Gail Calvo - Second Grade Teacher

Location: West Mercer Elementary

Philosophy: “I love cooperative learning,” says Gail. “In a classroom there are varying degrees of abilities. One child is good in math, another in social studies. I encourage them to help each other, to give and take.” Gail believes that learning to cope in the world and problem-solve are as important as academics. “As the year progresses,” says Gail, “I encourage students to share their problems and explain how they resolved them.”

Gail also empowers her students to make a difference in the world. “One of the highlights in my second grade curriculum is the Giraffe Club project. This is where students stick out their necks, just like a giraffe to make a difference in their community. We study five different diverse leaders. Students then pick a community project where they can help out and make a difference. They learn about historical figures like Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who helped to free other slaves. They were shocked to learn that people were once owned, and they learned how individuals can make a huge impact in the world.”


Typical day: : “I like a daily routine that is individualized and covers multiple subjects,” says Gail. “For instance, we have an activity called Word of the Day. Students find a word in the dictionary; write out the syllables and the definition. As the year progresses, they are to determine by how many 'words of the day' they've done how many school days there have been. Let’s say it’s 85 days. I challenge them to come up with an equation where only eights are used. They all do something unique, and then explain how they got their equation. When they can explain to you how they know the answer–those are the 'Ah Ha' moments for me, to see the joy when they understand.”

Best part of the job: “I have what’s known as “quiet lunch” in my classroom, because the main lunchroom is big and noisy and overwhelming for some kids. Now and then former students will ask if they can join me for quiet lunch, just because they miss me. As time passes, you realize how much you impact some children. All it takes is to sit and listen to them. Kids teach us. I learned a lot in 2nd grade, as a teacher!”

Something people may not know: “I love dance,” says Gail. “Ballet, everything. I love the theatre. If I could retire I’d travel the world watching dance and plays. And eating!” Gail’s 27-year old son Joshua went through MISD schools.

Years in district: Gail began as a classroom aide for Lujean Whitmore in 1991 and became a full-time teacher in 1997.

Outside interests: “I love to cook,” says Gail. “And I love to read books that relate to cooking!” Gail is also an avid baseball fan like her mother, and lists chocolate and gardening among other enthusiasms. She lives on Mercer Island with husband, Mark, and they recently celebrated 33 years of marriage.

Joby McGowan - Kindergarten Teacher

Location: Lakeridge Elementary

Philosophy: Starting kindergarten can be an overwhelming experience for five-year-olds. “When kids are scared,” Joby explains, “I attempt to validate their concern rather than try to solve it for them. Just knowing someone gets how you feel is all it takes to have clearer vision. It calms you. If someone isn’t validated they don’t hear what else you say.” Joby has found that validation helps to comfort parents, as well. “When parents register concerns they are only advocating for their child. Knowing there are other adults who attempt to understand their child gives them a sense of peace. My job is about helping people feel connected. Both kids and adults need that.”

Typical day: “I roll in and whip up the rigor.” says Joby. “Then I welcome students, facilitate problem-solving, teach kids how to read, write, and be mathematicians. They have a snack. We read some great children’s literature, and I high-five them on the way out the door so we can do it again the next day.”

Best part of the job: Joby says there are three best parts of the job: 1) Watching kids make connections to the real world, 2) Watching a classroom community develop, 3) Teaching kids how to look at situations from more than one perspective. “Seeing other perspectives wasn’t my strong suit during my early years in the district,” he admits. “I appreciate that I was given an opportunity to grow and improve in that department. Oddly enough, teaching kids to be flexible in their thinking is the most enjoyable part of the job for me now, though I still have plenty of room for growth in that area. I need these kids more than they need me.”

Something people may not know: Joby was the homecoming king at his small Iowa high school.

Years in district: Joby has worked for MISD for nine years. He has taught first and second grades as well as kindergarten.

Outside interests: Joby has a glass fusing studio in his home. He makes trays, wind chimes and a variety of other things. He has even taught his students to fuse glass. “When you empower kids to be responsible they can handle it.” Joby also enjoys resort vacations in sunny destinations. “My favorite trip was to Cancun,” he says. “I love eating out and ordering Crème Brule for dessert before dinner. You sit by the pool, you don’t have to clean up, and who doesn’t like to be waited on?” Joby lives in Greenlake.

Barb Hallgren - Attendance Secretary and Fine Arts Secretary

Location: Mercer Island High School

Job description: The attendance office near the front entrance of the high school has a barista-like window facing onto the hallway. The person standing behind the window is often called upon to answer questions from passersby. Consequently, Barb sits at the other end of her office where she’s not easily seen. She does have a mirror above her desk should one of her TAs be unavailable. “If I sat at the window,” she laughs, “I’d never get anything done!” Officially, the attendance office is where students submit their absence-excuse notes. Barb ensures attendance accuracy and that all notes are filed. “If I didn’t have TAs,” she says, “it would be tough. They stand at the hallway window so I can do my work. I expect a lot from them.”

