Staff and Faculty
| Staff | Faculty |
|
Dr. Kent Johnson, Executive Director Dr. Joanne Robbins, Principal Kris Melroe, Assistant Director of Schools & Agencies Beth Bartter, Operations Director Dawn Oliver, Admissions Director Tim Smith, Administration and Facilities Director Frank Chiachiere, Technology Director Heather Grada, Assessment Coordinator Steve Dunnington, Accounting Elizabeth Grosz, Front Desk Julian Gire, School Psychology Intern |
Brad Claus, Faculty Marianne Delgado, Faculty Sarah Ganzeveld, Faculty Meg Knight, Faculty Geoff Martin, Faculty Erin Mitchell, Faculty Jenni Reilly, Faculty Adam Stretz, Faculty Nick Vu, Faculty Shawn Marie Johnson, Art Restita DeJesus, Wushu |
Staff
Dr. Kent Johnson founded Morningside Academy, in Seattle, Washington, in 1980, and currently serves as its Executive Director. Morningside is a laboratory school for elementary and middle school children and youth. Morningside investigates effective curriculum materials and teaching methods, and has provided training and consulting in instruction to over 90 schools and agencies throughout the USA and Canada since 1991.
Dr. Johnson has served in all the positions at Morningside, including classroom teacher for 10 years, financial manager, administrator, teacher trainer, school psychologist and school consultant. He has published several seminal papers about research-based curriculum and teaching methods. Most recently he published a book, "The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: What It Means to Leave No Child Behind," with Dr. Elizabeth Street (2004, Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies). The Morningside Model focuses upon foundation skills in reading, writing, mathematics, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, studying core content, and project-based learning. Over 18,000 students and over a thousand teachers have used the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction. Dr. Johnson is also a co-founder of Headsprout, Inc., a Seattle-based company funded by investors to develop web-based, interactive, cartoon-driven instructional programs. The first product is currently available: Headsprout Early Reading, from headsprout.com.
Prior to founding Morningside, Dr. Johnson was professor at Central Washington University, director of staff training at the Fernald School in Massachusetts, and instructional designer at Northeastern University in Boston. He received his M.S. (1974) and Ph.D. (1977) in psychology at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst under the mentorship of Drs. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff, Ellen Reese, and John Donahue. He received his B.S. in psychology and sociology from Georgetown University (1973), under the mentorship of Dr. J Gilmour Sherman. He also counts Drs. Fred Keller, Charles Ferster, B. F. Skinner, Susan Markle, John Dewey, Robert Gagne, Siegfried Engelmann, Ogden Lindsey, Israel Goldiamond, Arthur Whimbey, and colleague Joe Layng as major influences on his work.
Dr. Johnson enjoys reading philosophy, mysteries, ancient history, psychology, and books about teaching and children. He also enjoys rock, electronic downbeat and ambient music; and talking about politics and public policy.
His recent publications include:
Johnson, K., & Street, E. M. (2004). The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: An integration of research-based practices. In D. J. Moran & R. Malott (Eds.). Empirically Supported Educational Methods. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Science/Academic Press.
Johnson, K., & Street, E. M. (2004). The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: What it means to leave no child behind. Concord, MA: Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. Available at www.behavior.org.
Joanne Robbins is the Principal of Morningside Academy in Seattle, Washington. Joanne has over twenty-five years of experience in program development, curriculum design, and teaching and supervision of programs for children and youth. Joanne's experience has been in both educational and mental health settings. She developed programs for Pre-K through college level. In addition to the gratifying work as Principal of Morningside Academy, Joanne is a founder of P.E.E.R., Partnerships for Educational Excellence and Research. The P.E.E.R. project is designed to radically improve the teaching and learning communities in several township schools in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Prior to moving to Seattle, Joanne lived in Chicago for many years. While there, she was the Activity Therapy supervisor for a 120-bed children's state psychiatric facility, served as an adjunct faculty member in the Psychology Department at Northeastern Illinois University, and designed and implemented problem solving and thinking skills programs, study skills programs, and learning acceleration programs for inner-city children and college students for the University of Illinois at Chicago and the City Colleges of Chicago. She also served as program developer and instructor in the federally funded Nation of Tomorrow program, training Chicago Public School teachers how to use computer technology in their classrooms. Joanne served as a research assistant in the Instructional Research and Development Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a frequent presenter at professional meetings and has published experimental work in human clinical decision-making. Joanne has served as an instructional design consultant to private industry in the production of instructional video and interactive laser disks including Learning-to-Learn, Inc. in Cambridge, MA, and Focus International, Inc. in Huntington, NY. An expert in the teaching of thinking and reasoning skills, Joanne is the author of Talk Aloud Problem Solving: A Script for Teachers, and co-author of Fluent Thinking Skills: A Generative Approach.
