This initiative is no longer available. Please visit the LIFT Guidebook for additional teacher leadership opportunities.
The Teachers Central to Leadership Fellowship Program brings 5-8 DCPS teacher-leaders to share their wisdom and perspective with the work of central office.
Marie-Elena Bucciero, Cardozo Education Campus
Marie-Elena Bucciero is about to embark on her 4th year as a Special Education teacher in DCPS. Ms. Bucciero teaches the self-contained Specific Learning Support (SLS) class for grades 6 through 8 at Cardozo Education Campus. Along with her teacher responsibilities, Ms. Bucciero also served as a Flamboyan Fellow during the 2015-16 school year, where she attended professional development and learned best practices about family engagement that she brought back and shared with teachers at Cardozo. She believes that family and community engagement is a critical factor to student success and in this effort has set out to establish a system to facilitate home visits and student-led conferences within the middle school at Cardozo.
Ms. Bucciero is also a leader in implementing Restorative Practices at Cardozo in an effort to better relationships between students, teachers, staff and families and to help end the school-to-prison pipeline. She is also a strong supporter of building advocacy in students and has supported her students in leading their own IEP meetings for the past two years.
Before she was a teacher at Cardozo, Ms. Bucciero earned her Master of Public Affairs degree from the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin where she focused on education policy. In addition, she holds her Master’s degree in Special Education from George Mason and her Bachelors of Arts in psychology and history from Syracuse University. Ms. Bucciero came to DCPS by way of Teach for America as a 2013 DC corps member and has also worked during her summer breaks for the New York City Department of Education and Common Core as a LEE fellow.
During her time as a TCTL fellow, Ms. Bucciero worked on the School Turnaround and Performance Division in the Office of the Chief of Schools on one of their newer initiatives, Vision Pathways. Vision Pathways is a holistic approach to preparing DCPS students for success in college and careers through rigorous academic and social-emotional support that is connected from kindergarten through 12th grade. In this role Ms. Bucciero helped complete research to answer initial program questions, facilitated meetings between different offices within Central Office to help coordinate efforts, and prepared materials for the working group that will be taking over program design and implementation in the fall. She views the fellowship as an opportunity to gain insight into the work going on at Central Office and as opportunity for central office staff to garner feedback and recommendations from a teacher.
Kobi Colston, Calvin Coolidge High School
Kobi B. Colston joined DCPS and the staff of McKinley Technology High School over 10 years ago teaching in the STEM of Mass Media and Communications. After ten years at McKinley, Mr. Colston will be transitioning to teach Mass Media at Calvin Coolidge High School in the fall. Driven by his passion for education through media literacy, Mr. Colston believes teaching Media and Communications is essential to educating students to better understand the world around them. Mr. Colston believes that good communication is the basis for great teaching and learning, and that each teacher has the power to make a huge impact on their student’s desire to learn- one conversation at a time. As a native Washingtonian, Mr. Colston is passionate about helping each of his students reach their full potential.
In addition to teaching, Mr. Colston has worked with the Phillips Collection Museum in Washington DC as an Inspiring Educator and mentor to minority male students, served on the Local School Advisory Team and has started several after school programs for youth including teaching audio engineering to students to gain recording experience. He is committed to community service and volunteers his expertise to non-profit organizations interested in supporting youth advocacy programs and family centered approaches to student success.
Mr. Colston was a Highly Effective Teacher in the past school years of 2013-14 and 2015-16, and was recognized as the AFCEA STEM Educator of the Quarter in 2012. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications and Broadcast Studies from Norfolk State University and a Master of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Concordia University-Portland.
As a TCTL fellow, Mr. Colston worked with the Office of Out of School Time Programs helping to revise and initiate the observation tool used for evaluation of the K-7 Summer School program. He also worked on developing and helping to revise the K-7 Enrichment curriculum guide for use by educators during Summer School.
In his spare time, Mr. Colston enjoys collecting vinyl records, listening to music, freelancing as a videographer/editor, reading and spending time with family and friends.
Sheri Frierson-Chenier, Kimball Elementary School
Currently, Mrs. Chenier is teaching in Southeast DC at E.G. Kimball Elementary School as a first grade teacher. Mrs. Chenier has held many different leadership positions within her school, as teacher lead for Kgn-2nd grade, technology coordinator, and family engagement parent-teacher team leader. Additionally, she has committed time to helping improve school culture through activities such as the cheerleading program (Coach), planning a school fashion show, pep rally, and talent shows. She enjoys working with various programs that will encourage her life-long motto, “learning should be fun!”
Mrs. Sheri Frierson-Chenier is proudly celebrating a decade of commitment to early childhood education this year. Originally from Los Angeles, California, in 2002 she moved to Washington, DC to attend Howard University. Since her arrival in 2002, Mrs. Chenier has received both a Bachelor of Science in Human Development (2006) and a Master of Education in Elementary Education (2012). Not only an educator, Sheri is also the proud wife and mother of Spencer Chenier and Spencer “Gregory” Chenier II respectively.
