Sandra McGonagle

Hi there - my name is Sandra McGonagle, and I'm excited to be the newest addition to the KCI staff as a part time instructor. During Merit I will primarily be working with the middle school group. I am a graduate of the '05 EWYL program and have been bitten by the technology bug ever since. I am also a teacher with the Cupertino Union School District. I taught middle school for 9 years (primarily a combo of 6th grade Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Exploratory) before moving to the district office as a Curriculum Specialist/Resource Teacher. I now work in the areas of BTSA, Assessment, Math, and Technology. My latest project involves working with Cupertino's five middle schools to help create "21st century middle school classrooms" by looking at how technology and constructivist principles can increase student engagement and student learning. I am also working with Cupertino and Google on a K-5 school pilot as Google tries to move Google Apps for Education into K-12 schools. I am very excited to be back at KCI in a new role for the Merit program and am looking forward to building a strong learning community as we look deeply at students, technology, and learning together.

Cherie Zepp

Hi all,

I'm so excited for what I anticipate to be an amazing experience this summer being part of the Merit Program.  I look forward to meeting you all.

I am currently teaching Special Education at Hyde Middle School in Cupertino.  I'm in a "special assignment" (and learning a lot!) in the Special Ed department.  Previously, I taught 7th grade core at Lawson, and 6th grade at Kennedy (both schools in the Cupertino Union district).  Teaching is not my first career...Many years ago I worked in the tech industry (HP and Silicon Graphics), and then took time off to raise my own children.  When my children were babies I taught childbirth classes...as my kids grew I began subbing in the elementary school...I'm currently teaching middle school but my kids are now in high school and college so I'm not sure what's next for me!

I am an auditory learner and I do tend to catch myself lecturing often in the classroom.  I also know I enjoy engaging, participatory activities and competitions so I try to incorporate simulations and games into my lessons.  I enjoy the social aspect of learning and I provide opportunities for my middle schoolers to interact and work together on projects.

I love to travel.  Last summer I took a group of 7th and 8th graders to the British Isles.   (The picture I included is from that trip.)  I also love to read.  Does anyone have any good book recommendations?  

Gail Hybarger

My name is Gail Hybarger and I am a fifth grade teacher At Laneview Elementary School in San Jose California. Teaching is actually my second career. I originally graduated from Humboldt Sate University in 1985 with a B.S. in Business Administration. I soon started my Career in the Software Industry Working as a Software Engineer for various High-Tech Companies.

I never really liked my job or career and had dreamed of being a teacher. Just before I turned 40 I decided to take the plunge and go for it! I had started the process of becoming a teacher, taking the necessary exams and classes and I then applied to San Jose State. Now all I had to do was wait. Well in May of 2002 I turned 40 on May 18, Got laid off from my job at IBM on May 21, and got Accepted to San Jose State on May 23. Imagine that, all in the same week. I never looked back!

After receiving my Credential in May of 2004, I decided I wanted to find a way to use my previous Technical experience in the classroom to enhance my students’ learning experiences. So while in my first two years of teaching full time, I went to School Full time to get my Master’s Degree. Oh, Yea I was also in the New Teacher Project which was an additional 10 Units a Semester of course work. YIKES!!! What was I thinking? It actually was the best thing I have ever done. I now have a teaching credential and Masters Degree.

My biggest challenge for implementing technology in my classroom is the lack of computers, software, LCD projectors and Smartboards. I dream of having the appropriate technology available so I can enhance learning experiences for all of my students.

Oh, in my spare time, I train and Walk Half Marathons with the NF Endurance team, to raise money and awareness for the Children’s Tumor Foundation and to find a cure for NF. That’s Mom and Me in the picture after completing our first half Marathon in 2007. We have now done 4 half marathons and the Bay to Breakers 3 Times.

