Anne Marie Adler attended the University of Virginia where she earned a bachelors of Mathematics and Masters in Teaching Secondary Mathematics. She taught mathematics at Albemarle High School, a public high school in Charlottesville, VA, for 11 years. After moving to Pittsburgh, she taught at The Ellis School for 14 years. She has experience in teaching Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, College Algebra, Trigonometry, PreCalculus, Calculus, and AP Calculus AB. This past year, she tutored math students at the Community College of Allegheny County in all levels from Arithmetic Fundamentals to Calculus 2.  Anne Marie and her husband have two children, who both attend Falk. When she's not working, Anne Marie is driving her children to many activities, helping coach her son's soccer team, walking the dog, or learning more about teaching mathematics. She is also an EMT-B, and volunteered many hours over the past 23 years.

Cameron Barnett began teaching at Falk in the 2016-2017 school year as Artist-in-Residence, working with grades K-8 on creative writing, reading, and special projects. However, his relationship to Falk begins in 1996 when he came as a 2nd grader, graduating from the 8th grade in 2003. His sister, Afton, graduated two years later, following in the footsteps of their mother, Charlene, a 70s Falk alumna. Cameron is a 2011 graduate of Duquesne University, and a 2016 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he received the 2011 O’Donnell Award for Excellence in Poetry and the 2013 Academy of American Poets Graduate Poetry Award, respectively. His debut collection of poems, The Drowning Boy’s Guide to Water, will be published by Autumn House Press in November of 2017. Starting in the ’17-’18 school year, Cameron will move full-time to the middle school level, teaching 6th grade social studies and 7th grade language arts, and will serve on the Falk Alumni Advisory Committee, the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and coach middle school cross-country. He believes deeply that people's words and stories (especially students') are artistic and valuable things, and that everyone's matters. In his spare time he enjoys reading, writing, running, and cheering on all Pittsburgh sports.

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.

 

Autumn first arrived at Falk as a MAT Intern during the 2004-2005 school year where she interned with Jackie Metcalf in a fourth and fifth grade classroom.  After her intern year, she was asked to stay on at Falk as the assistant director of the After School Program.  Shortly after taking that position, she took over as the director of the after school program and continued in that role until June 2009 when she was invited to join the Intermediate team. For the 2009-2010 school year, she was the resource teacher on the intermediate team, teaching 3rd-5th grade and all subjects. This year, she has a new homeroom of 20 fourth and fifth grade students and she teaches all subjects. When she is not at work, Autumn is most likely at football practice, playing some other sport, or spending time with her family.  For the past 5 years, she has played for the Pittsburgh Passion, a full-contact woman's football team.  When not at practice, she loves to spend time with her family and friends.  One of her favorite things to do is to eat lunch with her family on Sunday afternoons.

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.

Laura Hunt has a Masters of Arts and Teaching degree in K-12 Physical Education from the University of Pittsburgh.  Ms. Hunt has been teaching at Falk since 1997. Currently, she teaches Kindergarten through fifth grade and coordinates the Middle School sports programs.

Chelsea began her career at Falk Laboratory School as an intern in second grade in spring of 2010. She returned back to Falk in 2011-2012 as a Kindergarten teacher.  From 2012-2013 Chelsea moved to Michigan teach in Detroit Public Schools. Chelsea has since made her way back to Falk. She spent 5 years teaching in Kindergarten and most recently continues her journey teaching first and second grade. Out of the classroom, Chelsea is also a certified vinyasa yoga instructor, enjoys running, animals, and reading.

Ali McCrossin joined the Falk School in 2018 as the Manager of Constituent Relations. In this role, Ali is engaged in helping Falk reach its full potential through philanthropic support and in supporting Falk Alumni to maintain a lifelong connection to the school. Prior to joining Falk, Ali served as an Admissions Counselor and an Assistant Director of Admissions in the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, and a Leadership Annual Giving Associate in Pitt’s Office of Institutional Advancement. In her spare time, Ali enjoys traveling, exploring Frick Park, volunteering with the Junior League of Pittsburgh, and cheering on the Pitt Panthers alongside her husband, Matt.