The Fine Arts portion of Barb’s job involves managing budgets for high school music, art, drama, and middle school music. She prepares open PO’s, processes bills and reconciles them against their respective budgets. “I move money around,” says Barb. “It’s a big job.” She also gathers the information for high school concerts, designs the layout of programs and produces them on the copy machine. She maintains the Fine Arts calendar for the district, coordinating with all elementary, IMS and HS music teachers.

Typical day: Barb begins her day at 7:30 a.m. For the first 45 minutes she is very busy with kids dropping off their absence notes. “It’s nonstop with a lot of ups-and-downs out of my chair,” says Barb. “It’s necessary to mesh both my jobs together and jump from one to the other as needed.”

Best part of the job: The students. “My first ten years in this district were spent as a paraprofessional at West Mercer,” says Barb. “I loved working with little kids. When I transferred to the high school I was afraid the students were going to eat me alive!” Happily, Barbs fears were unfounded. “It’s been wonderful,” she says. It’s also enabled her to track the progress of some students. “A young man came to my window and said ‘Mrs. Hallgren! You taught me how to read!’ I love seeing the kids grow up.”

Something people may not know: Barb graduated from MIHS. She married her almost-high school sweetheart, Dave – (“I met him just after I graduated”). She and Dave have been married for 37 years and still live on the Island.

Years in district: Barb has worked for the district for 21 years, starting as a paraprofessional at West Mercer when her children attended the school.

Outside interests: Barb loves spending time with family and friends. For 30 years, she and Dave have owned a little red cabin in Long Beach, WA. Says Barb, “We consider it glorified camping!” It’s 100 years old, 500 square feet, lacks insulation and a bathroom, but it does have an outhouse, a pitcher-pump kitchen sink, and a kerosene-stove heater. “It’s our home-away-from-home,” says Barb. Their other favorite getaway is a time-share in Hawaii, where they try to visit once a year. Barb and Dave have three grown children – Jason, Craig, and Lindsey, as well as a grandson, Landon. Barb loves to go for walks and to read.

Patri Collins - 8th Grade US History and Film-Photo-Music Teacher

Location: Islander Middle School

Job description: Patri teaches US History, which spans the beginning of the American Revolution to the post civil war era, to a wide spectrum of students. His Film-Photo-Music class is a trimester-long class in art appreciation that covers the history of film and photography along with different genres of music.

Typical day: “I don’t come in like gangbusters in the morning,” says Patri, who starts the day with a prep-period. “I take the bus to work from the U-District, which,” he notes drily, “only takes a little over an hour.” His bike-ride home is a much swifter commute.

Patri tries to break away from a rote method of presenting history. “As a kid growing up in London,” he says, “I didn’t have to be sold on history. I want to get my students excited about history and to challenge their assumptions.” Since it’s impractical to take a field trip to Independence Hall, Patri uses a project-based, inquiry-based approach. Students might produce a radio show about the interaction between natural disasters and history. Or, write an acrostic poem about manifest destiny, learn about map-making, or draw cartoons about the Monroe Doctrine.

His Film-Photo-Music class is an elective, so there is no homework or traditional exercises. Instead, students explore different ways of looking at the world through various art forms. Patri shows them classic and foreign movies such Trip to the Moon, Demolition of a Wall, and the 1933 version of King Kong. “Once they get over the shock of subtitles and black and white,” he says, “they actually like them.” The class recently took a field trip to the Experience Music Project to see a Nirvana exhibit. Says Patri, “I asked them to dress in grunge (a flannel shirt and jeans thrift-store fashion style popularized by the band), “and several of the kids pointed out that I dress in grunge, normally.” The class also held a Beatles vs. Rolling Stones contest. Students learn about folk and blues music, too. In the spirit of Woody Guthrie, they wrote their own folk songs based on articles from the Mercer Island Reporter. “It’s a fun class,” says Patri.

Best part of the job: “It’s nice,” Patri says, “when students come back years later and tell me they remember my class.”

Something people may not know: “I was born in an ambulance,” says Patri. “I was the first baby the attendant had ever delivered.”

Years in district: Patri began teaching for the district in 2001.

Outside interests: “I am interested in the idea of planned communities,” says Patri. To that end, he likes to visit the sites of historical utopian communities in the Puget Sound area. “There were a lot of these places in the 19th century,” he explains. “Some were political, some were religious. None of them are still intact, and there’s usually not even a plaque to show they were there. But I just go for kicks, and it’s a good way to see the state.” Patri plays guitar and likes to travel. “The last time I left the country,” he says, “I went to Oman and the United Arab Emirates.” Patri also likes to read, visit art museums, and roll sushi. He and his wife, Jill, have a kindergarten-aged son, Felix. “Actually,” Patri confesses, “I spend most of my free time playing with Legos.”

