Lauren Maucere
Lauren Maucere is currently an educator at Marlton; Los Angeles' only day school for the deaf. Prior to becoming a teacher, Lauren, a 2015 CSUN distinguished speaker for the Dept. of Special Education hooding ceremony, was a member of the task force for the National Center on Deafness at CSUN, developing and implementing its mission statement and center guidelines, as well as serving on the steering committee for the award-winning documentary, Through Your Child's Eyes: American Sign Language. When not teaching, Lauren, a co-founder, co-directs KODAWest (hearing Kids of Deaf Adults), the first non-profit organization in the United States to provide year-round, full-service programming to KODA families. This past summer, Lauren was the closing keynote speaker at the first National Deaf Education Conference in association with the National Association of the Deaf. Recently, Lauren authored an article on the Gates Foundation’s blog about being the voice of change in the education system: http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2015/10/Being-the-Voice-of-Change#.Vo60hMu1M0kCurrently, Lauren, a keynote speaker at the Melinda & Bill Gates Foundation’s education summit, can be seen on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZO6uyJHTJ4 and through the Teacher2Teacher organization: https://www.facebook.com/tchr2tchr/videos/614506568690553/?theater To learn more about Lauren, visit www.laurenmaucere.com
Heidi Givens
Heidi Givens, a National Board Certified Teacher, has taught deaf and hard of hearing students for 21 years. She has recently left the classroom to serve as Director of Student services for Frankfort Independent School District in Kentucky. Heidi is the president-elect of the Convention of American Instructors of the Deaf and co-founder of the Kentucky Educators for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She has served on many regional, state, and national ECET2 planning committees. Heidi has recently completed her two year term as a member of the 2014-2016 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Teacher Advisory Council. Heidi was also the 2013 Kentucky Elementary Teacher of the Year. She earned a B.S. in Deaf Studies and M.Ed. in Deaf Education from Boston University as well as a Director of Special Education certification from University of the Cumberlands. Heidi enjoys blogging about her teacher leadership journey and advocacy efforts for Deaf Education at www.heidideafed.blogspot.com and is very active in the #DeafEd Twitter chats.
Stacy Eilbert
Stacy Eilbert has more than 20 years of teaching experience under her belt. At the present time, she is a high school American History teacher at California School for the Deaf in Fremont. She has taught at other California schools: University High School in Irvine and California School for the Deaf, Riverside, as well as a short stint at the Maryland School for the Deaf in Frederick. She received her bachelor of arts in History at Gallaudet University and her masters in Deaf Education from Western Maryland College, now known as McDaniel College. Stacy has been involved with many activities supporting students such as being an Academic Bowl coach for three different schools and teaching about international studies, taking the students abroad for an inclusive trip in the respective country of study. In her free time, Stacy is busy with her two children, Risa and Harrison, as well as a dog and two cats.
Amy Kimmerle
Amy Kimmerle is a history teacher at CSDR's middle school where she has been for 6 years. She has a bachelors in history from the University of Pittsburgh and a masters degree from McDaniel College in Deaf Education. Amy has led workshops at Cal-Ed as well as participating in the State Special School's Instructional Leadership Academy. She enjoys all things educational technology and is always looking for new and innovating ways to engage her students in 21st century learning. On a personal note, Amy loves long-distance running as well as traveling, and is expecting her first child in February.
Nicolette Obidos
Nicolette has 13 years experience in Deaf Education and is a mother of 2 Deaf Children. She is currently 4th grade teacher at CSDR where she has been for the past 9 years. Nicolette has Bachelors degrees in Educational Psychology, Child Development & Family Studies and a General Education Teaching Credential from Arizona State University as well as a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Phoenix. She also completed her Teaching Credential at University of California, Los Angeles. Nicolette has participated multiple workshops and most recently, the State Special School’s Instructional Leadership Academy. She also was one of co-founders, and is currently president, of the Deaf Women of Riverside. Nicolette enjoys a variety of things especially outdoors and traveling. She also enjoying bringing and sharing the world outside into the classrooms.
Jenny Cantrell
Jenny Cantrell has taught primarily American History to eighth graders at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont for the past 17 years. Her undergraduate coursework was at Gallaudet University and her graduate work was at San Francisco State University. Jenny has been involved in a variety of innovations and endeavors that support her students, including hosting a mock presidential or gubernatorial election every two years and leading her department in ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development under the auspices of Dr. Steve Nover. She has also been involved in the community in different ways, such as being on the DCARA (Deaf Counseling Advocacy and Referral Agency) board, the NorCal GUAA chapter vice president, and many other things. Her passion for learning and travel has led her to many different experiences and insights that inform her work with her students.
Stephanie Johnson
Stephanie Johnson is a Preschool and Kindergarten teacher at Marlton School for the Deaf. She is also an ASL/English Bilingual Professional Development Mentor at Marlton School (Day School for the Deaf). Stephanie has worked at Marlton School as a teacher since 1999. She has been an AEBPD mentor at Marlton School in Los Angeles since 2005. The (AEBPD) American Sign Language (ASL)/English Bilingual Professional Development program is a conceptual framework for Deaf Education that is similar to Bilingual/ESL approaches to English Literacy.
Aside from working at Marlton, Stephanie was involved as a chair person for California Educators of the Deaf at a Conference in 2013 and is still a board member as a president with CAL-ED. I am also a part time faculty staff at CSUN/Deaf Education. She teaches a course called Foundation of the Deaf Education at teaching credential program at CSUN while continuing to enjoy teaching a family sign class at Mayall School.
Aside from working at Marlton, Stephanie was involved as a chair person for California Educators of the Deaf at a Conference in 2013 and is still a board member as a president with CAL-ED. I am also a part time faculty staff at CSUN/Deaf Education. She teaches a course called Foundation of the Deaf Education at teaching credential program at CSUN while continuing to enjoy teaching a family sign class at Mayall School.