Joanne was a board member and Vice President of the Illinois Art Therapy Association. She is currently a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis. She founded and co-chairs the Spectrum Alliance, a community group advocating for the Seattle Public School's highly capable students.
Joanne earned an MA in Behavioral Sciences (Art Therapy concentration) from the University of Houston, Clear Lake Campus. A native of New York, she earned a BA in Sociology from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Joanne completed her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago under the mentorship of Dr. Sue Markle, Dr. Phil Tiemann and Dr. Herbert Walberg.
Kris Melroe, Assistant Director of Schools & Agencies, earned a BA from Luther College in 1971. After graduating, she worked in the Minneapolis area on numerous health related projects. Kris founded a clinic that specialized in women's health. She also did research for a NGO (non-governmental United Nations organization) health project, examining sterilization and birth control practices on four Indian reservations. Her findings were used in planning the United Nations "Decade of the Woman" and resulted in her receiving the 1983 National Recognition Award from the group Women of All Red.
In 1976 Kris left the Midwest and moved to Seattle, where she worked in various capacities with different social service groups, including serving as co-director for the Lesbian Resource Center. Being drawn to the field of education, Kris received her teaching certificate and later her Special Education endorsement from the University of Washington. Kris joined Morningside in 1980, where she remained for five years as an elementary teacher. Here she honed her skills in instruction and precision teaching. After taking some time off to have two children, Kris returned to teaching where she worked for the Renton School District as a Special Education teacher for eight years. While in Renton, Kris designed and implemented a precision teaching training program for new special education teachers. She was also a member of the Renton Education Association's negotiating team.
Kris currently serves as a faculty member at Pacific Oaks College, teaching a graduate class in Special Education as part of their teacher training program. Kris returned to Morningside to work in the Morningside Teachers' Academy, where she supervises school-wide implementations of the Morningside Model of Generative Instruction.
Beth comes to Morningside with nearly 30 years' experience working with nonprofits, educational organizations, and international non-governmental organizations. Most recently she worked at the Nakorn Payap International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where she taught English and administrated extra-curricular activities. Prior to that, she ran an environmental planning business which contracted with the City of Seattle to provide education to ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the area of household hazardous waste awareness. She has also supervised relief efforts in Somalia and tutoring programs in Singapore.
Beth holds a B.A. in Design from Miami University in Ohio and a M.A. in Urban and Community Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University. In her free time, she is a member of the Seattle Sake Dragon Boat Racing Team.
Dawn Oliver is responsible for the direction of the academy's development programs and admissions procedures. She is responsible for the development and enhancement of projects such as fundraisers, corporate sponsorships, and grant writing; relationship building for the purpose of seeking and applying for funding for academy priorities; and for the admissions process to recruit and assist prospective students and their families from initial contact until enrollment. She oversees community outreach and public relations endeavors. This includes the supervision and management of a team of volunteers, predominantly made up of parents, committed to the academy's mission.
Dawn has over fifteen years' experience working in the administration of private schools. She has held positions as Registrar, Director of Financial Aid, Director of Admissions, Acting Administrator and Director of Development. The schools with which she has been affiliated have been located in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia and have ranged from a private school to a junior college. In addition, she has experience tutoring children with attention deficit disorder and autism having received training in discrete trial and direct instruction utilizing the techniques of applied behavior analysis. Upon her arrival in Seattle, Dawn completed the graduate credit program offered by Morningside Teachers' Academy, The Summer School Institute. She is a member of the Puget Sound Grantwriters Association (PSGA), Families for Effective Autism Treatment (FEAT), The Northwest Development Officers Association (NDOA) and Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD).
Dawn received her B.A. in English and Education from Douglass College of Rutgers University. She holds New Jersey certification to teach English, Speech and Theatre Arts. She began her career as a public high school teacher of English, public speaking and drama. In that role, she was also the director of the school plays.
Before relocating to Seattle, Dawn served as Director of Development for The Faison School for Autism at Virginia Commonwealth University. In that position she was responsible for all aspects of recruitment and fundraising. She wrote and produced the school's video and prepared all of the marketing materials for this start-up school.
Frank joined Morningside in January of 2005. Prior to that, he was an Account Manager and Systems Engineer at Westwind Computing, where he provided IT services to a variety of corporate and educational clients. At Morningside, Frank provides technology and audiovisual support services to faculty, staff, and students.
Frank has a B.A. in Theatre and a B.A.S. in Computer Science, both from the University of Pennsylvania. He is originally from Malverne, NY. In his free time, Frank also works with a nonprofit arts organization, The Shunpike, which helps artists to fundraise, market, and present their work.