As a TCTL Fellow, Mrs. Chenier works within the Office of Instructional Practice with a strong focus on LEAP, “Learning Together to Advance our Practice.” This program is designed to enhance the professional development amongst our teachers and leaders to improve student achievement across the district. This model is designed to support teachers with their teaching in the classroom and allow them to work on improving the necessary skills which will tap into meaningful rigor in the classroom. Mrs. Chenier is strongly connected to this model because she feels it will provide achievable goals to help in improving and supporting teachers in this diverse field of education.
Becoming an educator has been a lifelong dream of Mrs. Chenier’s. Since the age of 5, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. Growing up in Los Angeles and transitioning to DC has emblazoned her passion to work in urban environments where our children need her the most. Her passion for education can be seen in her classroom and in her innovative and creative ways to overcome even the most challenging situations. She deems her personal success through her student’s ability to learn and succeed despite any setbacks or fears they arrive to her with.
During free time, Mrs. Chenier loves to dance, sing, draw and visit beaches out of the country with her family!
Sequins Gooding, Langley Elementary School
Being a product of the urban school system herself, Sequins Gooding always wanted to serve the underprivileged urban child. Originally, she dreamed of being a high school science teacher, however it was not until her third year of college that she took an introduction to special education course and fell in love with the exceptional child. She then decided to further her education in the field of special education thus obtaining a Master's degree in grades 1-6 for students with severe and multiple disabilities including deaf blindness. Mrs. Gooding’s life journey brought her to Washington, DC and after a year and a half of teaching she then transitioned to DCPS finding her home. Having taught grades pre-K3 through 12th grade, Mrs. Gooding found her niche in working with the kindergarten through second grade self-contained classroom for students with developmental delays at Langley Elementary.
Overtime she has decided to invoke change within the urban public-school system while staying a classroom teacher. Believing that family engagement partnerships are the means to close the student achievement gap, Mrs. Gooding took on a teacher leadership role with the Flamboyan Foundation partnership and currently leads the parent engagement committee at her school in which she hosts monthly family fun nights. Mrs. Gooding then decided to further improve her personal and professional development by joining the Leading Educators 2016 cohort. Because of this opportunity, she can also be seen coaching and collaborating across grade levels and content areas, not only to improve her own instruction, but to also support those around her as well. Leading Educators was one of the best teaching experiences of her life as she has truly grown in the areas of leading teams and designing professional development content.
It is Mrs. Gooding's desire to be a career teacher and to retire from teaching with the District of Columbia Public School system while serving the needs of the exceptional child.
Kaila Ramsey, H.D. Cooke Elementary School
Kaila Ramsey is a 4th grade math and science teacher at H.D. Cooke Elementary. She begins her sixth year teaching, and fifth year teaching in DCPS this August. Kaila grew up in a tiny town in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and saw how education was a tool that unlocked doors for her and for many of her classmates. After graduating from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, she went to work for two public high schools in Chatham County in NC, teaching and counseling students in future planning through the College Advising Corps. This work allowed Kaila to feel like she was giving back to a public school system that had provided so many opportunities for her, and confirmed her passion to serve students and communities as an educator.
Prior to H.D. Cooke, Kaila worked as a Child Find Coordinator for Early Stages within DC Public Schools in the Office of Specialized Instruction and taught at Powell Elementary. While at Powell she served as both a special educator of all subjects, and the lead math and science teacher for 4th grade. Kaila had the opportunity to partner with many outside organizations including coaching soccer with DC Scores, engaging families through Flamboyan, and participating in city-wide lesson study through the DC Common Core Collaborative. She also developed and facilitated professional development sessions for teachers on the Standards for Mathematical Practice, and implementing student-centered and rigorous lessons through Teach Plus. Teach for America awarded Kaila the Edith Tatel Excellence in Teaching award in 2014 for alumni who demonstrate leadership and develop student advocacy, and the Achievement Network recognized Kaila for her data driven instruction that led to high levels of student achievement. She has a master’s degree in Special Education from George Mason University.
This past year at Cooke, Kaila joined CityBridge’s Education Innovation Fellowship to research best practices in blended learning from across the country and design an innovative pilot project to foster personalized learning in her own classroom. Her work as a TCTL Fellow in the Office of Teaching and Learning this summer builds on her fellowship experience, and is focused on helping design blended learning and small group station models that incorporate more student choice and voice into upper elementary instruction. Kaila is using Canvas and other tools to expand teacher and student options for content mastery, and provide guidance for best practices in student goal setting, planning, and monitoring of their own work.
When not teaching you will find her reading, throwing a frisbee, or spending time with her husband (Matt) and dog (Zoe Hot Pants).