Why CK-12?
Learn from our Certified Trainers.

Bio: Paula D. deDiego is a science instructor at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Fitchburg, MA. She holds a B.A. in Natural Sciences, a Masters in Biology, a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) degree in Educational Leadership & Secondary Education, and an Ed.D. doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction. During her graduate school experience, she completed her thesis research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Neuroscience Research Department and developed the Monty Tech school district's mentoring program. Her current research specializes in self-regulated learning, blended learning, and Generation Z students. She holds six Massachusetts teacher licenses in science education as well as Sheltered English Immersion and Special Education endorsements. During her 25-year tenure at Monty Tech, she served as a classroom science educator, department liaison, district Mentor Coordinator, mentor, class advisor, STEM club advisor, and the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) Community Director. The SSEP Director's role facilitated a school-wide experimental design competition culminating in 9 student-developed experiments flown on the STS-135 shuttle or the International Space Station. deDiego believes her selection into NASA’s Network of Educator Astronaut Teachers Program was pivotal in fostering many professional relationships and opportunities. Additional educational experiences included science adjunct faculty at MWCC, a course developer and online professor for The Connecting Link, and science adjunct faculty at FSU. Paula became a CK-12 certified educator in 2020 and a trainer in 2022. She believes in CK-12 as an OER and CK-12's support of mastery-based learning.

Bio: Tina Ezzo currently teaches 7th & 8th grade science in South Brunswick, New Jersey with over 25 years of classroom experience. Tina became a CK-12 Certified Educator with their inagural class in 2017 and has shared CK-12 with students and colleagues in a variety of ways since that time. She has presented professional development workshops introducing CK-12 during department meetings and the South Brunswick Summer Technology & Learning Conference. In addition to presenting about CK-12, Tina has presented at South Brunswick's Summer Jump Start Workshops on self-regulation in the middle school and summaries of professional literature.

Bio:  “Knowledge is power” 

Science is my passion, when students draw connections between content and career application, their learning is so much more impactful. My interest was piqued in a first grade science course. It was the only subject where asking questions was encouraged, and not challenged. In high school my curiosity deepend and led me to pursue a degree in Biology education.

After graduating from Florida Atlantic University with my Bachelor of Science in Biology education, I became a middle school science teacher. Instead of teaching towards the State exam, I focused on teaching towards the standards. This enabled my students to  see the relevance in their learning, through collaboration, creation and problem based learning with solar cars/solar ovens. Curiosity and the intrigue of learning  prompted me to go down the “ rabbit-hole” of STEM at the end of the tunnel, Robotics and a CS certification. Computer science encapsulates so many industries from manufacturing to medical, and students  discovered that they could be the agents of change in society. The 8.5 year experiences gained in middle school catapulted me to High school as the Magnet and Vocational coordinator. Content connections are cultivated when collaboration and career application is mandated. These lines of discovery are interwoven into the fabric of the courses, because students need to see themselves as engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and professionals today, to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. 

Bio: Lance Key is a Support Specialist and has taught all math classes 6th Grade math to AP Calculus, STEM, and Personal Finance. He has a B.S. Degree in math from Middle Tennessee State University and a Masters Degree in Teaching and Learning from Cumberland University. He has taught mathematics for 18 years and has been using the blended/flipped model in his classroom for the past 13 years. Key supervised the online learning for 6 years at Cookeville High School and is a District Administrator for Google for Putnam County. Key has been the Instructional Technology Specialist and taught online Math and Personal Finance for Putnam County the last 4 years and is a district administrator for Canvas. He specializes in helping teachers incorporate technology in their classroom and was selected as the 2016 - 2017 VITAL Teacher of the Year. Key’s Certifications: Google Certified Trainer, Google Certified Innovator, Edulastic Innovator, Nearpod Certified, CK-12 Certified Educator, Book Creator Ambassador, Read&Write Certified, & a Kami Hero. Lance has spoken at conferences such as ISTE, FETC, iNacol, DLAC, KySTE, NCTIES, ICE, METC, TETC, and TNLead.

Bio: Tim Leister currently serves as an Instructional Technology Specialist at Lancaster-Lebanon Intermidiate Unit 13 in Pennsylvania where he manages the Instructional Media Services (IMS) program and provides instructional technology support for all educators within IU13 school districts. Tim also works closely with the IU13 Lancaster-Lebanon Virtual Solutions (LLVS) program that supports high-quality online education to local school districts and their students. Utilizing his 10+ years of high school science classroom teaching experience and his 10+ years as an instructional technology coach, Tim has worked closely with educators on instructional methods to integrate technologies to enhance the approach of personalized learning. Tim is a CK-12 Certified Educator and has presented on a variety of educational technology topics at local and national conferences, including the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference, the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo & Conference (PETE&C) in Hershey, PA, and at the Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 Elementary and Secondary Technology Conferences.

Bio: Nathan Reedy is a science and technology teacher driven to teach students through practical experience. He earned his Masters of Science in Education for Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Kansas in 2017. He is beginning his fifth year of teaching at the Excel Center in St. Louis. Before that, he taught at Saint Louis Public Schools, University of Kansas, besides many tutoring gigs.  He looks forward to more years of teaching in the classroom and expanding his roles in his school. He aims to build the experience he needs to become a curriculum specialist.

Bio: Lindsay Shields currently teaches in the Special Day Class-MIld/Moderate program at Santa Fe High School in Southern California.  She has taught modifed sciences and job training classes for students with mild to moderate learning disabilities.  Lindsay also serves as SpEd Science course lead for her district and has been instrumental with her team in creating and publishing three science textbooks through CK-12 for the modified science classes. Lindsay earned her BA in Liberal Studies and her MA in Curriculum and Instruction, focusing on Designed Based Learning, from Cal Poly Pomona. She has four teaching credentials: Multiple Subjects, General Level-Foundational Science, Education Specialist-Mild/Moderate, and Geoscience. Lindsay loves Ed Tech and loves to help out her fellow teachers with any Ed Tech issues and share ideas. In addition to being a Certified Educator with CK-12, she also is a Google Certified Educator Level 2, Screencastify Genius, and an Edpuzzle Coach.