April has a passion for teaching and has been working in the educational field since 2001. She has been blessed to work in many roles in the classroom, including: instructional aide, sign language interpreter, substitute, intervention & ELL specialist, lead teacher, and technology TOSA. No matter the role, her goal is always the same: to see each student individually and learn alongside students as they discover their own passions.

April also thrives on learning, whether formally or otherwise. She studied at Mt. SAC where she earned an A.A. in Liberal Studies and an A.S. in Sign Language Interpreting in 2001. After spending three months living with a host family in Cuernavaca, Mexico soaking in the culture, history and language of the area, she headed to Pepperdine University to work with preschool students and work on a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. She earned that degree in 2005. In 2008 she earned her teaching credential and in 2009 her Master of Arts in Education, both from Azusa Pacific University. April is a lifelong learner who is currently learning most often from her students, colleagues, her Twitter PLN, as well as amazing folks at conferences and unconferences.

She is extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve on the board of the SGVCUE affiliate as President. She is inspired by the passion and dedication of its members and is excited to work alongside them to serve the community.

Email: abuege@sgvcue.org

Tom Covington is a long time recovering High School English Teacher who has become a Technology Integration Specialist for Bassett Unified School District. He has taught all levels of English, from ELD and Intensive English Intervention to honors and AP Literature classes. His passion is teaching students and teachers to be tech lovers, and using the power of technology to get their voices heard. He is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Master Trainer, Tynker Blue Ribbon Educator, Leading Edge Certified Professional Learning Leader, Apple Teacher with Swift Playground endorsement, CUE Rockstar Faculty, CUE Professional Learning Leader, Plickers Ambassador, Flipgrid Certified Educator level 2, and Flipgrid Ambassador.

Tom’s passion for teaching and learning also extends outside the classroom. He was a swim coach for Bassett High school for over 10 years, and coached club swim for seven years before that. He is a CPR/First Aid trainer, as well as a Water Safety Instructor. He is an avid reader and novice writer, and maintains a semi-regular blog.
He co-hosts a podcast TOSAs Talking Tech for BUSD, which can be found atwww.bit.ly/tttbusd and his blog is at www.tomtalksabout.com/tomtalking.

Email: tcovington@sgvcue.org

John views himself as a father, husband, and educator who has learned countless lessons about life and learning from his wife and children as well as his students and colleagues. He has served children and public school communities for 25 years. He served as a classroom teacher in grades 1-6 in several schools in the San Gabriel Valley and as a vice principal and principal in elementary schools in the Rowland Unified School District. His passions are people, lifting up others, and innovation for all.

Along the way, he earned a Masters Degree in Education from the University of Southern California, a Masters Degree in Educational Administration  from the California State University at Los Angeles, a Leading Edge Administrator Certification, and a Google Certified Educator Level 2 Badge. Although these were significant learning experiences, John credits a larger portion of his learning to connections he makes with other professionals in real life or through social media. Connecting regularly with his PLF (Professional Learning Family) has helped him level up his thinking and practice.

John co-hosts the Between the Johns podcast about educational leadership and writes blogs on occasion. You can find more info at www.betweenthejohns.com and contact John at:

jmartinez@sgvcue.org

@jmartinez727 (Twitter, Voxer, Instagram)

James Kosako has been teaching for 34 years. He has been teaching music for 25 years, and as a technology teacher for 20 years. He is presently teaching at South Hills Academy in West Covina, as the Yearbook Advisor and Computer Lab Teacher.

James has recently received the Gold Disk Award CUE National Conference in 2015.  He also has received an honor from Tech4Learning as their Innovative Educator Award and has received twice the American Film Institute Educator’s  Award.

In his spare time, he loves to cooks for family, friends and his church. He loves to go to learn how to be a better teacher by going to tech fairs, edcamps and tech conference.  He enjoys being on the San Gabriel Valley CUE Board and serve the educators in the Greater Los Angeles area. He also loves serving and leading worship at his church.

