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Teacher on Special Assignment

Six tosa per year will work as peers with science faculty in project development and implementation, and support Teacher Leaders in establishing effective learning communities

Teachers on Special Assignment (tosa) serve as critical project liaisons between the university and the districts. Four are located at Western Washington University and two in offices provided by Chimicum Middle School to provide local support for districts on the Olympic Peninsula. tosa work directly with higher education faculty in all partnership activities, including designing the Teacher Leadership Academy, providing professional development for District Leaders in the partner districts, reforming science methods courses and designing a science course sequence for elementary teachers, and coordinating project activities and reports. In Year 2-5, more time will be spent supporting Teacher Leaders and less on design work.

2007-2008 tosa

	Mike D'Hondt 5th grade teacher Western Washington University 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98225 Telephone: (360) 676-6421 Email: Mike.Dhondt@wwu.edu
Mike D'Hondt grew up in Tacoma, Washington where he enjoyed participating in sports and mixing chemicals. He received his Bachelors Degree in Education, with an in-depth study in science, from Western Washington University in 1983. Upon graduating he promptly decided to stay put and began working for the Bellingham School District teaching 4th and 5th graders at Larrabee Elementary School. In 1989 he moved to Happy Valley Elementary School and also began coaching football at Whatcom Middle School. Mike received his Masters of Education from City University in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Educational Technology. Recently, he has served as a science coach and small group facilitator at Happy Valley and Sunnyland Elementary schools implementing new understandings about science teaching in the classroom. Mike and his wife, Lisa, have a 17-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter. Currently, he is learning how to talk to teenagers and now realizes his knowledge base is small, indeed. Aside from watching a student construct new meaning during a lesson, Mike enjoys catching a trout that is silly enough to bite the fly on the end of his line.

	Kathleen Darrow-Joiner 3rd grade teacher Western Washington University 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98225 Telephone: (360) 650-7444 E-mail: Kathleen.Darrow-Joiner@wwu.edu
Kathleen Darrow-Joiner (aka Kathy) grew up in Clear Lake, Washington, where she has returned to her roots. At an advanced age she received her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Northwest Nazarene University and her Master's Degree in Elementary Science Education from Western Washington University. A highlight of her master's tenure was two weeks spent in the wilderness area of east central Idaho doing a flammulated owl survey. Although the owls keep unspeakable hours, the experience was a highlight because the owls and Kathleen appreciate the same environment: 80 degree weather, old-growth pine forests, and the middle of nowhere. To expand her education, she attended the Educational Leadership in Math and Science program at the University of Washington, did a summer internship as an educational consultant at Snohomish County Public Utility District, and took part in summer environmental-economic studies in Finland, Estonia, and Russia. Kathleen has taught for 19 years at the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade levels and has facilitated science in-services for teachers. Lately, when she is not in school she is laying new floors, wiring receptacles, wiring light fixtures, mudding sheetrock, painting walls, and building cabinets for her never-ending project called a house. She would rather be camping, kayaking, white-water rafting, or just basking in the sun by the water with her two favorite people: thirteen-year-old grandson, Kelson, and ten-year-old granddaughter, Katherine.

	Brian MacNevin Grade 8 Science Teacher Western Washington University 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98226 Telephone: (360) 650-2635 E-mail: Brian.MacNevin@wwu.edu
Brian MacNevin hails from Irvine, CA, but he's lived in Whatcom County since 1998 and so he's recovering nicely. He spent his junior year as an exchange student in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, graduated from Irvine High, then attended the University of California San Diego's Revelle College where he received his BS in Animal Physiology and Neuroscience and a minor in German literature. Inspired by marine biology, Brian worked at the Orange County Marine Institute where he taught environmental outdoor education, wrote curriculum and designed and implemented marine science based professional-development activities for in service teachers. He moved to Bellingham to pursue a Master's degree in Biology and taught and helped develop introductory biology labs with WWU's biology department; but his research into the comparative properties of digestive enzymes of slugs helped him realize how much he missed working with kids and teaching. Hoping to impact science education especially at the earlier levels, he now teaches at Shuksan Middle School in Bellingham. He has participated in NCOSP Summer Academies as well as Physics-By-Inquiry Summer Institutes offered by the Physics Education Group at UW. The Pacific Northwest has changed Brian's life and during his first quarter at WWU, he met the woman who would become his wife: his botany TA, Alexis! They currently reside in Lynden and are excitedly awaiting their first offspring: a daughter.

