Our CGI Professional Development Teacher Educators are passionate professionals whose lives have been changed by their experiences with CGI. Their mission is to empower teachers as they guide their students to become capable, curious, and fearless mathematicians so that every child is willing and prepared to use mathematics to solve the world’s problems.
Dinah Brown. Teacher Educator, CGI Professional Development. Before joining the SDSU Professional Learning Collaborative, Ms. Brown was the Coordinator of Curriculum and Instruction, Del Mar, CA. Ms. Brown was already an experienced math facilitator when she attended her first CGI PD Session with Vicki Jacobs. She found CGI’s focus on understanding of how children think about solving problems to be the missing piece she had been searching for throughout her career. CGI PD changed her life forever and she chose to spend the last 17 years sharing her passion and knowledge with teachers both in her own district and other districts throughout the nation. Every teacher, principal and teacher aide in her school district has participated in four to seven years of CGI professional learning under Ms. Brown’s guidance. In 2017, Del Mar Union School District was awarded the Golden Bell Award for an exemplary professional learning program in the area of CGI. Prior to working in education administration, she was an elementary teacher who taught grades 3-6, with most of her teaching experience in grade 6.
Kristin Gibson. Teacher Educator, CGI Professional Development. Kristin Gibson is a lecturer at San Diego State University in the School of Teacher Education. She teaches courses in mathematics education that are guided by the principles of CGI and she contributes to projects at the Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education. She had the great fortune to train under CGI Researchers Vicki Jacobs, Rebecca Ambrose, and Randy Philipp. As a former elementary school teacher, she used CGI regularly with her young students. She has facilitated CGI professional development for the past 15 years and has also supported research-based innovations in mathematics education as a school board trustee in the Del Mar Union School District. Kristin is intrigued by how the principles of CGI can be generalized to other content areas and how CGI provides excellent opportunities for social-emotional learning.
Nick Johnson is an associate professor in the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. He is interested in how understanding the development of children’s ideas can open opportunities to recognize children’s strengths and broaden what counts as knowing and doing mathematics. Nick is a former elementary school teacher, instructional coach, and county office coordinator, and is co-author of Young Children’s Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction in Early Childhood Education.
Rachel Matteson is an elementary school teacher and a professional developer in the area of mathematics. Mrs. Matteson was introduced to the CGI research early in her teaching career. She was stunned by the diversity of thinking and depth of understanding demonstrated by young children and inspired to learn more to support her own students! Her work surrounding CGI transformed her own understanding of mathematics, her ideas about what quality math instruction should look like, and her expectations for students. Mrs. Matteson has been exploring children's thinking in the elementary classroom using CGI research for over 18 years. She has been providing professional development and coaching to teachers throughout California since 2003. Recently, Mrs. Matteson was a part of the work within Del Mar Union School District that resulted in the Golden Bell Award for an exemplary professional learning program in the area of CGI.
Stephanie Sullins attended her first CGI training as an upper elementary school teacher in the Del Mar Union School District in 2010. She was immediately intrigued by the idea that students innately bring a lot of mathematical understandings to the table and that it is our role as teachers to help guide that thinking, rather than constantly showing, as is often seen in traditional math lessons and curriculum. Her years of experience in upper elementary contribute to her depth of knowledge of how students’ understandings of whole numbers translate to fraction and decimal concepts. Stephanie feels so strongly about the power of CGI in regard to student learning and has found her passion in spreading this message to as many educators as possible. She has served as a lead teacher on district math committees to create valuable resources to help with CGI implementation. In 2017 she took on leadership roles in CGI professional development to help with districtwide implementation. She served as a Teacher-on-Special Assignment in math professional development for the Del Mar Union School District and she offered student intervention support at Title 1 schools. She currently serves as the CGI PDC director at San Diego State University, as well as being a CGI facilitator throughout San Diego County.
