Juanita Rodriguez

I am looking forward to a stimulating two weeks at the KCI Merit Program, accumulating experiences and ideas that I will integrate into my teaching.  I have taught as a special education teacher for eight years here in the Silicon Valley and previously in Los Angeles.  I love teaching math, science, and art.
As a student I find that I need to see and do before I can really understand and learn.  For that reason I try to have as many hands-on experiences and project-based learning as possible.  I love taking classes at RAFT to develop my repertoire, have participated in the SF Exploratorium Teacher Institute, and am constantly on the look for other such opportunities.

Demetrius Asekomeh

I am very excited to begin the MERIT Program and work with all of you. I've been a science teacher for over 4 years now in both Michigan and California. I love to travel as much as possible and use every opportunity to do so. I became a US citizen just last summer and have put some miles on my passport since then. I enjoy teaching science and using technology to do so and find this program to be a perfect marriage of the two. To see a student suddenly become excited about science and their future brings me the most joy in my professional life. I hope to learn a lot and be able to use what I've learned to benefit my students in the future.

Annette Jackson

I am Annette Jackson and I am anxious to begin participating in the Merit Program this year. I have recently celebrated my 22^nd wedding anniversary and my 17-year-old son’s graduation from high school. I also have a 4-year-old daughter who will begin kindergarten in August of this year. I have truly been blessed with my family.I have been a Special Education teacher at Morrill Middle School for the past 4 years. I have taught both SDC and RSP students in the areas of Language Arts, Social Science, Science, Math, and Study Skills. More recently, I have taught RSP Math and Study Skills. I am very fortunate to have a fabulous, dedicated team of teachers to work with, Juanita Rodriguez (also in the Merit Program) being one of them.

This year was my first year being the Department Head of Special Education. I am aware that I have much to learn, but my favorite quote is:

“Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly at first”—Tim Bowman

I believe that you are never too old to learn life lessons, even if they are from your own children or students. I anticipate that this will be a wonderful learning experience for me, as we begin our classes on July 6^th. I am anxious to get to know all of you and learn from everyone.

Paul Nyhof

Hey everyone, my name is Paul Nyhof and I teach science at John Muir
middle school. I just finished my 4th year teaching, and I am amazed
at how much technology can be infused in classroom instruction. It
seems that I learn so many new things about technology each year, and
I can't wait to continue that learning in the Merit Program.
I am particularly interested in the idea of websites where students
can collaborate on ideas, discussions, and projects and hope to learn
much more about this over the next few weeks.
Looking forward to a great summer session.