Amber Shannon 

Amber is a 6th grade math teacher who has been in education for 6 years and 3 of them have been as a math teacher at Bookcliff. She loves to see the spectrum of mathematicians. She is a visual math learner while her husband is a mental math learner, her son a hands-on math learner and her daughter is the best of all the worlds. Her passion is getting kids comfortable with trying math. “The more we practice math”, she states, “the stronger we grow”. She also tells kids that “we can’t say we hate math because that is like saying we hate music”. There are so many different pieces to math that if we categorize it all as bad, then we are missing out on everything. 

Amber loves to travel. She has been to England, Scotland, France, Iceland, Wales, Ireland, Mexico and this summer she is going to Germany. When she is at home, she loves hiking, swimming, playing board games and being outdoors with my family.

She loves that her school is so relationship focused. “A great teacher once told me that no significant amount of learning can happen without first having a relationship with the kids” Amber states. “The way to our kids' brains is really through their hearts. We capture their hearts to spark their minds”. 

Brandon Pollard

Brandon is an 8th Grade Math who has been a math educator for 8 years now. His goal as an educator is to grow the full human being of a student and to provide skills acquisitions for them so that they can be successful people in the future. As a MATH educator his two main goals are to grow student's confidence in math as well as grow student's academic ability in math.

Outside of teaching, Brandon likes to golf, play video games as well as board/card games, and play with his 1 and a half year old son.

Brandon feels his team is such a strong collaborative unit. He feels so comfortable in expressing his needs and to utilize his strengths to best support student success. His success and growth as a math educator is due to the community he is in and the dedication to learning that all of my colleagues display. 

Johnna Keith

Johnna teaches 6th grade math and science in a Spanish-dominant classroom within the Dual Immersion Academy language program. She has been teaching in this position for 8 years and has been teaching math for over 20 years. As a teacher, she loves watching that “click” when students make connections. As she presents an investigative lesson, she gets excited knowing that those connections are coming. She also feels so proud that many students have told her about how she changed their view of math for the better.

She enjoys quilting, jigsaw puzzles, brain-teasers, playing all sorts of card and board games with my family, movies and walks with my husband.

She enjoys her job as there is a strong level of mutual respect and collaboration at Bookcliff Middle School. She states, “the staff is here for kids, really here for kids! I enjoy being part of this team!”.

Kevin Donoher

Kevin is an 8th Grade Math and Science Teacher for the Dual Immersion Academy at Bookcliff Middle School. This is his 14th year as a teacher. His reason for teaching math is to get students to break down gates and barriers so that they can reach whatever education or career goals they desire.

Kevin likes spending time hiking and biking, hanging out with my family, and learning new things.

Kevin states how “blessed [he is] to work with great school administrators, a fantastic math team, and brilliant students”.

Jenn Lundin 

Jenn has been teaching 7th grade math for the past 5 years. She previously taught 8th grade math and science and has been teaching for a total of 9 years. For Jenn, it is so exciting and joyous to watch a student have an “aha” moment and make their own discovery about math. These moments are what she looks forward to and the reason she teaches! She also loves building relationships with students and helping them develop a positive relationship with math. 

She enjoys crocheting and quilting and those projects are frequently inspired by math (and may or may not end up on her classroom wall). She also enjoys gardening, attempting to grow bonsai trees, and playing board games with her family. 

She loves her amazing and supportive team where everyone is working toward a common goal and she loves that “we are all excited and willing to try new things”.

Elise Glassman

Elise has been teaching special education math for 6.5 years, all of them at Bookcliff Middle School. Her “why” for becoming a special education math teacher is being able to help students think outside of the box, and find different ways to solve problems. She loves seeing when students realize there is more than one way to solve problems and they figure out what works for them!

Elise enjoys playing golf, camping, and hanging out with my friends and family.

Elise feels that the team at Bookcliff is composed of such talented people. She describes them as “good listeners, collaborators, and work well together as a team”. 

Yunnuen McLaughlin

Yunnuen is  a Spanish-dominant 7th grade Math and Science teacher for the Dual Immersion Academy at Bookcliff Middle School. This is her 13th year in education. She considers herself a lifelong learner and strives to empower learners through equitable access to high level content along with high expectations.

Yunnuen enjoys spending time with my family, especially outdoors.

She is awe of how her amazing team creates a safe space for collaboration and growth.