Meet+the+Participants

Meet the Participants

Gordon || FWCS High Ability Specialist || I am not married, nor do I have children of my own. I do have 3 nieces and a nephew who are the loves of my life. I was an elementary classroom teacher at the FWCS Arts magnet for almost 20 years before I became the school district High Ability Specialist. Although I am not writing curriculum with the project, Amy invited me to provide feedback and input - and I'm proud to do so. || Marquissee || 7th Grade curriculum || Curriculum and pedagogy are my passions.. I am very interested in divergent ideas and in trying things that have never been tried before. Technology, virtual education spaces, and digital media fascinate me. Other salient interests are motivation in learning and establishing relevance and relationship. Though my district does have a self-contained GT program, I choose to teach in a heterogeneous seventh grade classroom setting and relish the challenge of crafting learning experiences for learners with greatly diverse learning profiles and needs. (I have three years experience in self-contained GT.) I have worked with Carol Tomlinson at UVA and co-authored an article with her and Kay Brimijoin in Educational Leadership. Favorite summer reads thus far: "Divergent" by Veronica Roth, "The Best of It" by Kay Ryan and "On Excellence in Teaching" by Marzano. I have two grown children. My son graduated from BSU with a degree in Music Technology and currently is trying to make it rich in Nashville. My daughter is a senior actuarial student at BSU who will make it rich but may not have as much fun doing it! My husband is an enginner. Divergent family, divergent interests...I am visually impaired and had an eye removed this fall. I use magnifiers for close reading and sometimes need assistance with depth perception issues, etc. I may be getting a seeing eye feline in the near future. I can't wait to meet everyone and get to work. || I recently completed a curriculum class for gifted learners at Purdue, during which I developed a first grade science unit, and I created high ability "Literature Labels" during my high ability practicum. It is super-energizing to watch my precocious six-year-old students thinking critically and creatively about what they read! With the guidance of a lead curriculum writer, I also recently helped to update our corporation's first grade high ability social studies and math curriculum. Before our corporation's reorganization, I taught a first/second grade split gifted "magnet" class. I currently teach in a first grade, self-contained high ability classroom in a K-1 building. Our high ability classes have an incredibly wide range of abilities. Some would consider this a negative, but, for me, it is a welcome challenge, because knowing my students and differentiating instruction is my passion and niche. My husband and I have been married for nineteen years, and we have three wonderful (and highly gifted!) children, ages 16, 14, and 12. We live in Brownsburg. || I started as a music teacher and decided that I loved teaching so much that I wanted a license to teach all of the subjects. Seven years and two children later, I had my degree in elementary education. I subbed for five long years before landing in second grade. I looped to third grade and stayed there for two more years. When a fourth grade self-contained GT classroom became available, I applied for the position. I have been in fourth grade for the last seven years. Like Brenda, I cannot seem to move beyond fourth grade. My family consists of one husband, two grown sons, and a geriatric cat. The oldest son is expecting to graduate from Purdue with a degree in astronautical engineering this coming December. The second son will graduate from Purdue in three years with--as of this writing--a degree in computer science. My husband is a Purdue graduate and works as an engineer for a local construction firm. Since one of my degrees is from IU, we often have interesting conversations around our house. I am looking forward to meeting everyone and getting started on this curriculum project. || I am a teacher, a wife, a mother, a reader, a writer, a traveler, and more. Writing has been a passion of mine for years. A summer conference in NY years ago with Joyce sparked my interest in using thematic frameworks for unit; working with her again in Indiana is a plus. The National Writing Project further ignited my love of the art of writing and teaching the craft. I want to be a better teacher, hone my skills with a unit I've been working on, and interact with educators who value children with special needs (yes, the gifted fit in that category, IMHO). The Common Core is in the majority of states now, and I am intrigued about aligning our units to meet not only Indiana's standards, but also the ones that carry over to colleagues throughout the nation. ||
 * Name || Role in this Project || Info: for example,something about yourself and why you wanted to be involved in this project ||
 * Ginny Burney || High Ability Consultant to IDOE || I am married and have 3 kids in their 20's who all majored in engineering, but none have traditional jobs. I have been an advocate for gifted children for a long time. I am an educational psychologist and teach High Ability Licensure classes for Ball State. I was thrilled Indiana was willing to provide leadership by writing exemplar curricula for students with high ability that aligns with the Common Core. ||
 * Amy Marschand || IDOE High Ability Specialist || I am married to a retired educator/administor, and we are the parents of three gifted golden retireivers. In our spare time we are grandparents to two two-leggeds, Anna and Evan. I taught in public school for 10 years, at Sycamore School for the gifted for 12 years, and now I've been at the IDOE for seven years in High Ability Educaiton. We've made steady progress in those seven years. I never thought we'd even entertain such a project as this so it is very exciting! ||
 * Kathy
