My name is Maia Valcarce and this will be my third year teaching. I work at Greenfield High School in Massachusetts and primarily teach mathematics, but also will be teaching computer science for the second year. My hobbies are reading, cooking, crafts.
Hi, my name is Eric Bernstein, teacher at Damascus High School. Iāve been teaching for 9 years, mostly math, and started getting into computer programming teaching python, robotics, and java. Iām looking forward to seeing some of the ideas that are brought to the table for our PD.
Hi, my name is Deborah Rossman. I have been teaching for 18 years. I have taught all types of science courses from Chemistry, to Advanced Biology and Physics, but the last few years I have taught mainly Engineering Technology. I teach grades 7-12. I will be teaching ECS next year for the first time. I am looking forward to teaching this new course in addition to trying to expand the courses I teach to my 7th and 8th graders, so that they will include more technology, coding and robotics.
I have several years of teaching experience at the middle, secondary and post-secondary levels of education. I currently teach Foundations of Technology-Technology Education and I have taught business courses as well. I really enjoy teaching the Foundations of Technology class because it is a hands-on, project building, problem-solving based class. I am also a STEM teacher and a STEM club advisor. I enjoy infusing new strategies and ideas in the classes that I teach.
My hobbies includes attending festivals, bowling, traveling whenever possible, reading, cooking and attending social events.
This will be my first ECS experience and l look forward to the experience because I love learning and applying interesting concepts.
Hello, my name is Lamberto Roscioli and Iāve been a teacher for 2 years. I worked at Motorola for 28 prior. In my first two years teaching I taught Gaming/Simulations and the students really love the program. The hard time is teaching them that the focus will be on designing games and not necessarily playing them! ; )
My hobbies are flying, diving, traveling. I have a 2 year old son who has quickly become my favorite pastime.
I am a first year teacher at Wheaton High School. I got my bachelors from UMBC in Music Technology. I like to help podcasts and other websites and am trying to start a podcasting club at my high school.
My name is DāNetra, and I teach in Maryland. Iāve taught middle and high school aged students. Currently, I am working with high school students in various technology classes. Iāve used the Hour of Code activities and some other online apps to introduce students to programming.
I enjoy crafts, reading, swimming, and spending time with family.
I look forward to learning how to implement the CODE curriculum in my classes.
Looking forward to sharing the ECS experience with you. See you Monday.
Hi, my name is Sophia. This will be my 8th year teaching. I have taught many different classes. I taught multimedia for 6 years and math for 2 years. I am excited to teach ECS at my Alliance school.
Hello,
My name is Dan and I have been teaching for 13 years in Southern California. I have taught Computer Applications, Business Math, Algebra, and Geometry. I have a BS in Business Administration and a MA in Coaching and Athletic Admin.
My hobbies include spending time with my 4 children, coaching Cross Country and Track, and watching Angels baseball.
I look forward to learning about ECS.
Hello, My name is Jason Marin. I will be going into my 8th year of teaching high school level mathematics. This past year I proposed a Game Design class (which will contain many introductory elements to programming). 120+ students registered so instead of one section I get six!
I am an avid gamer with my 3 children (in moderation of course). My wife and I try to get exercise, but with the kids (14, 11, and 7 yrs old), they keep us so stinking busy its tough to get anything but taxiing done.
I have a previous degree in Broadcast Production, so techie media has always been in my blood. Couple that with a love for math and gaming, I have high hopes for the new class.
Looking forward to the ESC PD in Chicago!
Glad to hear another crazed runner is into this stuff 
Nice to digitally meet you Dan!
Hello!! My name is Sean Tate, I have been teaching since 2008. I have taught all levels of middle and high school. I began my teaching career in an inner-city school in Baton Rouge, La where I taught all levels of high school social studies. In 2013, my family and I moved to Richmond, Va where I am now starting my third year teaching middle school business and computer science courses at the best middle school in Henrico County.
My hobbies include spending time with my three children and my wife as well as various roles in our local church congregation and working with the Boy Scouts of America. I also enjoy watching college football and baseball. My hobbies include learning new and interesting computer science topics as my college background is in the social sciences.
Hello my name is Alex Rhodan. Iāve been teaching for 14 years. In my first 12 years I taught Entrepreneurship in Chicago Public Schools. I began introducing technology into that curriculum during my 7th year teaching having my students create webpages for their business enterprises. I taught the ECS curriculum for one year and I am looking forward to sharpening my skills in this course. I enjoy reading, biking and playing golf.
