Lower School Teachers

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Name: Tina Flower
Title: Co-Teacher K/1 and 4/5

Profile

Tina earned her B.A. in Humanities from New College of Cali- fornia, teaching credential in Elementary Education from San Francisco State University, and an M.Ed. in Curriculum Studies from the University of Montana. She began teaching elemen- tary grades in San Francisco public schools and most recently taught in a K-8 classroom in rural Montana. Her teaching interests include student-driven, experiential, inquiry-based, and hands-on learning opportunities and the practice of place- based education using the local environment and culture for interdisciplinary studies. Tina's experiences have included long-term volunteer work with a women's economic development project in West Africa, and an orphanage in Honduras. Outside the classroom, Tina enjoys outrigger canoe paddling and tending her vegetable garden and small flock of chickens. She is thrilled to be joining the faculty of HA and looks forward to contributing her skills and expertise, as well as learning and improving her own teaching practice.

Name:
Title: K/1 Teacher

Profile

Sarah graduated cum laude from the University of California, Irvine. She also has a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from U.C. Irvine and is in the process of acquiring her Masters of Arts in Teaching. She has experience teaching at the First Grade level and taught most recently at the Edison McNair Academy in Palo Alto, California.

Name: Jennifer McCord
Title: 2/3 Teacher

Profile

Jennifer joins Hualalai Academy as their Second Grade Teacher. Jennifer graduated from California State University with a multiple subject teaching credential. She has recently been teaching at Sierra Vista Elementary School in Southern California where she taught 1st, 3rd, and 6th grades. Jennifer was the lead teacher in professional development in the areas of math, technology, and a special teaching strategy called GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Development). She was also chosen as the only teacher at her school to receive the "Classroom of the Future," title, with her technology based classroom. During the summer, Jennifer worked at a hands on, science based summer camp where she learned innovative new science ideas to bring into her classroom.

Being chosen as a teacher at Hualalai Academy is an honor for Jennifer. She is ecstatic about sharing her excitement and passion for learning with her students.

Name:
Title: 2/3 Teacher

Profile

Dan is originally from Cleveland, Ohio with a life credential in Elementary Education from S.F. State University. Dan received his B.A. from the College of Wooster, Ohio. He has over thirty-three years of teaching experience, fifteen of them on the Big Island. He was an Apple Classroom of Tomorrow teacher. Dan is one of our resident computer and high tech specialists. He teaches the Hawaiian Studies Program to third graders, and is in charge of the school garden. His interests are reading, baseball, nature and reading about baseball and nature.

Name:
Title: 4/5 Teacher

Profile

Matt is an experienced, certified teacher from California, where he taught at Edison McNair Academy in East Palo Alto since 2001. From 2001-2007, he taught in a self-contained fifth grade classroom. In 2007-2008 he was the lead teacher on a sixth grade team. Matt has been a long-time member of the Hualalai Ohana - he is the son of Founding Head of School Felicity Johnson. In fact, he started his educational career at Hualalai Academy in 1994 as a math and PE teacher. He also coaches competitive soccer.