2026 Summer Institute Facilitator BiosBack to Main
Jeff Ellenbogen: Makerspace Pedagogy Facilitator
He has always had a natural proclivity to explore new tools and to find ways to express himself creatively. As his career shifted from math toward technology he has found so much joy in helping students as well as colleagues solve problems and construct their own learning pathways using a multitude of tools. Providing students with authentic learning experiences where they guide their own learning pursuits has fueled Jeff’s passion for Makerspace education. Jeff loves designing projects that give students as much opportunity as possible to explore, iterate, and reflect on their work and to take ownership of their learning. Chris Supiro: Makerspace Pedagogy Facilitator
One of Chris’s main focuses at Dawson has been to ensure that the Innovation Center is an inclusive space where students and teachers alike can engage in self-directed learning. Chris strives to establish a culture where everyone working in the Innovation Center feels encouraged to take on new challenges, explore creative solutions, and develop and expand their skill set with the tools and technologies available in the makerspace. Chris splits his time between teaching innovation and technology-focused classes in the makerspace, facilitating interdisciplinary units for classes in other departments, and working with students on independent projects. With every project a student or faculty member undertakes, Chris sees the maker gain not only their finished product, but also dozens of new skills and a greater readiness to learn and create going forward. Chris is excited to share his experiences and learn from everyone in the Makerspace Cohort. Megan Hayes-Golding: Science Discipline Facilitator
Meredith Attar: Elementary Ed Facilitator
Meredith is delighted to join the ISEEN facilitation team this summer from Bellingham, Washington, where she teaches at the Bellingham Family Partnership, a unique public program serving homeschooling families. At BFP, Meredith collaborates closely with families to design curriculum, explore child development, and support each learner’s needs. She also creates and leads classes that challenge the notion that learning must look like schooling. This year, her offerings included an all-day outdoor class at Larrabee State Park, an inquiry-driven course with weekly field adventures, and the “Design Collective,” where students imagined and brought to life large-scale, community-centered events in just six weeks. Her work is rooted in a joyful commitment to student agency and curiosity, and in the belief that deep learning grows from experience, reflection, and meaningful connection. Meredith’s work in education has carried her into a wide range of communities and classrooms. She has served as an instructional coach in Bellingham, supporting her school’s transition to the IB Primary Years Programme, and has taught in settings as varied as a Title 1 school in Bellingham, a suburban elementary school in Birmingham, Alabama, an all-boys school in Montreal, a Quaker school in downtown Brooklyn, and an independent school in Manhattan, where she began her teaching career on September 11, 2001. This experience continues to inform her understanding of schools, above all, as spaces for humanity, community, and care. In Bellingham, Meredith lives in an old house overlooking the Salish Sea with her husband, Yaniv, their two children, Jonah and Lyla, and their delightfully mischievous puppy, Maple. She holds a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education from Bank Street College in New York City and an undergraduate degree in sociology and dance from Oberlin College. Ashley Cleary: History/Social Studies Facilitator
Ashley Cleary is the History Department Chair and an Upper School History teacher at Abington Friends School in Philadelphia. She teaches World History, United States History, and electives on Middle Eastern History and Indigenous Studies. She leads departmental work focused on experiential, culturally responsive, and inquiry-driven curriculum. Ashley is committed to helping students see history not as something distant, but as a dynamic force that shapes the world they live in. Ashley’s classroom practice centers project-based and experiential learning that invites students to work as historians. Ashley sees the study of history and the practice of civic engagement as deeply interconnected. At Abington Friends, she designed and implemented a hands-on archival research program in which students investigated their school’s history and curated public exhibits. In her work, she encourages students to find connections to causes they care about and use their knowledge as a form of action. Her background includes Project-Based Learning certification, Restorative Justice certification, and leadership in school-wide PBL initiatives during her time at The Lawrenceville School. Ashley brings particular attention to equity, access, and whose stories are centered in historical narratives. Ashley holds an M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in History and English from Bates College. Her professional interests include public history, archival research, food justice, labor movements, art as activism, and place-based learning. Cris Harris: English Facilitator
Cris Harris long served as Hawken School’s Dean of Experiential Education, and is still building and promoting learning opportunities that put the experience of the student at the center of education, including international expeditions, backcountry courses, hands-on wilderness medicine, and investigative journalism. As an instructional coach and consultant, he helps faculty reimagine teaching and learning as transformative opportunities that break out of traditional classroom constraints. His memoir I Have Not Loved You With My Whole Heart relates his experience growing up in a household marked by addiction, faith and the AIDS crisis. He’s currently at work on a collection of essays about paradox in memory, science and religion. His writing has been recognized with two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards for non-fiction. With his wife, the poet and essayist Mary Quade, Cris spends his summers writing, running, hiking, fixing up a 100 year old barn, and growing tomatoes. Carrie Annable Kovacs: Math Facilitator
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Jeff Ellenbogen is the Director of Innovation and Technology at Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado. His career in independent schools spans over 25 years, enriching the lives of students across all grade levels. Starting as a lower school science teacher, Jeff later transitioned into teaching Middle and Upper school mathematics for 15 years before pivoting toward technology leadership and has served as both IT Director and Director of Innovation and Technology over the past decade.
Chris Supiro is the Director of the Center for Innovation at Dawson School in Lafayette, Colorado. Chris has been teaching in and designing curriculum for makerspaces since 2018. He began his career as a technical specialist for Snap-on Industrial Brands where he found a passion for training and mentoring new colleagues. He then pivoted to education and became the first teacher to design and teach a makerspace class at Stuyvesant High School in New York. Chris moved to Boulder to run the Dawson Center for Innovation in July 2020. 
Megan joins us from Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where she teaches physics and mathematics plus coaches the robotics team. A 2025 Massachusetts state finalist for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), Megan’s professional interests include student belonging, grading reform, meaningful assessment, and the neuroscience of learning. Her current favorite assessment is the lab practical, where students solve a single problem in a lab setting. For instance, in Coyote vs. Road Runner, students have to time Coyote’s release down a hill so that he intercepts Road Runner running along the road. Her 9th graders model the scenario, predict when to let Coyote start running, and test their predictions. Weeks of working through the experiential learning cycle pay off the moment Coyote nabs Road Runner. Megan is eager to explore with other science teachers how they can also implement experiential pedagogy.
