Dr. Armstrong is a clinical assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1991, she began teaching K-8 art at Falk and currently teaches the youngest children in grades K-4. In a former life, she taught art at the Western Pa School for Blind Children and in the Children's Studio at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Her doctoral research focused on early childhood art education. Other research interests include the role of play in young children's artmaking, museum education and young children, Reggio-inspired approaches in early childhood education, and narrative inquiry as a research genre to study one's teaching practice. She is a weaver and enjoys drawing, painting, writing, hiking and biking, cooking fun meals for family and friends, and sailing with her husband.  

Christa learned to love Falk through her student teaching experience in Kindergarten during the 2016-2017 school year. She has a variety of experience in regards to working with young children. After she completed her teaching certification at the University of Pittsburgh, she began her work as a Preschool Educator at the Cyert Center for Early Education- Penn Avenue. Christa is thrilled to be back in the Kindergarten classroom! In her spare time she enjoys hiking, kayaking, swimming, reading, live music and Pirate baseball games.

 

Jeremiah Davis is joining Falk School this year as our Educator-in-Residence Diversity and Inclusion. Jeremiah, whom is originally from Toledo, OH, is a 2013 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. He holds a B.S. in business administration and marketing. He brings his extensive experience working youth in multiple capacities around Pittsburgh region. Most recently Mr. Davis worked through the Center for Urban Education here at the University of Pittsburgh as a Heinz Fellow. In his Heinz Fellow role he worked as a mentor, tutor, educator and social justice advocate for students the University Prep High School. Jeremiah also has experience as a teaching-artist through teaching poetry and hip-hop as a way to expose to students to broader social issues at the Art Greenhouse Program at Carnegie-Mellon University. Here at Falk, Mr. Davis will be part of the 6th-8th grade Social Justice teaching team, will work with middle school advisors to develop programming around diversity and inclusion topics for their advisory sessions, and will serve as a resource for teachers and students in all grades, K-8.

Diana Dimitrovski is one of the Kindergarten teachers on our Primary team. She is also the Primary Team Leader. She has been a part of the Falk School community for many years.  She began her time at Falk as a university student who worked in our Afterschool Program. From there she went on to complete her internship in the Kindergarten classroom. Shortly after completing her studies she joined the Primary team and has been teaching Kindergarten for 13 years now. She enjoys working with this age group for many reasons, but mostly because of the joy they bring to school with them each day. She is actively involved in the school in a variety of ways. She works closely with the admissions office giving prospective parents tours of our school as well as working with the Kindergarten admissions process. She is part of the Science Curriculum Committee, Aesthetics Committee and Social Committee. She is also actively involved in the International Association of Laboratory Schools (IALS) organization as she serves on the Endowment Board. Teaching is something that Diana is very passionate about. She enjoys working with her students in the classroom, working with pre-service graduate students and sharing her knowledge when presenting to teachers at various conferences and workshops. 

Deanna has over 32 years of nursing experience. She was an assistant head nurse and worked in many areas of patient care at Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh. For the last 22 years, she has worked as a school nurse in both the public and private school settings. Deanna also has extensive emergency management training and experience and has created the emergency operations plan for a local private school and a public school district. She holds multiple FEMA and other emergency response training certifications. She is a certified CPR instructor and has trained the entire faculty and staff at Falk School in CPR, AED use, and choking response for adults, children, and infants. 

Deanna has been married to her high school sweetheart, Jack, for 32 years! She has two grown daughters, Becky – who is a catering marketing director and sales consultant - and Katie - who is a physician assistant and is working with the Heart and Vascular Institute at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.

Deanna's favorite times are with her family, friends, and her Pomeranian puppy Chloe! 

“Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription." - Val Saintsbury

Kevin Goodwin has worked at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh for the past several years in the Education/Learning and Research Department . He has worked in both traditional classroom settings as well as informal learning environments. Kevin has a Master’s in Early Childhood Education from Carlow University, a Bachelor's in Political Science from St. Bonaventure University, and is a member of the Harvard based Agency by Design research group located here in Pittsburgh. Kevin loves teaching children and considers himself a life-long learner.  He also loves dinosaurs and sloths.

Chelsea began her career at Falk Laboratory School when she worked as an intern in second grade in the Spring of 2010.  She returned back to Falk in the 2011-2012 as a Kindergarten teacher. From 2012-2013 Chelsea moved to Michigan with her now husband and worked as a Kindergarten Teacher in Detroit. Chelsea is also a certified vinyasa yoga instructor and enjoys running, animals and spending time with family and friends.

Jackie Metcalf began her career at Falk School as the Director of the After School program and substitute teacher in 1998. She spent three years in this capacity and also served as a resource teacher to the primary and middle school teams. In 2001 she became a 4th/5th grade classroom teacher. She partners with Ms. Katie Sukenik. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her two active children, her husband and their dog.

After living in both Washington, DC and Maine, Joanna Newlin returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh to raise her family.  She spent the first part of her career as an elementary Montessori teacher in both Pittsburgh and Maine.  The majority of that time was spent teaching all subjects in mixed-age classrooms with students in fourth-through-sixth grade.  While her own children were young, Joanna spent two years working from home as a Behavioral Specialist Consultant for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families. In 2012, she moved to Falk as a Learning Specialist working primarily with the Middle School team.  Joanna took on the additional role of Coordinator of Student Services beginning in 2016.  Upon coming to Falk, she found herself in the ideal place to combine her passions around inquiry-based learning, inclusive practices, and lifelong learning.  Joanna lives in Glenshaw where she spends the majority of her free time with her husband, two boys, and two dogs.

Megan earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Xavier University. She then spent time counseling children living at group homes. After a couple of years of working in group homes, she became a therapeutic support staff, working with young children with autism.  Megan began her teaching career at Falk School after she pursued her Masters Degree in Teaching at the University of Pittsburgh.  She first started working at Falk’s after school program as the assistant director while subbing in the building and then spent a year co-teaching in kindergarten.  After that year in kindergarten, Megan made her move to one of the first and second grade classrooms and has been there since. During her time at Falk, Megan has been a team leader for the primary team for several years and has most recently become actively involved in SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity). Megan loves spending time with her husband and triplets, reading, and keeping current with social justice education.

Mr. Outerbridge has worked as a classroom teacher and mid-level administrator in both public and independent schools, and his experiences have convinced him that there are few learning experiences more powerful and engaging than discovering how something works, recognizing a pattern, or understanding a cause-and-effect relationship.  When he was a social studies teacher, Mr. Outerbridge had students examine varying accounts of Columbus’s return visit to Hispaniola, where he discovered that Fort La Navidad had been abandoned and most the men killed.  Students had to judge which account was most plausible and support their arguments with evidence and reasoning.  As a librarian, Mr. Outerbridge feels that a big part of his job is to help students use similar critical thinking skills to sort through today’s massive volume of information in order to locate and evaluate what is most reliable and pertinent to their coursework and personal interests.  The other big part of the job is to foster in students a love and appreciation for reading.

