2019 Summer Institute Facilitator Bios

Jessica Catoggio: Elementary Ed Facilitator
Jessica Catoggio has 15 years of teaching experience in both public and independent schools. Currently a 4th grade teacher, Jessica values inquiry, curiosity and questioning in the classroom and builds lasting relationships with her many students. Developing flexible, reflective thinkers and compassionate, contemplative minds is among her top priorities. Jessica earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and went on to receive a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. A lifelong learner, Jessica has also received a coaching certification from the Curry School at the University of Virginia and has participated in multiple levels of The Buck Institute’s Project Based Learning training. Jessica has local and international experience in training and coaching teachers and learning teams on effective implementation of inquiry teaching and experiential learning. In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, travel and outdoor fun with her family.

Jeremy Goldstein: History Facilitator
After graduate school, Jeremy worked as a Forensic Archaeologist and Anthropologist in Southeast Asia. In 1998 he was fortunate enough to pursue his passion for teaching when he served as a long term substitute in a Chester, S.C. public high school. His independent school background includes teaching grades 5-12 in a wide array of subjects that cover Modern Languages (French/Spanish), World and US History, Science, Global Studies, and World Religions. Currently, he teaches a senior elective on Antisemitism, the Holocaust, and Genocide. He began working in educational leadership when he was tasked with directing a growing Global Education program in Rhode Island. He now serves on the senior leadership team at Episcopal High School as the Director of Experiential Education where he supports faculty in developing innovative place-based curriculum, designs new professional development opportunities, and helps grow the school's network of partners in the greater Washington area. Using his anthropology experience and a design thinking mindset, he strives to build energy around innovation, and connecting his school community to unique partnerships. You can learn more about Jeremy thorugh is LinkedIn profile and professional portfolio.

Now entering her fourth summer as the science discipline facilitator at the Institute, Megan joins us from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where she teaches physics and robotics. Megan’s students have learned through experience in diverse ways, including playing music on instruments they built, taking photos with pinhole cameras they designed, and analyzing the physics of popular viral videos. The key, she says, to make a classroom experiential is twofold: 1) adjust your traditional notions of “covering content” and 2) allow students the time and space to genuinely reflect on their experiences. Megan has blogged throughout her career in public and independent schools at http://kalamitykat.com and on Twitter from @mgolding. Before finding her way to the classroom, she worked in the factory automation and internet security industries. Megan holds a MAT in Secondary Mathematics Education from Georgia State University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Materials Engineering from Auburn University.

English and humanities teacher Cris Harris is the Upper School Coordinator of Experiential Education at Hawken School, directs the Lucier Family Writing Center, serves as faculty chair of Hawken’s Student/Faculty Senate and has also directed Hawken’s three season Outdoor Leadership program for the last 17 years. He regularly teaches classes on poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, Southern Gothic Literature, and a humanities course with emphasis on ancient Mesopotamia, Palestine, India, China and Greece.  As an evangelist for experiential programming, he’s had the opportunity to plan and execute a growing list of courses that rely on expeditionary learning, global immersion, service, and hands-on training, including adventures in northern India, Myanmar, Botswana, and Vietnam as well as more local explorations in Cleveland and the Allegheny National Forest. For two the last two years, he has worked in a problem based learning course on the contemporary Middle East designed to maximize student ownership, and grown an Integrated Service Learning program which is growing year to year.  In the classroom and in the field, he pushes students to take maximum responsibility for their own inquiry, and loves experimenting with different methods to challenge traditional assumptions about teaching and learning. Cris is looking forward to returning to the ISEEN summer institute and collaborating with another cohort of teachers dedicated to finding better ways to help kids discover themselves in literature, writing, and the world.

Siva Sankrithi: Math Discipline Facilitator
Siva Sankrithi returned to Lakeside School (Seattle) at nineteen to teach high school math, with his BS Math/Music and MS Applied Math from the University of Washington. Throughout his life, he has learned experientially both in the classroom and out, gleaning wisdom from whatever he was doing, whether it was traveling the world or cooking with his family, playing his flute or competing over a chessboard, tennis court, or table tennis table. He now he enjoys his time with his wife Aarti and sons Sarang (5) and Vivaan (1). He spent ten years teaching at Lakeside, integrating innovative experiential curriculum into traditional math courses (algebra through multivariable calculus). He’s developed many new courses at Lakeside such as linear optimization, geopolitics, election theory, and game theory. He developed and taught the Global Online Academy Game Theory course, honing his pedagogical practices as facilitator and way-finder in the online space. He is currently a stay-at-home Dad and experiential homeschool educator for his sons (4th grade and preschool, respectively), a nonprofit CEO and educational consultant for students and teachers alike with WIISER, an  analyst in the renewable energy and automotive engineering fields with RIC Enterprises, as well as a flautist with Rainbow City Performing Arts. He believes there is a genius in everyone and our job as educators is to identify, encourage, nurture, and facilitate it, utilizing said genius to help overcome obstacles. Recent projects include curriculum design for a new independent high school in Seattle, utilizing chess as a vehicle to bridge the kindergarten readiness gap in WA public schools, and working with preK-post-grad math educators to make math education more equitable, experiential, encouraging and supportive of all students. He is thrilled to be returning to facilitate the ISEEN math cohort at this conference for a fourth consecutive year.

Sarah Tiamiyu: Elementary Ed Facilitator
Sarah Tiamiyu is an educator that recognizes that art integration and student experiences are an integral part of a student’s educational experience.

Sarah is currently teaching 3rd Grade at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC. In her seven-year tenure at Sidwell Friends, her professional development opportunities have focused on student deep thinking, understanding, intelligence, creativity, and ethics.  Sarah has written multiple grants in her career focused on student mindfulness and experiential learning. She actively seeks out opportunities to travel the world to find experiences that can be translated into the classroom.

She is originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and holds a degree in Special Education from the University of Alberta (2002). She launched her career in Toronto, teaching French Immersion and providing remedial support to students with Special Needs. Her graduate studies included a focus on Elementary Mathematics, through the University of Toronto before moving to the District of Columbia in 2007.

In her current classroom setting, you can find her students designing broad games, composing music, singing for elders in the community, sitting in grocery store aisles or sipping tea in the “Writer’s Café.”

Lynne West: World Languages Facilitator
After spending 17 years both teaching and leading teachers in K-12 schools in San Jose, California, Lynne West founded Sunodia Educational Consulting to share her passion for teaching with her fellow educators. As a teacher, she used her foundation in backward curricular planning and cooperative learning to design creative and engaging lessons for her students. In 2016, she was a recipient of a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching grant and spent six months conducting a research project in the Netherlands on language learning methodologies. Lynne has presented workshops on cooperative learning, differentiated instruction, backward planning, and teaching with technology. In addition, she provides personalized instructional coaching sessions. Lynne earned her teaching credential from Santa Clara University, her masters in Classics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and her BA in Ancient Greek and Latin from the University of California at Los Angeles.