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Hello! My name is Brian DeMone. I teach 6th and 7th grade Physical Education at CCPS. I enjoy many things such as music, traveling, and spending time with my family.

Fun fact- I play guitar

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Hello, my name is Katherine Smith. I’ve been at CCPS since 2013. I’ve had the privilege of teachings grades 9-11 in English Lit and am currently the college counselor. I have two daughters, a husband, and three golden doodles.
I enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with my family and friends. Working at CCPS is amazing and I love my job!

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Hello! My name is Sam Hawley. I currently work with grades 11 and 12 in the IB Visual Arts courses. This is my 7th year at CCPS.

I enjoy all things plants, art, music, and food. I like to travel, meet people, and learn.

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I have been teaching for 20 years and have been at Cottonwood Classical for the past 11 years. Through the course of my career I have taught most of the sciences in high school and middle school. Currently I teach high school physical education. I also coach cross country and track and field.

Fun fact: I didn't see anything "big or pink" in the lower right corner. I glad there was a plus sign.

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I currently teach Spanish 3 and 4. I have taught Span.IB2 and Ab Initio at our school. This is my 11th year at CCPS, and I have been an educator for almost 40 yrs. I have taught K- upper level university classes, and have also taught at private, public and charter schools. I have taught in low-income settings and in high income settings. I have lived abroad in 4 Spanish speaking countries, and seven states. Civil and human rights are very important to me, and are addressed in my classes in various ways. Interests include: politics, art, literature, and travel.

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I currently teach ensembled based guitar classes for grades 6, 7, 8, and 10 and Cottonwood Classical.  This is my 6th year at the school.

I am an active performer in the Albuquerque area. My solo guitar act features instrumental pop songs, singer/songwriter songs, and loop jams. I was nominated for Best Instrumentalist in Albuquerque The Magazine's yearly Best of the City in 2020.

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Ms. Lina Ramos a native New Mexican is an arts educator, director, conductor, opera singer and performer.

Ms. Ramos has served as an educator for over 30 years, where she has had such remarkable teaching experiences in locations such as the inner city schools of Washington D.C. to rural schools in New Mexico.

In service to the community, Ms. Ramos feels fortunate to have conducted and directed over 30 shows for the musical theatre community, various churches and schools.  Ms. Ramos also has served as Music Director and has been on the board of the New Mexico High School Musical Theatre Awards since 2015. Also, currently Ms. Ramos serves on the Bernalillo County Arts board and represents District 3.

Ms. Ramos also continues to teach the performing arts such as drama, choir and voice in numerous settings, such as her recent work with the Santa Fe Opera Alto Program.

As a performer and singer Ms. Ramos continues to perform all genres of singing as her recent appearance as Dona Rosa in Opera Southwest’s production of Il Postino and in various jazz concerts.

Ms. Ramos currently teaches theatre, choir and IB Theatre at Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School and thoroughly enjoys working with the amazing CCPS students.

Ms. Ramos is also of Cuban heritage and loves to dance salsa and other passions include cooking and songwriting

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Hello, my name is Alba Ortiz. I am originally from Colombia, I had taught nationally e internationally in private and public settings. Currently, I teach IB Spanish at CCPS, and for the past 3 years I taught IB French and IB Spanish.
I love to travel and also give my students the opportunity to travel, and practice the language of study in a different country.
Last year I become IB Examiner, this is a job that i enjoy very much and I am looking forward to grade the 2021 Spanish IB Exams. I love the outdoors, golfing, hiking, and walking, other passions are painting, working on my garden, and spending time with my family.

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My name is Melissa Torres. I am originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, but have lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico for 20+ years. This is my 20th year of teaching and my 5th year at Cottonwood. Both of my kids attend CCPS (7th grade and 10th grade). Currently I teach Spanish I and Spanish II. When I was young, I studied abroad in Querétaro, México and Salamanca, Spain. I enjoy being outdoors, gardening, walking my dog, and hiking with my family.

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LJ wants to live in a world where her knees do not mash into the plane seat in front of her, where phones can eject a dark chocolate truffle on command, and everyone wants to keep learning until they die.

LJ worked in several industries for over 30 years. During these perambulations, she worked in a bookstore, where her addiction to all things printed was let free. After leaving the book industry, she went on to become a bank teller, then a paralegal, and then a consultant at one of the Big 6 accounting firms (where she made a bajillion dollars and had no life), then a coder, then a telephone tech support specialist. In each of these industries, she was drawn to the training part of her job. Finally, she decided to pursue teaching. She attended the alternative teaching license program at CNM. Her first job was teaching technology at Grant Middle School, a member of the APS district. Over the summer of 2020, she was casually browsing her email, when a job opening appeared for teaching technology at Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School. After beating about 60000 candidates, LJ was awarded the job.

An avid tool gal, LJ does the renovations on her house by herself. She laid flooring, framed walls, and installed things.

If you ever catch her standing still, you just might win a prize!

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¡Hola! My name is Madeline Alford and I grew up in Portland, Oregon. I currently teach 8th grade Spanish I at Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is my 3rd year of teaching. More than anything, I love to travel and practice my Spanish. Throughout the years, I've studied abroad in Ecuador and Peru, and I've also taught ESL (English as a Second Language) in Colombia and Indonesia. A fun fact about me is that I'm an avid Irish dancer; I've been Irish dancing for ~20 years now.

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Hi everyone! My name is Kelsey Lewis and I am thrilled to be facilitating this workshop and learning with all of you. :) I live in Toronto and I am a PhD student in the Educational Leadership and Policy department at the Ontario Institute for Studies at the University of Toronto. I am currently researching the impact of COVID on schooling and how school leaders can support the mental health of teachers. I support the IB as a workshop leader, visiting team member, IB field representative, content developer and curriculum reviewer. I began my teaching career in Ontario 20 years ago where I spent the first two years teaching multiple grade levels in both a homeroom and support capacity. I was PYP coordinator at the American School of Bilbao in Spain and previous to that the Director of Curriculum at The York School in Canada. Before taking on a curriculum coordinator role I taught internationally at the Western Academy of Beijing, the International School of Düsseldorf and the International School of Bremen in Germany. In 2018 I returned to Canada after my last post as Elementary principal at Hanoi International School in Vietnam. On a personal note, I am mom to six little go-getters. I look forward to connecting with all of you! Warmly, Kelsey