Ingrid Stipes - Fourth Grade Teacher

Location: West Mercer Elementary

How she sees her job: Beyond teaching district curriculum, “I teach kids how to think for themselves,” says Ingrid. “Today’s kids are very guided. They have so many things done for them. Busy lives in a hurried world have led us to this. I ask my kids to stop, look at what they are doing, and consider – ‘How do I think I did on this project? Did I work my hardest? Did I do quality work? What can I do differently next time?’ I want them to take it deeper. I don’t think 9-10 year olds are too young for that. I want them to know how to make informed decisions when they are grown up, to become productive and knowledgeable people of the world. I also teach time management, a skill they will need in the upper grades.”

Typical day: “The beauty of elementary school is that we are not on a fixed schedule,” Ingrid says. “We have the luxury of big blocks of time, so if a lesson gets really exciting we don’t have to stop.” Each day includes Readers Workshop, math, music, and literacy block. In addition, “every Wednesday we do an art project, no matter what!” Ingrid exclaims. “Art is a problem-solving experience. You can see into the minds of children in the art they create. But it’s not about the end product. It’s about what they learned during the process.”

Best part of the job: “Hanging out with 9-10 year olds who are full of new ideas, enthusiasms, and are excited about life. I feel lucky that I get to share in that. I found my niche in elementary school. I also feel really lucky to be with the excellent teachers and staff here at West Mercer.”

Something people may not know: “I’m a closet welder,“ Ingrid says, laughing. “I love to solder!” After a tin-smithing class, Ingrid designed a tin doll – a loose-limbed hanging piece. “I’m getting ready to solder some pleats in her skirt.”

Years in district: 33 years with MISD. Ingrid taught at the UW Lab School for four years prior, where she was trained to teach Special Education.

Outside interests: “I like to keep my old bones moving,” Ingrid says, laughing. She makes time for swimming and walking. Biking is an interest she shares with husband Jim, a retired MISD teacher. “We biked every day last summer,” says Ingrid. She also likes to read, and write poetry. Ingrid and Jim live on Mercer Island. They have three grown children – James, Sarah, and Matt. Now that the children are gone, a “darling barn cat named Cleo” keeps the household lively. “She’s a hoot!” says Ingrid.

Vicky Mann – Seventh-Grade Language Arts/Social Studies Teacher

Location: Islander Middle School

What she does: Vicky teaches two seventh-grade Language Arts/Social Studies (LA/SS) block classes, as well as one split-block class where she teaches the language arts section. “Language arts and social studies are so well-connected,” says Vicky. “Reading and writing is such a part of history, and it makes both subjects more interesting. We also explore current events and examine how they relate to issues from 200 years ago.” The social studies curriculum is Washington State history, which was transferred from ninth-grade to seventh-grade curriculum several years ago. “Initially,” says Vicky, “we feared it would be too dry for seventh-graders. I grew up in Massachusetts and I’m sure I took a class on Massachusetts history, but I don’t remember it.” IMS social studies teachers tailored the unit to their students. “Because it’s local, they can relate to it,” Vicky explains, “and so much of it is still new to me – a non-native– that it’s fresh and exciting. I hope I bring that to the kids.

Typical day: Vicky is in her classroom by 7:30 a.m. to answer email, confer with parents, and prepare for the day ahead. Class starts at 8:20 a.m. “We might work out of the textbook,” says Vicky, “read a story, or have a discussion. The kids try to get me to veer off on these crazy tangents so we can have long discussions!” Vicky has found that seventh-graders are stronger in verbal skills than written skills. “They are much more eager to talk,” she says, “than to write.” To develop writing skills, she has them write out their thoughts and arguments before allowing them to participate in discussions. “A large part of my day is spent encouraging them to work independently,” Vicky adds. “I’m always telling them, ‘use the tools you are given!’ They tend to want you to show them how to do it, rather than to follow instructions.” Tuesday through Thursday, Vicky can be found in the after-school Homework Center for students who need extra help or just a quiet space to do their homework. She normally ends her day around 5:00 p.m. “And I still have to take work home with me,” she confesses. “I’m trying not to, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.” After work she heads to the gym if she didn’t make it there that morning. “Going to the gym really helps me clear my head.”

Best part of the job: “I love the kids,” Vicky says, “but collaborating with the people at IMS makes it an incredible place to work. My friends say ‘don’t you just teach the same thing every year?’ but I don’t think there is any good teacher who is not a life-long learner. Keeping the material fresh and interesting is part of the job. The very first day of school is probably the scariest for me. The kids are staring at me with expectation, waiting for me to do my magic!” Vicky laughs. Some days, she feels she exceeds their expectations. “This job,” she says, “is about constantly becoming a better teacher, and I have a lot of help. We have so many resources in this district, but it’s the people who make it worthwhile.”