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.

Leah began teaching yoga and mindfulness at Falk School in 2011.   Her classes at Falk are centered on guiding children through the simple but powerful practice of connecting movement and breathing to create a relaxed, focused and aware student, ready to learn and play.  Ms. Northrop also teaches individual “therapeutic” yoga sessions for students with a variety of challenges, from the social and emotional to the behavioral and learning realms.  Additionally, Ms. Northrop  heads a research project at the University of Pittsburgh, Yoga for Anxious Children.  Her interest lies in the development, implementation and outcome of exercise-based treatments for children and adolescents with mood and anxiety disorders.  She has presented her work at international conferences. She enjoys almost any outdoor activity, cooking for a crowd and most of all, spending time with her husband, Ben and her three sons, Wyatt, Weston and Lucas.  Ms. Northrop currently lives in the Squirrel Hill area.

Lindsay O’Sullivan began her career at Falk School as an intern in Ms. Ridge’s room in August, 2001. While on that fateful journey, Lindsay discovered that Falk was her “dream school.” The following school year, she happily accepted a position in a 3rd and 4th grade classroom. One of Lindsay’s favorite units involved using picture books to analyze stereotypes. She was so impressed with her 3rd and 4th graders’ ability to articulate how hurtful stereotyping can be. In her spare time, Lindsay stays busy by training for triathlons, doing yoga, and reading about some of her favorite topics: environmental issues, animal rights, nutrition, and women’s issues. Lindsay loves spending time with her husband Brian, son Callahan, dog Cooper, and her family and friends.

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. 

Katie began working at Falk in 2019 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh's CASE with a Bachelor's in Applied Developmental Psychology and Master's degree in Instruction and Learning.  Katie completed her student teaching hours in multiple schools in the Pittsburgh area and fell in love with Falk in 2018 after her semester in Chelsea's 2nd Grade Classroom.  Katie spends part of the week as a co-teacher in Room 25's Kindergarten classroom and part of the week as a Learning Specialist for the building.  In her spare time, she enjoys running, taking care of her plants, and spending time enjoying all of Pittsburgh's beautiful parks!

Kali Stull joined the Falk community in 2019, teaching Yoga and Mindfulness to Middle School students. In 2020, she became the counselor for Primary and Intermediate students. Kali moved to Pittsburgh in 2014 to pursue a Community and Behavioral Public Health degree. Since then, she has worked as a community and mental health advocate, a housing justice social worker, a public health researcher, and a yoga guide. Kali received her yoga certification in 2017 from YogaRoots of Location’s Anti-racist Yoga teacher training. She is passionate about co-creating a school environment that honors the full humanity of everyone and supports our collective healthy growth and development. Kali is a lover of life - she enjoys new experiences and opportunities to learn, performing, dancing, singing, being surrounded by trees, and being in relationship with friends, her partner, child, dog, plants, and fermenting microbes.

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.

Timothy Wagner was born and raised in California. Upon completing high school he moved to Tucson, AZ where he went to the University of Arizona. For his undergraduate he majored in Sociology, minored in History, and received a post-baccalaureate in Teaching K-8. Tim received his M.Ed. in Educational Technology in 2006. In December of 2006, Tim moved to Pittsburgh with his wife and two children. Tim currently holds certifications in mid level science, social studies, and mathematics and also holds a certificate in elementary education. Tim has a wide range of teaching experience in all academic levels and subjects. He has taught 5th grade, middle school science and math, and k-8 technology. Tim has worked at Falk School since 2014  and enjoys the collaborative nature of his job, Falk’s students, parents, faculty, administration, and staff.


During Tim’s free time, he enjoys being outside. Some of the activities he relishes are gardening, coaching soccer, karate, camping, and anything else that involves being with his family. He looks forward to Friday movie nights with his family, for which they usually make Chinese food or homemade pizza to go with the movie.

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.