Gayle Britt

Hi Everyone,
I'm Gayle Britt and I'll be the facilitator for the high school group this summer. Having worked part time at the KCI since 2000, I have been involved in MERIT (EWYL) since its beginning. I taught 7th and 9th grade social studies and language arts and helped start a charter high school. At present I also work part time for the Oracle Education Foundation leading global project learning workshops (using Thinkquest) around the world. (The picture is of me having just climbed to the top of "Dracula's" fort in Romania last month.) Thinkquest (http://www.thinkquest.org) is a great tool for local classroom or global collaboration on projects. It is free, but schools have to sign up. If interested, go ahead and get your school on board and during the institute I'll show you how to set up a project. The KCI has also been working with a British expedition on the old Silk Road (http://tracingtea.com/). This team has been collaborating with a 7th grade social studies class all year and is looking to collaborate with more classes. I'll be sharing a lesson about free trade. I'm eager to learn more about you and your teaching and am looking forward to working with and learning from you.

Pat Stabile

Hi All,

I am Pat Stabile a 7th grade Science Teacher from Price Middle School in San Jose. The picture of me is from a Zero-G experience this school year. My students helped design experiments to bring up to space and had fun finding out the data!

I have taught in New York- (where I'm from), Colorado- (which I love), and Napa, California.

As was one of the original Internet Institute Trainers here in Silicon Valley, I love sharing new technology with both students and teachers.

In my classroom I currently have a Smartboard which immediately elevates you to the status of magician as the students interactively learn.

I am a visual learner but use all learning styles in the classroom. My students love the labs in science and prove that the kinesthetic experience is a great way to learn. Middle school students love making decisions, interacting, working as a group and doing presentations. I enjoy providing that forum for them to grow.

I have a wonderful husband Jerry, that is an art teacher, two grown sons, one an electrical engineer and the other in business. We enjoy traveling together to great science destinations

such as Costa Rica and up next Australia!

I am very excited to meet all of you, enjoyed reading your posts and look forward to creating

and learning this summer. I am thrilled to be a Merit Teacher!

Thom Stevens

Hey-

My name is Thom Stephens, I am the 8th grade science teacher at Ida Price Middle School in San Jose, Ca.

I have been teaching science for 19 years and the picture you see is from my annual DC trip that I take my 8th graders on....by the way , I am the handsome devil to the left in the picture.....the gentleman to the right , is Danny Kirwan , another Merit program participant.....

I am looking forward to the program as I feel that I have all this wonderful technology in my classroom ( document camera, computer, dvd player) and I want to utilize it to make my subject matter( no science pun intended)and to come alive.....I am extremely hands on with my subject matter and can be found most days exploding something in class or at least involving flames to some degree......

I am married to the most beautiful woman in the world for 10 years have two wonderful children, Liam and Ayden, and have been a confirmed Star Trek fan since as long as I can remember......Live Long and Prosper............See you this summer

To check out my insanities go to :http://www.cambrian.k12.ca.us/price/teachers/staffpages/room_40/index.html

Kenneth Pringle

Hi. My name is Ken Pringle. I teach chemistry at Lincoln High School in San Jose. This my second year of AP and tomorrow they take the test (whew!). I am excited to join the mentor program and work with others to make technology part of my class. I look forward to developing tools that provide students with resources to enhance their learning, develop technology skills, and, maybe, gain ownership of the learning going on in the class.
I usually gave a pretty even leaning style without being overwhelmingly visual, kinesthetic, or audio. I need to read a question to answer it well, but I also need to hear a story to understand it better. (A different test I found online showed that I am completely intuitive and not detailed; it gave me a completely different way of seeing how my wife and I look at problems :). A look at my desk or the way I develop lessons you’d see that I do tend to ignore details to get to the general theme.
I try to teach in every possible way, so that I can reach as many students as possible. Presentations with pictures or animations when possible with notes. Reading notes & orally reviewing the topic after students finish writing material down. Modeling when possible, or drawing models. I demonstrate concepts or systems using movement as much as possible. And with chemistry, we do labs so they can see principles in action (although they like the playing better than the learning).
Look forward to a productive and fun summer. ken