Something people may not know: “I had my glee on long before Glee!” Vicky laughs. In the summer of 1974, she sang with the acapella group, the Whiffenpoofs of Yale. “My high-school friends and I met them on vacation in Bermuda, and we sang Goin’ to the Chapel on stage.” Vicky met her husband, Hummie, at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she worked in the graphic design department and he was on a student visa from Canada. She followed him to Toronto where she got her Bachelors in Education at Ryerson University. After graduation, the couple moved to Los Angeles where Vicky obtained her teaching credentials, and became a special education junior high teacher. After visiting friends on Mercer Island, they moved here in 1996.

Years in district: This is Vicky’s 12th year with MISD. She began with the district as a long-term eighth-grade substitute. After being hired permanently, she taught one more year of eighth-grade before transferring to seventh-grade, which she has taught since.

Outside interests: “I don’t have a lot of time for outside interests,” says Vicky. But when she can, she enjoys films, world music, yoga, traveling, and her book club. Vicky’s husband, Hummie (yes, as Vicky explains, Hummie is his legal name but not the one he was born with – it’s a derivation of a young sister’s inability to pronounce his real name) is a film composer and an educator with his own program called the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program which has recently become affiliated with the Seattle Film Institute. Their two daughters completed their school years in the Mercer Island School District. Sarah is a professional dancer in Los Angeles who will soon make her debut on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew. Jessi will graduate this year from George Washington University with a double major in dance and sociology, and will continue at GWU grad school to study public policy.

Karen Sherwood – AP US History/Honors English Block and World History Teacher

Location: Mercer Island High School

What she does: “I love taking students beyond facts and statistics to examine the big themes in history and why it matters. It’s not my job to tell them what to think,” says Karen, “but to teach them TO think.” This distinction comes up frequently when evaluating our nation’s policies, both in the past and in the present. In a recent unit on industrialization-era immigration, Karen’s students had a lively debate on the question of what factors should influence our immigration policies. They’d studied different points of view regarding current Arizona immigration laws in the news, and were making connections to those of the past, comparing how attitudes have changed and evolved. In the block class, History and English combine well to teach students to articulate their opinions in a clear voice. “They all have fabulous ideas,” says Karen, “and our class helps them learn to formulate those ideas into coherent arguments with strong support.”

Typical day: Karen’s day begins with two block periods (four hours) of AP/Honors American Studies followed by her prep periods and then 7th period World History. Though classes are over by 3:00 pm, she regularly stays after school for individual writing conferences with students. Most evenings are devoted to grading papers and projects because, as she says, “I really try to give them meaningful feedback.” Collecting 120 AP-level essays at a time requires significant time commitments for grading beyond the regular work day.

Best part of the job: “The most exciting part,” says Karen, “is watching my students discover that they can be agents of change in the world.” Karen was the first MIHS teacher to participate in the Multicultural Scholarship Program run by Museum Without Walls, a non-profit educational organization. She accompanied students from MIHS and Rainier Beach High School on a Civil Rights tour of the American South. “It was so powerful for my kids,” says Karen. “They got to know the students from Rainier Beach and to see how different their lives are, even though they live only 10 miles away. They had meaningful discussions with them about race issues. They learned they could become people who make history happen.”

Something people may not know: “I am a total anglophile!” she says. “It stems from a three-week King Arthur study tour in eighth grade. My English teacher took us to England where we visited the fabled king’s haunts – places like Avalon and Glastonbury Abbey.” Her junior year of college at Oxford cemented her love for the UK. Born in Massachusetts, Karen and her family moved to Chicago, and then to Mercer Island. Karen is a 1991 graduate of MIHS. “I still have long-lasting, rich friendships from that time,” she says.

Years in district: This is Karen’s ninth year with MISD. “But I taught informally before that,” she says. As an employee of the City of Seattle, her job was to raise resources for emergency food providers. She created a middle school service-learning program to promote hunger-awareness on a local and global level. “The more I worked with the students, the more I realized how much I liked teaching,” she says. “It helped me focus my direction.”

Outside interests: Karen and her boyfriend, Jeff, like to kayak, and regularly visit the San Juans and the west coast of Canada. She credits her outdoor-loving boyfriend with pushing her to develop new skills in these pursuits. “I like that I’m not afraid to hop in a boat and have an adventure!” Karen also enjoys traveling, frequently visiting her sister Deborah who lives in the Netherlands. “Her home is a good base from which to jump around Europe.” Karen lives in Leschi. “I can see Mercer Island and the floating bridge from my balcony,” she says. “I check the traffic over my coffee in the morning!”