	Sherry Schaaf Middle School Teacher Western Washington University 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98226 Telephone: (360) 640-0244 Email: Sherry.Schaaf@wwu.edu
Sherry Schaaf grew up in Southern California and escaped to Washington State a rather long time ago, and has not looked back since. She and her husband moved to Forks on the Olympic Peninsula many moons ago, drawn by the isolation, beauty, and jobs. She has taught science in various capacities in Forks for more years than she can believe, including 7 years as the district Science Coordinator. Her favorite teaching environment is middle school, as she enjoys the bizarre and crazy behavior of adolescents and likes to be constantly on the move when working. She received her degree in zoology and her teaching certification from the University of Washington and her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Lesley College. Sherry has been involved in science education reform efforts for many years, as an active member and former President of the Washington Science Teachers Association, a presenter at local, state and national science teacher workshops and conferences, and as a member of SALT, the Science Assessment Leadership Team for OSPI. Her passion is advocating for quality science for all students at all grade levels to prepare them for the increasingly scientific world in which they will live and work, and showing them at the same time the fun and excitement of science itself. Sherry is the mother of one son, John, who recently graduated from Western and lives in the Bellingham area, sharing his mom and dad's passion about education and learning. Sherry enjoys driving (if you live in Forks, you must love to drive!), traveling (especially to the deserts of the southwest and to Mexico), playing at being a geologist and amateur astronomer, and relaxing in her greenhouse and garden and keeping her dog out of both.

	Kacey Uptegraft High School Biology Teacher Western Washington University 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98225 Telephone: (360) 649-4297 (cell) E-mail: Kacey.Uptegraft@wwu.edu
Kacey Uptegraft grew up on an organic apple and raspberry farm in Puyallup, WA. She enjoyed her horses, ducks, and chickens; however, her family didn't like it when she thought it best to bring them all into the house. (She was only caught a few times.) She pursued her Bachelors Degree at WSU, where she could take her horse, ride in the fields and continue her desire to be the best equestrian on the WSU Horse Show Team. The best equestrian thing didn't happen, but she enjoyed volunteering for the Veterinary College, and riding her horse every day. Since then, she has taught for 15 years. For the last four years, Kacey has been serving in many leadership roles as an Instructional Coach, an NCOSP Teacher Leader and six other taskforces/teams ranging from coaching, instruction, and assessment. Since eight roles (other than teaching full time) weren't enough, she became a SALTer for OSPI and a consultant for a publishing company. She is currently working on her Masters in Science Curriculum & Instruction at WWU. In the meantime, Kacey continues to give garden tours at her house as fundraisers for the community after being in many publications and is impressed when Cisco Morris attends! Her husband, Darrell and her two dogs have enjoyed the gardening until everyone turned up lame. Her little Yorkie has been diagnosed with arthritis, her Corgi has an anxiety disorder, and her husband has a bum knee. Her husband complains that it's ruining his golf game, but Kacey secretly thinks of it as an equalizer when she's on the course with him. Perhaps, golf lessons would be a better choice.

	Shannon Warren 7th and 8th grade science teacher Western Washington University 516 High Street Bellingham, WA 98225 Telephone: (360) 757-3391 E-mail: Shannon.Warren@wwu.edu
Shannon Warren grew up in rural Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With the acquisition of her B.S. in Conservation, she headed north to Alaska to become a park ranger. Belatedly realizing it was not in her nature to police people's campfires, she chose to capitalize on as many outdoor recreational opportunities as possible in the land of the Midnight Sun. Shannon moved to Washington in the 80s in order pursue her Master's in Education at WWU, while setting up an alternative energy cabin on 20 acres in Skagit County. She began teaching at Oak Harbor in 1996 and spent the next six years helping to implement an Integrated Science program and teaching biology. In order to spend less time driving, she found gainful employment closer to home in Burlington, where she teaches 7th and 8th grade science. When she's not teaching, she can be found puttering around her yard in Clear Lake conducting further experiments to find the perfect, non-gas-powered implement to serve her needs. Shannon shares her home with her 15 year old daughter and her two ill-behaved yellow labs.