Margo Wixsom

I teach Photography and Yearbook Production at Palo Alto HS. This is my 7^th year at Paly and my 20^th year teaching a wide range of subjects from ESL adult education and university Composition Writing to Architectural Drawing and Art Spectrum. I have double masters in Art and Literature so I am absolutely passionate about words and images in every form. I love to integrate all types of writing into my class projects and lots of images and Internet fun for visual learning – which is my specialty. This year I’ve had a crash course in the Adobe graphics suite at several RAFT workshops to learn book design and publication for our yearbook. What an exciting group of teachers – great to read all of your stories and interests! I’m looking forward to spending another fellowship with Roni Habib, who inspired me at the Stanford Program fro International Cross-Cultural Education last year. And Eric Bloom and Rob Bolt from my own campus – who knew! I hope to integrate some of what we are doing at the Merit program to enrich the Paly community, as well as network with the impressive group of teachers listed. My project is to design 3 virtual galleries on campus and to learn the technology skills and explore design ideas to include our whole campus in visual literacy. I’m pictured here in Amman, Jordan last summer at Darat Al Funun on Jabal Luweibdeh. This artist outside one of the exhibitions calligraphied my name in Arabic. I spent most of last summer in the Middle East on a Silicon valley Education Foundation fellowship. I stayed with my sister who lives in Amman (but is now working in Afghanistan!) photographing and researching for a book. Istanbul, Damascus, and Petra were the highlights of my travels. I’m focusing my love for writing and photography into the design of several photo-essay books for publication next year, I’m working on collections of photo-essays for three books: “Picturing Middle East” (countering stereotypes through the Arts) “Framing A Life” (the familial and cultural trauma of suicide) “Looking @” (perspectives on viewers in public art spaces) “Notice Nature” (a series of essays and watercolor paintings on everyday beauty). I just found out that I will be going to Scotland this summer for 2 weeks with our school Theater program to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (the largest Arts Festival in the world!). So my summer is going to be an amazing exploration of art & technology - ooking forward to the adventure of learning and creating with all of you.

Jes Notte

Wow, what an interesting group of people! I'm really excited to meet you guys this summer. I'm Jes Notte and I teach 7th and 8th grade social studies at Borel Middle School. This is my 9th year teaching, and like some other members, I've taught in a variety of different states and settings. Before coming to California, I was teaching in Harlem, NY at a charter school. This is a picture of us at a field trip to the Cloisters Museum. We got to take lots of field trips. The best were to colleges so these middle school students could see what it was like to be in college classrooms, sleep in the dorms and eat the food. The girl all the way to the left won a scholarship last year that will pay for her education straight through graduate school. They are an amazing group of kids. Before Harlem, I was in Colorado for five years teaching during the week and skiing/camping/mountain biking every weekend. The love for outdoors brought my husband and I back west to California last August. I love traveling, music, and outdoor fun so I try to incorporate that into my teaching as much as possible. Together we learn from each other by sharing travel pictures and stories. We listen to Dylan and Michael Franti, among other musicians, and after school I co-coach the boys soccer team. This is my first blog! Have a great end of the year!

Eric Wong

How many more days until summer?

I have been a social studies and AVID teacher at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale for 5 years. I primarily teach US History (inclusion, sheltered and mainstream) and Government/Economics (AP and mainstream). I have also taught the AVID elective class for four years and coordinate the program at our school. Outside of the classroom, I help coach the varsity baseball team.

Teaching-wise, I really try to connect lessons and objectives to something the students can relate to and understand. In our US History class, I use their family history as a running theme to connect events to their personal history. This is similar to how I learn best since I need to see practical, easy-to-connect ideas to my real life to be truly interested/motivated.

Looking forward to meeting everyone, sharing ideas, and being able to focus on technology in the classroom in a great environment!