Being a teacher is very important to me.  I have spent many years educating myself to do my best job.  I earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and a master’s degree in Education from Wheelock College in Boston.  Over the years I was a parent group leader for Families First in Cambridge and seminar coordinator for the Center for Parenting Studies at Wheelock College. 

I have always been an advocate for better education.  I was a founding member and past president of Lexington Citizens for Quality Education.  Additionally, I was a town meeting member in Lexington for eighteen years, where my platform always included an emphasis on education. 

My name is Robin Colarusso, and I have been teaching in the Malden Public School system for the past 14 years. Currently I am teaching the third grade at the Forestdale School and I have been there for the past 10 years. I earned a B.A. in Elementary Education in 1982 from the University of Massachusetts, and a master's degree from Cambridge College in 2002. My other teaching experiences include overseeing a before school program at my school for 8 years, where we met every morning for an hour and the focus was on academics. I also teach elementary chemistry during the summer in Winchester. Education is the only career that I've ever been interested in, and I really enjoy it. Working with children is very rewarding. I grew up in Malden, and I have lived in Everett for the past 25 years. My husband and I have two grown children and two grandchildren! In my spare time I love to read! I read most everything. In the summer time I can often be found sitting on the beach with a good book. I also like to work in my garden and paint.

I have been a teacher for thirty-one years and can say I have enjoyed every day of it.  Well maybe not the whole day, but each day brings a new experience.  Each day brings a new challenge, a challenge I look forward to, and hopefully I can be an educational contributor. This is my second lesson using internet technology.  I teach in a special needs program and my students enjoy using the internet as a learning tool.  My students were involved in developing this lesson.  I have learned from each of them, and I hope I have instructed them in the same degree.  I have developed a saying through the years, "The road to success is manifested through knowledge". 

I have been the Library Media Specialist at the Forestdale School in Malden since 2004. My love for libraries began as a child and has grown through my work in both public and school libraries. I was born and raised in Connecticut and graduated from Fairfield University in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in English. Upon graduation, I accepted a position as Children’s Librarian at the Hartford Public Library (Hartford, CT). In 2003, I moved to Boston to attend Simmons College, where I received a master's degree in Library & Information Science and earned my certification as a School Library Teacher. I chose to work at the Forestdale School because of its diverse learning community and international focus.

My name is Pamela Zelaya. I am third generation of Russian descent.  I was born in Dorchester and now reside in Medford. I am beginning my 27th year as a teacher. My experience includes teaching at various grade levels, variations of regular, bilingual, and dual language instruction, and the use of instructional technology.  I continually take advantage of summer professional development offerings to refine my teaching craft in science, reading, technology, sheltered instruction and now social studies.

I am a mother of two and a wife of one. I like sports, karate, music and guitar.

I hope to create a unit that will be useful for teachers, interesting to kids and fun for me.