Heather earned her B.A. in Psychology at The University of Central Florida in 1999. She then began a career in Behavior Analysis as a direct care staff person working with adults with Autism. From there she expanded to individual instruction for young children with autism and/or other developmental disabilities. This lent itself to consulting with schools and training parents of children with developmental disabilities and behavior problems. In 2002 Heather then became a Behavior Analyst for the Positive Behavior Change Program, an intensive training designed for various caretakers of foster children.
For the past three years Heather has been a graduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno in the Behavior Analysis Program. In addition to volunteering and being elected for various program related activities, she has had the experience of studying under multiple professors. Heather is extremely enthused to be a part of the Morningside Academy team and considers this position to be her, "dream clerkship." She is thoroughly enjoying learning from the children while embracing the opportunity to make powerful changes in the lives of her students through the use of data driven, instructional techniques.
In her spare time, Heather enjoys watching foreign films, documentaries and independent films. She is also a fan of electronic, hip-hop and alternative music. A recent resident of Seattle, she is currently exploring all that this fair town has to offer, focusing on the cities intricate park system, elaborate music scene and extensive thrift store options.
Steve Dunnington is a bookkeeper who works on contract with Morningside Academy two days a week since September of 2003. Steve also works with a number of other non-profit groups who do good work in the community.
Julian was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. After graduating from high school he moved to Cheney, Washington where he attended Eastern Washington University. While at EWU he earned a B.S. in Applied Developmental Psychology with an emphasis in counseling. Currently, Julian is completing a Masters degree in School Psychology and is fulfilling his internship requirements here at Morningside. One day he hopes to earn a Ph.D. and teach at the college level. In his free time Julian likes to cook, develop his own recipes and test them out on whoever is willing to try them. He also enjoys gardening, landscaping the yard, and playing paintball when the weather is nice.
He is very excited to be living in Seattle because, in his own words, "there are so many places to see, things to do, and great choices of food to eat!"
Faculty
Brad is a first year teacher at Morningside. In 2003 he moved from Delaware in an attempt to follow a dream. Brad has a degree in Agronomy from the University of Delaware, and after some time working as an agronomist, he discovered the joys of coaching and teaching children. Brad was a high school biology, horticulture and floriculture teacher in Delaware and also tried his hand at coaching high school soccer. Since arriving in Washington, Brad has obtained a Master's degree in elementary education from Eastern Washington University. When not in the classroom, Brad enjoys much of what the Puget Sound region has to offer. You might find him backpacking, mountaineering, skiing, boating to the San Juan's, hiking the hills of Seattle, or doing other seasonal activities. Brad is extremely happy to call Morningside and Seattle home.
Marianne Delgado recently returned to the Northwest after living a number of years in the New York City metropolitan area, where she studied at Barnard College and received her Masters in general education from Georgian Court College in Lakewood, New Jersey. She is the mother of three. Her profession specialties are creative writing, curriculum design, and implementing service-learning programs. In her free time, she enjoys the indie-rock music scene, thrift store shopping, comic book collecting, and costume design.
Sarah Ganzeveld spent the first 18 years of her life in a small, as she describes it, "can-this-really-be- called-a-town?" in North Central Iowa. She has since graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in Human Services. Soon after college graduation she drove to Seattle. In 2005 she graduated from Argosy University with a M.A. in Clinical Psychology.
She has held numerous social service jobs in the past ten-plus years since high school graduation while completing her studies. Her positions have included At-Risk Youth Residential Counselor, Non-Profit Program Coordinator for youth, Recreational Coordinator for adults with disabilities, At-home therapist for children with autism spectrum disorders and school-based counselor. Since moving to Seattle, she reports having a wonderful time learning and experiencing new things like going to concerts and musicals, camping, cycling, golfing, learning Korean and hiking. She is excited about her position at Morningside and looks forward to growing as a teacher, making a difference for the kids and spending time with her co-workers!
Meg Knight was born and raised in Metamora, Illinois and attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she received her Bachelor's degree in Botany. She originally moved to Seattle to study naturopathic medicine and spent a year doing so, but has since decided she would rather explore her fascination with people and learning through education. Meg loves Seattle and the Northwest and in her free time enjoys running, cycling, politics, cooking, gardening, and reading.
Geoff Martin teaches beginning reading and math. He also assists with the designing and production of instructional and practice materials. Geoff earned his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Florida and his M.S. from Auburn University. Prior to Morningside, Geoff worked as a graduate teaching assistant, a Consultant for a Developmental Center in Alabama, a Behavioral Clinician at a State Developmental Center in Indiana, an Instructional Designer and Training Developer, a Tutor, and a Computer Consultant.
