook High School in San Jose. I currently teach Freshman Lit and Journalism and next year, I will also be teaching AP Literature for Seniors. In addition, I am the adviser for a student run group on campus called Straight Talk About Issues Relevant to Students (S.T.A.I.R.S.) that works to promotes a positive school environment for everyone on campus.

The photo is of me and my Journalism students from last year. I am third from the left on the bottom row.

I have always wanted to be a teacher and even though I sometimes feel like I live at school, I can't immagine doing anything else. As far as teaching style goes, I try to incorporate all types of learners and provide options for students to find a way to express themselves in a matter that fits their learning style. Personally, I am a more of a visual and auditory learner.

Outside of school, I enjoy reading, going to the beach, doing anything outside, cooking, and traveling. I am going to mostly stick around this summer, but currently I am planning a trip to Queensland, Australia for a wedding in October.

I am excited about this summer class because I am looking forward to meeting other enthusiastic teachers and discovering some new and exciting ways to incorporate technology into my classroom.

Sara Devine

Hi, My name is Sara Devine.
This is a picture of me and the other art teachers at Capuchino High School, I'm on the far left. This picture was taken after we won a fashion show designed to get our kids excited about STAR testing. Those are STARS in our hands!
I Teach all the culinary arts classes at Capuchino. I have been teaching for 7 years and am very passionate about food. Just like the science teachers, my classes are for those who love to work with their hands in the lab (kitchen). I'm thrilled to have been selected as one of this years summer institute participants. When we begin, I will have just arrived home from a 3 1/2 week trip to Australia where all my cousins live. I want to introduce my husband of three years to my extended family and the culture that I was raised with. looking forwad to meeting you all and exchanging ideas this summer!

Tina Doss

My name is Tina Doss and I am a teacher at Carlmont High School located on the Belmont/ San Carlos city border.  I have been teaching for nine years.  Currently, I teach Advanced Placement (AP) Biology and Biotechnology 3-4.  It’s the second year of the 3-year Biotechnology Program.  Dan Raffa and I started the program with a one-year class in 2002.  The past seven years the program has grown to offering three years serving over 250 students.

I am a firm believer of hands on science.  I believe that students learn scientific concepts when they can relate experiences to the concepts.  Although I am sort of a kinesthetic learner, I learn best visually.  Therefore, I probably learn the best via lecture with manipulatives, pictures, etc.  While I do use lecture to enhance concepts, it’s very important to me that students explore, build skills, and learn concepts via doing, not just listening to me.  Therefore, in Biotech, we do labs 80% or more of the time allotted in class.

I try to find a balance for different learning styles.  I open my class at lunch for students to continue exploring and/or asking questions.  I also hold after school hours.  At least once a week I am available after 5 PM for my athletes and drama students so they are able to come in for help/exploration too.

I am very excited about sharing and collaborating with other teachers.  Looking forward to spending my summer with all of you!

Dan Raffa

Hello,

My name is Dan Raffa and I teach at Carlmont High School in Belmont, Ca.  I teach a science elective class called Biotechnology.  It is a skills based class with a student centered approach of about 80% lab time.   I am a kinesthetic learner and try to incorporate all forms of learning styles into my classroom.  I am very interested in the inquiry process and I am always looking to integrate it into my lessons.  I love teaching and consider myself a comedian who rewards students with extra credit if they laugh at my jokes.   I enjoy traveling and have not made a decision where to go this summer, I may just look at priceline.com for a last minute deal.  I am very excited about this summer because I want to start using Blogs and Wikis in my class and want to discuss the process with other teachers.  

Jaime Avila

My name is Jaime Avila and I am now in my third year of teaching. I am currently at Silver Creek High School in San Jose and teach oceanography and a section of AVID. I would say that I am a visual learner, and my style is most definitely a visual style as well. I do still try to incorporate the auditory and kinesthetic learning styles into my teaching. I hope to further my use of technology in the classroom through the KCI program. I look forward to working with many of you this summer.

Chris Heumann

I'm Chris Heumann, the Merit Program Director for the Krause Center for Innovation. I've worked with the fantastic staff of the KCI for 7 years and continue to learn new things daily.
I have been teaching 7th grade science for 21 years and have had a blast working and playing with the most amazing students around. To me, teaching and learning are concurrent adventures that involve challenge, risk, and a structure into which to assimilate new knowledge.
Starting in 1989, I began to work with other teachers to find ways to utilize technology to become better at teaching, learning, and creating. The potential has risen exponentially since then, as has my enthusiasm and experiences. The best part of my life, of course, is my wife (Amy) and our three daughters (Hannah, Abby, and Olivia).