Email: jkosako@sgvcue.org

Valerie is stoked to be part of the SGVCUE board! As a progressive, techy educator of ten years in private and public schools across elementary and secondary education, she dedicated the past four years toward developing and teaching a tech-infused curriculum in a public French dual-language immersion program. Currently, she is a part-time lecturer at CSU Fullerton, high school technology coordinator and coach, robotics curriculum writer, and a doctoral candidate whose research focuses on dual-language immersion and teacher agency.

Valerie is a STAR Discovery Educator, Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, and RaspberryPi Certified Educator. She presents at various tech and dual-language immersion conferences.

Email: vsun@sgvcue.org

Matt Miller has a gift for teaching and learning. His enthusiasm for learning and exploring new ways to integrate technology into his world extends seamlessly into the happenings in his 4th-grade classroom at Grace Miller Elementary. His courageous sharing was apparent last year when he brought his students to a board meeting and introduced Google Cardboard to the Board.

Matt’s volunteerism is evident in his gracious spirit to share what he learns with others. He regularly presents innovative technology integration in his home district of Bonita Unified. He serves on the Bonita Technology Advisory Committee and is actively involved in Future Ready planning for his District. He has served the National CUE Committee as the lead in organizing volunteers and now serves as Conference Chair.

Matt is the best sort of technology expert; he is one that is always engaged in learning from others and then sharing it further. He shares Google Tools, virtual field trip excursions, BYOD tips, Google Cardboard, coding and more with anyone who spends time with him. The San Gabriel Valley CUE Board would be exceptionally lucky to serve alongside such an exceptional Teacher Leader.

Email: mmiller@sgvcue.org

Brian Lopez is an out-of-this-world teacher from Southern California. Brian has been working in education for 19 years with experience inside and outside the classroom. He’s currently in his fifth year of teaching as the English Language Development & Intervention Teacher for students in grades TK-6.

Brian’s teaching passion revolves around finding ways to infuse educational technology into his everyday classroom activities. He believes that every student has a voice, and it’s his mission to help each and every one of them. You can connect with Brian on his website www.hellomrlopez.com or follow him on Twitter @hellomrlopez.

Email: blopez@sgvcue.org

Shannon joined #CUE after feeling like a dinosaur. She began as a paraprofessional in 1988 in San Diego City Schools. In her first year at Grossmont College she accidentally was enrolled in a child development class which changed the focus of her life forever. She fell in pedagogical love at the University of La Verne Laboratory school at Fairplex and after graduating with a B.S. in Child Development headed straight to Pacific Oaks College to work on a Masters in Human Development and Intern as an elementary school teacher. She joined the Monrovia Unified team in 2000, after a semester of teaching in Pasadena. She was teacher of the year in 2014-2015 after helping start up the district t-k program. Feeling like a dinosaur, she returned to Cal State LA to learn about computers…and ended up with a Master’s in Edtech. Despite the accomplishment of earning the degree she really struggled until she found CUE. CUE became the place to learn and combine early childhood expertise with kind, fun, current and impressive leaders and fellow lifelong learners! She attends as many events as she can and offered to join the board to help this great group and learn even more!

Email: svarner@sgvcue.org

Chad is a teacher, technology coach, administrator, and most importantly, a gigantic geek. From his early days of building computers in his parents’ basement to teaching coding and 3D printing to K-12 students, he has committed his personal and professional lives to the pursuit of all things tech. Born on the east coast, Chad traveled abroad to Taiwan, Japan, and China after finishing his undergraduate degree. Upon his return, Chad moved to California, bringing with him his passion for leveraging the growing nexus between education and technology to empower his students with voice and choice.

Chad’s educational strengths are in the Google ecosystem, 3D printing/design, coding, instructional design, virtual reality, digital citizenship, and content creation. Chad firmly believes that it is an honor and a privilege to serve on the SGVCUE Board.

Email: cbryant@sgvcue.org