Hello,
My name is Antoinette Daye and I have been at my current high school for 13 years. I began my teaching career facilitating online classes for course recovery student. I currently teach Principles of Business, Entrepreneurship and Microsoft Word/PowerPoint. Last year, as part of our professional development my school began lesson planning by using Understanding by Design lesson template by Grant Wiggins and Learning Focused lessons. Both lesson plan designs are great tools in creating focus driven lesson plans. I am still in the process of using both designs to create engaging lesson plans for my students.
My past time include discipleship, traveling, shopping and spending time with my family and friends. I am joint owner of an income tax office.
Hello Lynesa,
Where are you located? Were you at the NAF conference last week? I would love to talk to you about how your NAF classes are paired. We are on 90 minute block classes and find it difficult to teach the entire curriculum of one course in 9 weeks. Do you have any suggestions?
This will be my first time teaching Computer Science. I am excited about teaching the course.
Antoinette
Hello my name is Brian Tolan. This will be my 16th year teaching at Lenox High School in the Berkshires. My formal background is in Organic Chemistry but Iāve been a programming enthusiast almost my entire lifeā¦ since getting my first computer in 5th grade and developing my own video games when I was in middle school. My current computer interests primarily focus on advanced AI, encryption, and quantum computing (an interesting mix of quantum mechanics and comp sci). I currently teach Honors Chemistry, Biochemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry, and Honors Programming (which is primarily a game programming course with a heavy focus on Python and PyGame, but weāll soon be branching out into C# and 3D game development in Unity). When Iām not busy reading just about any book I can get my hands on related to science, technology, or science fiction, Iām often writing. Iām working on two books at the moment, one on the Python programming language (which I use in my course) and the other on the biochemistry of aging and how it pertains to the technological singularity. Iām currently working on a large 3D Space Game development project with three former students that now work in programming and 3D art fields. My less technical hobbies include almost anything fitness related, but I especially enjoy volleyball and hiking. I very much look forward to learning more about ECS!
My name is Ray Kalagher and I have been teaching high school math for 10 years. All of them have been at Acton Boxborough Regional High School. The only background I have in CS is a java class that I took about 14 years ago. I am looking forward to getting involved in ECS because I think a lot of students will benefit from it. I am very active and I have coached ice hockey and soccer in the past. I still play hockey about twice a week. I love to hike. I took a group of students to Ecuador for a month one summer to hike and explore the country.
Teaching Experience
My name is Linda Courtney. I have been a Business Education teacher for 18+ years. I am currently the Business and Technology Department Chairperson at Ludlow High School. I received my Masters in Technology in Education and have added to the department Web Design, Movie Production, Video Game Design and last year started co-teaching with the art department, Graphic Design. I also teach Math for Personal Finance and Investing in the Stock Market Internet Based.
Hobbies and Interests
I enjoy walking Seamus our Golden Retriever with my grandchildren and their Golden, which is Seamusā sister, reading mysteries and spending time with my grandchildren. I crochet, decorate cakes for the kids in the family, paint using āOnestrokeā and sew.
Experience with ECS
I received an invitation email from Renee Fall to find out more about ECS. I was intrigued about what I read of the program and wanted to find out more. I attended and was excited about how ECS is taught. I use similar strategies in Entrepreneurship and Video Game Design and wanted to learn more. This will be my first year teaching ECS and I am looking forward to it.
My name is Su Nugent and I just finished my 10th year of teaching mathematics. The past 8 years I have been at Acton Boxoborough Regional High School in Acton, MA. I have no previous experience with Computer Science. I have a masters in math education.
I began to recognize the power of computer science when I was teaching in our after school alternative program. I realized that most of my students (students who were one step away from dropping out of school) had no interest in learning the traditional math courses. I decided to change the curriculum to a quarterly project based curriculum. A few years ago I heard about the āhour of codeā and was very excited about itās accessibility for all levels of students. I had my students pick and choose the programs that interested them and I learned along side of them. For some studentās this experience was transformative. Where they had had little success in school previously, they seemed to have an apptitude for computer science. This is when I realized the importance of providing all of our students with a foundational course in computer science.
Interests: Hanging with my husband and kids doing anything!