 * Jason Brumback || Writing 8th Grade Curriculum || I have taught in Wayne Township for the past 11 years. I teach 8th grade English for our gifted program (the Horizons program). My wife teaches English to the 7th graders next door to me. We have three children (four-year-old twins boys and a two-year-old daughter), and we are expecting our fourth in August. I enjoy teaching grammar and writing, and I believe that a good English class begins with choosing the best materials. //Fahrenheit 451, A Tale of Two Cities, 1984,// and //King Lear// are some of my favorite books to teach. My personal favorite book (which sadly I am not allowed to teach), is //Frankenstein// by Mary Shelley. The creature is my favorite character because he is equally fascinated with and appalled by human nature. ||
 * Jennifer Conley || Writing 2nd Grade Curriculum || My husband and I celebrated our one-year anniversary last month. Right now our little family consists of the two of us and our little 5-pound Maltese, Mr. Fluff. This will be my fifth year teaching the gifted second and third grade split in Carmel. I truly love my job and feel blessed to work with these special kids everyday! I am excited to be a part of this team and curriculum writing project. This will be great experience and I am looking forward to working with and learning from the other wonderful teachers involved. ||
 * Ede
 * Brenda Kovich || 4th grade curriculum || I love all aspects of curriculum - - - mapping, yearlong planning, making connections, and creating units of study that ignite learning! (And I love being able to say those words here to people who understand me!) I have been teaching for 28 years - - - three years as a gen ed teacher, one year as a K-5 high ability resource teacher, and 24 years in full-time classes for high ability students. Somehow, I cannot seem to graduate from fourth grade. Including my time as a nine-year-old, I have "done" fourth grade 28 times! I hold a K-12 administration license and am beginning to work on a masters in curriculum (online at Ball State). My dream is to bust out of fourth grade and start a second career as a curriculum director and/or high ability coordinator. I have one husband, two daughters (Jana, who will be a senior at IU majoring in public policy analysis, and Alyssa, who will be a freshman at IU majoring in business), and a mean, old cat named Cheeto. I've been looking forward to this project all summer and can't wait to meet all of you! ||
 * Doris Fulwider || 1st Grade High Ability Teacher || Working with young high ability kids is my livelihood, and I am incredibly fortunate to be doing so in Crawfordsville. Crawfordsville has had an exemplary gifted program for over 30 years, and the commitment to gifted education remains strong to this day. I have been teaching in Crawfordsville, on and off, since 1987, after receiving my undergraduate degree from Indiana State University. Since then, I have earned my Master's Degree and my Gifted and Talented license. Although marriage and children have moved me away from the community, I continue the two-hour-a-day commute, because the educational environment at Crawfordsville is one in which I believe and value greatly.
 * Diane Luken || 3rd grade curriculum writer || Curriculum writing has been a passion of mine ever since I learned the meaning of the word. I enjoy the puzzle of finding academic pieces that lead to a specified outcome. I find myself constantly trying to find new and better ways to accomplish learning goals.
 * Vicki Vaughn || High Ability Consultant; Adjunct Purdue University || I am married with 2 grown sons and 2 beautiful grandchildren. I just retired from the Lafayette School Corporation as an elementary principal and the district's high ability coordinator. I teach graduate courses in high ability education for Purdue University and am past president of the Indiana Association for the Gifted. Curriculum has always been my passion. This falll I will be teaching an advanced curriculum course for Purdue on Tuesday evenings. I am so excited about this project and the opportunity to work with teachers and Dr. VanTassel-Baska. ||
 * Mary Ann Yedinak || Middle School Language Arts Teacher & Curriculum Creator/Writer || Watching a student have that "eureka" moment when teaching brings joy, but carefully crafting lessons in units that bring an eternal ember for a young person brings bliss. Married for 33 years to my fantastic partner, Steve. A 21 yr old son, Brandon, who will be a senior at Purdue this fall, a 15 yr old daughter, Chelsea, who will be a sophomore at Carmel HS this fall, and two rambunctious golden retrievers round out my family. //(I just survived a 13 day road trip of over 2100 miles with all but the dogs!)//
 * Monica Plantan || 6th grade Language Arts Teacher || This year our school was in a full 6/7/8 grade 1:1 computer environment (student netbooks). Student engagement through meaningful projects, content, and global involvement is always our goal, and it has been exciting to watch this program take flight. In addition to writing curriculum, I enjoy learning with my students, reading great books, working in my yard/garden, and spending time with my family. My husband and I live in Zionsville, and our son is a law student at Indiana University-Bloomington. A lovely, sweet Akita named Tilly runs our home and our lives. ||
 * Becky Butler || Kind. LA Curriculum Writer || I truly believe that nothing is more humbling and exciting than watching a 5 year old catch your mistakes and correct you. These little bodies have so much information in them, but we sometimes forget that they are still just 5 and need to sing and dance. I think when it comes to gifted education, that's where my passion lies... finding the balance of enriching the minds of 5 and 6 year olds while still finding ways to let them be 5 and 6. I graduated from Butler in 2002 with my bachelors & middle school lang. arts endorsement. After 6 years in Wayne Township schools, an opportunity came to create a self-contained multi-age K/1 classroom in Brownsburg schools. Being given freedom when it comes to blending the lines of basal series, etc., I am excited for new units to create and utilize with my students. ||