Quest to Learn Design Team

Quest to Learn Design Team

Elisa Aragon, Executive Director of School brings twenty-four years of experience with the New York City Department of Education to her role as Executive Director of School, having received her principal certification in 1997. Originally from Maryland, Elisa moved to “the big city” after her sophomore year at the University of Maryland (Go Terps!) and graduated from City College of New York with a Bachelor of Science degree, Magna cum laude. Elisa started teaching in the New York Public Schools in 1984 at Park West High School and then transitioned to the CMSP Model School, teaching 7th and 8th grade Humanities. She believes that all these teaching experiences prepared her for the extraordinarily challenging work of teaching in the alternative high schools. Teaching the five subjects of the GED she worked in the basement of homeless shelters, working tirelessly to effect the cycle of poverty for the young mothers who were her students, and their babies, who are our future. “I learned the life changing lesson of resilience through watching my students tenaciously grow far beyond societal expectations, and even surpassing their own expectations.”

After obtaining a Master of Science in Education from Hunter College with a 4.0 average, Elisa continued her post-graduate studies at Fordham University, achieving a Professional Diploma in Education and earning her SAS. Elisa continued her work in the alternative high school district in the role of Assistant Principal Administration. For eight year Elisa focused her passion and talents as an instructional leader, supporting and honing the skills of classroom teachers who were teaching the most at-risk population of students in NYC. In June 2008 Elisa was selected to participate in the elite New York City Leadership Academy, the centerpiece of Chancellor Klein’ mission of transformation for our public education system. Elisa provided administrative support during the September 2008 roll out of the innovative NYC iSchool in Soho, a selective 9 – 12 fully integrating 21st century technology in a progressive model of interdisciplinary, real-world, problem-based instruction. Elisa left her administrative position at the highly successful and respected High School of Telecommunication Arts to accept a leadership position as principal with Quest to Learn. Her dynamic leadership style, experience and deep knowledge of instruction make her a perfect fit with the goals and mission of our school. Email earagon@Q2L.org

Rebecca Rufo-Tepper has been working in the New York City public school system for nine years. Her first teaching job was at A.C.O.R.N. High School for Social Justice, an inner-city school in Bushwick. She is currently a literacy coach at East Side Middle School, a public school in Manhattan, where she previously taught 8th grade Humanities for five years. Rebecca is professional development facilitator for the Holocaust Educators Network in New York City and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. Her work has focused on Lesson Study as a strategy for the development of robust professional development communities. Through lesson study teachers engage in a well-defined process that involves discussing lessons that they have first planned and observed together. She has presented on her research at national conferences, including NCTE, NMSA, and ISCHE. Rebecca is also an instructor of English Education in Hunter College's Curriculum and Teaching Department and is working with Pam Grossman at Stanford University on a research project on New York City ELA teachers, and is completing a PhD at The Graduate Center at CUNY in Urban Education. Email rrufo-tepper@Q2L.org

Katie Salen is the Executive Director of the Institute of Play, and Professor in the Design and Technology, Parsons the New School for Design. As the lead institutional partner for Quest to Learn, she has led development of strategic partnerships, including those with Pearson, The New School, and the MacArthur Foundation research network. She has extensive experience working with young people in the area of media creation and game design, and has a deep knowledge of issues surrounding the potential integration of digital media, games, and technology into learning environments, like schools, libraries, and museums. Katie has published three books that have come to serve as seminal in the research field of games and learning: Rules of Play, a textbook on game design, The Game Design Reader, and The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, all from MIT Press. She has worked as a game designer for over 10 years and is co-editor of The International Journal of Learning and Media. As a leading scholar in the field, Katie is a sought-after thinker and speaker at media, games and learning events nationally and abroad. She has received over $2.5 million in funding for her work in the past 2 years. Katie holds advanced degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the Rhode Island School of Design. Email ksalen@Q2L.org

Arana Shapiro has been working in the field of education for ten years. Her first teaching position was in the Inglewood Public School District, where she taught for three years. In Inglewood, Arana served on the district curriculum review team, helping to develop and implement new curriculum in this small district. Upon moving to New York City, Arana began working at Teachers College, Columbia University’s Early Childhood Education Program. At Teachers College (TC), Arana helped develop the Early Childhood Education department’s new student teacher program by visiting New York City public school classrooms and finding appropriate placement and mentorship for TC students. It was during her work at Teachers College when Arana began working with a group of educators to develop curriculum for a new school, The School at Columbia University and subsequently became a founding faculty member of The School in 2003. Arana's desire to bring new media technologies into the classroom prompted her to migrate from the classroom to the technology team at The School and later to the Lead Educational Technologist position at the Ross Institute, where she integrated technology into K-12 classrooms at both The Ross School in East Hampton and Ross Global Academy Charter School. In addition, Arana was a reading specialist for Groundwork for Youth in East New York Public Schools. She has presented research at many national education conferences, including AERA and NCTM. She received her Masters of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Second Language Learning and Acquisition from Pepperdine University, and did coursework in TC’s Communication and Education program. Email ashapiro@Q2L.org

Robert Torres has worked as a teacher, school principal and education consultant since 1988. He taught 5th grade as a Teach for America teacher, served as a school director as part of TFA teacher induction programs and eventually became President of Teach for America’s National Faculty. As a spin-off of TFA, Robert designed and became principal of The Learning Project One Middle School from 1995 to 1999, a school primarily serving low-income students of the Lower East Side. By the end of his tenure there in 1999, the school’s chess team had placed first in a national tournament in Phoenix and 69% of the students had scored at or above grade level in math and 68% in reading—representing gains of over 20 and 30 points respectively—and making it the second highest scoring middle school in NYC’s former Community School District One. Since 1999, Robert has focused mostly on school design and currently runs a not for profit, designbydesign.org, which has designed or supported the creation of over 30 small progressive across New York City and Connecticut. designbydesign works with teachers, parents, and CBOs to create exemplary learning communities that depart from traditional industrial-era models of schooling. Robert has a B.A. from Oberlin College, a Masters in policy and school administration at Bank Street College of Education and was a Stanford University Research Fellow. Currently Robert is completing a learning sciences doctorate focused on games and learning at New York University. Email rtorres@Q2L.org

Loretta Wolozin teaches and coordinates the Research and Writing curriculum for the MFA Design and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design. At Parsons, Loretta co-founded Lime Learning Lab (2002-2004), dedicated to K-12 classroom-based research of learning-media projects. Forging a partnership with The College of New Jersey’s Early & Elementary Teacher Education program, Loretta initiated classroom testing of the prototype, Kinderboard on Kindertable, in two New Jersey schools with divergent demographics. Her publications include: “Look Duck Feet: Kinderboard on Kindertable (the prototype) Goes to Classrooms" and “Literacy Inventory Protocol (LIP): Pedagogical Tool for Iterative Prototype Design,” presented at the Interaction Design and Children Conference (Boulder, 2005). Prior to joining Parsons, Loretta put her Permanent Secondary Teacher’s Credential to work as Education Editor for 25+ years at Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company (Boston). Loretta has deep knowledge of contemporary research on learning and has worked closely with leading learning scientists in the development of K-12 Teacher Education materials. She holds an MFA in Design & Technology, with a concentration in literacy: story and skills multimedia (Parsons School of Design), an M.A.T. in English Education, B.A. in English Literature (The University of Santa Clara), and a Permanent California Standard Secondary Teacher’s Credential (English/ History). Email lwolozin@Q2L.org