Our Team

Meet the hardworking, fun-loving team that is making Inspired Teaching a reality.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

LaTonia Smith Cokely

Faculty

Kaneia Mayo Crumlin

Faculty

Kathryn Eliscar

Financial Administrator

Jenna Fournel

Director of Teaching and Learning

Cosby Hunt

Director of Youth Programming

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

Aleta Margolis

Founder and President

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Christine Sheridan

Program Grant Manager

Michelle Welk

Communications and Marketing Specialist

Board of Directors

Monica Brady-Myerov, Director

Founder and CEO of Listenwise

Jeffrey Franco, Director

CEO, Camino Consulting and Adjunct Professor, American University

Karol Kepchar, Pro bono counsel, Advisor to the board, Non-voting

Partner-Head, Trademark, Copyright, Internet, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP

Aleta Margolis, Director

Founder and President

John Nolan, Director, Board Chair

Chair; CFO & CCO, Options Solutions, LLC

Elly Young, Director

Teacher Leadership Specialist, Montgomery County Public Schools

Join our Team

Inspired Teaching offers you a chance to make a difference and grow professionally. We seek talented, dynamic, and highly-skilled individuals who share our belief that every student, regardless of race, geography, or income level, can thrive in an engagement-based classroom with an Inspired Teacher.

We are educators, athletes, parents, bookworms, and storytellers. From DC natives to global travelers, our staff is a group of ambitious professionals passionate about improving the school experience for every student. Apply today to be part of our entrepreneurial and impact-driven team.

Our Commitment to Equity and Inclusion

Our work at Center for Inspired Teaching draws on a foundation of inclusivity, regard for the rights and safety of all people, and respect for the dignity of educators and students. We believe that it is our collective obligation as a society to take responsibility and care for every child, and to work together to give every young person a happy, healthy start in life.

Inspired Teaching recognizes that the education system can either perpetuate or combat systematic oppression. Our organization exists within a world that is historically designed to marginalize individuals and communities based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, and ability. To actively and intentionally interrupt systems of power and oppression, we are committed to promoting civil discourse and social justice, starting in the classroom.

Through Inspired Teaching’s authentically engaging programs, educators and students have meaningful opportunities to engage in discussion, debate, and action around the topics that affect their lives, across racial, ethnic, religious, political, gender, sexual orientation, and other identities. We enact our beliefs and values by investing in a continual process of strengthening awareness and deepening cultural competence.

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.