Geoff is originally from Northern Virginia and relocated to South Florida after middle school. He enjoys writing simple computer programs to automate common tasks, renovation projects with friends, reading, and seeing all Seattle has to offer.
AMAZING!!! October of 2005, was 5 years!!! What an incredible journey it has been learning about this way of teaching students. It's an exciting place to be. I grew up in New Hampshire and have a B.S. in Elementary
Education from the University of New England in Maine. I came to Morningside with three years of teaching experience. I taught first grade for two years on the Navajo Indian Reservation in New Mexico. I then moved to Southeastern Utah where I taught seventh and eighth grade. When not at Morningside, I love camping, hiking, going to the ocean, cooking and spending time with Patrick and our dog Missy.
Jenni Reilly learned of Morningside Academy while attending Eastern Washington University. She received her Masters in Education in Special Education with an emphasis on Applied Behavior Analysis and Direct Instruction. She earned her Bachelors Degrees in both Psychology and Elementary Education with an early childhood special education focus. Jenni spent eight years in Spokane Washington while completing her education, but was born and raised in Seattle and is very happy to finally be home. During her time in Spokane, She married and had a beautiful son who is now 7 years old. Her son was born with 5p- syndrome, which causes several disabling conditions. Her love for her own child inspired her to pursue a career in Special Education.
As a member of the Morningside faculty, Jenni embraces the opportunity to utilize methods that are empirically based and data driven as a means of applying and developing her teaching skills.
Adam was born and raised in Olympia, WA. He attended the University of Washington where he received a double major in Communications & political science. He recently returned from three years in Chicago where he got his Master's Degree at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Adam is an avid sports fan (Go Huskies!!) and has spent several seasons coaching Babe Ruth Baseball. Adam also enjoys traveling (he's been to over 20 different countries), reading (especially political & historical), playing basketball & softball, and learning new activities, like swing dancing & fly-fishing.
Until recently, Nick resided on Florida's Atlantic coast; graduating from UF with a B.A. in architecture. A transcontinental migration delivered him to the Puget Sound where Nick's diverse background in working with children opened the doors to Morningside. Prior to MA, Nick served as live-in personnel at a residential care facility for troubled teens. Nick enjoys rock climbing and free movement dance as well as reading, creative writing and chess with a special interest in the subjects of philosophy, spirituality, and physics.
Shawn Marie Johnson received her M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her B.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She has exhibited in major shows in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Illinois, and throughout Western Washington. Her work has sold to businesses and individuals across the country. Throughout Western Washington's sculpture parks, Shawn currently exhibits contemporary metal sculpture. She is the founder and sole proprietor of Sculptural Welding & Design, fabricating custom ironwork.
In the 2004 and 2005 Northwest Flower and Garden Shows, she featured garden gates, trellises, shoji screens for the garden, and other outdoor iron accessories, viewable on her website. She also paints Chinese Sumi and American watercolors. She teaches art to elementary and middle school children at Morningside Academy in Seattle, Washington, where she resides.
Sifu ("teacher") Restita DeJesus is the Instructor of Wushu Class. She is the co-founder and instructor of Yin Yang Arts Center. Sifu DeJesus has 30 years of experience in martial discliplines that include Karate, Kung Fu, Kajukenbo, Eskrima, Aikido, Iaido, Tai Chi, Qigong, Bagua, and Wushu. She is an active tournament competitor, holding national and international awards in Chen Style Tai Chi, Tai Chi Sword, and Wushu Southern Boxing.
Black Belts & Certifications:
Sifu DeJesus earned her first black belt in Karate at age 15, and has been teaching martial arts ever since. She currently holds a 5th level Instructor's rank in Taikabudo (a style founded by she and Sherril Johnson) a black belt in Butokukan Karate, 2nd degree black belt under Al Dacoscos' Wun Hop Kuen Do - Kajukenbo system, a 5th degree black belt in doce Pares Eskrima, and a 5th degree rank in Guro Christopher Petrilli's "Filipino Martial Arts Academy" system. She is also a certified instructor of Wushu, Tai Chi, and Qigong under Master Yijiao Hong.
Sifu DeJesus actively trains and competes each year, having consistently won Gold and Silver medals at the USA Wushu-Kung Fu Federation international competitions, as well as winning First Place in Chen Style Tai Chi at the 2001 First World Taijiquan and Health Conference in Hainan, China.
Sifu DeJesus and her Demo team perform at countless martial arts demonstrations each year. She has used her Martial arts experience in appearing as an extra in several movies, various commercial spots, stock footage, and motion capture sequences for video games.
Sifu DeJesus' goal is to share the fun and fitness benefits of Chinese Wushu with kids of all ages. Through Wushu, she hopes that kids can enhance their sense of confidence and empowerment, as well as keep physically fit.