Joanne began her teaching in the Greater Johnstown Public School system.  After teaching for 3 and a half years (K. 1st, 2nd, 4-6 Science & Social Studies), she took a break to go to NYC.  Working as a secretary by day and singing at night, she soon got bored and came back to teaching.  Jo went back to school in a Master/Doctoral program as a Teaching Fellow, earning a secondary English certificate along with a Master of Arts in Language Communications. She spent a year in London at City University studying contemporary English literature and formally observing in a variety of schools to see how the English taught English. Upon her return, she taught for two years at McEwan Open School (now Kentucky Avenue School), creating a writing program for the elementary grades.  In 1987 she joined Falk in the Middle School, also with the charge to redevelop the Reading/Language Arts program.  After two years, she transferred to the Intermediate Team teaching 4th & 5th grade Reading, Language arts and Social Studies. During this time she worked with Bill Pelham from Western Psych on programs to mainstream and adapt teaching methods for kids with ADD and other learning disabilities.   In addition to teaching, Joanne and her team developed and recorded the reading, writing, and social studies curriculums for the Intermediate. To continue her own professional growth, Joanne went back to school in the English/Language Arts PhD program.  She learned a lot and discovered that her teaching and instincts were on the right track.  Shortly after beginning her dissertation, she decided she wanted to spend more time with her third daughter (who was 5 years old at the time) rather than at the library. She continues active research in the classroom, looking for best practices in teaching students to write and to learn how they learn. Joanne has presented at many local, state, regional, and national conferences.  She is a member of various organizations, mostly affiliated with Language Arts.  She teaches a university class in the evenings that centers on active learning and writing as a tool to learn as well as for publishing, and she was nominated for the Disney Teaching Award.  She gives voice lessons after school, and she assists with choreography for the Middle School musical.  She enjoys spending time with her daughters.  And she loves to write with her students. 

Jill Sarada came to Falk School as an intern to start the 1993-1994 school year, at the end of her internship she was asked to remain with us as the computer teacher. Accepting the challenge she excelled and after a few years began teaching kindergarten, which is the position she holds currently. She belongs to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the International Association of Laboratory & University Affiliated Schools (NALS). Jill loves sharing her life with her two kids, husband, and pets. She enjoys going camping, fishing, and reading.

Joe Scheller has been teaching music since 2009. He has instructed students at the Avon Grove Charter School, Bethlehem Area School District and Allentown School District, where he has fulfilled the position of Director for band, orchestra, and vocal ensembles. Mr. Scheller has also been involved in many musical productions as both a musician and music director. Some of these productions include: “The Drowsy Chaperone”, “The Wiz”, “Zombie Prom”, “Once Upon a Mattress”, “Starmites”, and “Changing Minds”. He currently performs throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware in various genres of Jazz, Rock, Singer-Songwriter, Classical, and Blues. In October of 2014, he released an album entitled “Remembering the Atlas”, which is available on iTunes. He will be finishing his Masters in Music Education (Music Technology) at West Chester University in May 2016 and is a member of (PMEA) Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (NAfME) National Association for Music Education and (TI:ME) Technology Integration for Music Education. 

Laura Tomokiyo began her career in Japan, where she worked in language technologies research and development at Toshiba Corp. and the Electrotechnical Laboratory.   She returned to the United States to complete her MS and PhD degrees, where she specialized in spoken language recognition and understanding.  She spent six years at Cepstral, a tech startup providing small-footprint speech synthesis devices supporting communication in areas of geopolitical concern.  She then moved to the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, working in the CREATE (Community Robotics, Education, and Empowerment) lab.  Projects at CREATE included a the Gigapan Dialogues collaboration with UNESCO-IBE and the Documenting our Heritage project with the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska.

Laura joined the faculty at Falk School in 2012, where she initially worked to redesign the technology curriculum and now teaches in all grades K-8.  She also co-chairs the research committee with Leah Northrop.

Lori Wertz currently serves as K-8 educator and project director for Falk’s land stewardship program, FALKWOODS, aka SHERP.  Lori arrived at Falk School in 1992, as a Pitt MAT intern teacher in a third/fourth grade mixed classroom. Two years later, she was hired to teach full-time.  Lori has been at Falk ever since because she loves the dynamic and supportive educational environment the teachers, staff, and interns strive to provide for their students each and every day.

Becka has been teaching at Falk for several years. Before that, she lived in Washington, DC and Maryland, and also worked as a lawyer and as a criminal history profiler in a state prison. Becka enjoys sharing and exploring her interest in Shakespeare and Art History with her students.  She also loves helping to coach the middle school Cross-Country team at Falk.