Kara Yoo:

• A quick educator bio: I have been teaching for 11 years, mostly in middle school. My first-year teaching was 4th grade, then my second was 6th grade math, and I never looked back! I taught in Michigan, where I am from, for 7 years (6 of which were 6th grade math) before my husband and I moved to Colorado. This is my 4th year in CCSD and my second at Thunder Ridge Middle. I taught 6th grade math for my first two years at a different middle school before moving to 7th grade math here at Thunder. I earned my bachelor's degree from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2014 and my master's degree in curriculum and instruction in 2023. My favorite math topic to teach is anything that involves fractions. Math can be an anxiety-inducing subject for many people, but I strive to make it comfortable, fun, and colorful.

• What you like to do outside of school: Outside of teaching, I spend most of my time with my dog, May, and my husband, Aric. Aric and I get outside as much as possible whether it's for a run around the local trails or hiking in the mountains. I also love to play, coach, and watch soccer (Go USWNT!), go paddleboarding, and listen to audiobooks while I walk my dog. I am very close with my out-of-state family and love any time I get with them. My sister is my identical twin, and not only do we look alike, but she also teaches math!

• A little bit about what makes your math team special and your connection to the team: I was feeling quite nervous and stressed about switching schools two years ago, but this team made me feel at home immediately. I had many effective math teams in the past, but this one is different. Each member is compassionate, caring, hard-working, honest, supportive, dependable, flexible, and humorous. When we get together, we have this beautiful balance of fun and work, and I truly I look forward to any time I get to spend with them. I am a teacher because I am passionate about helping students foster a more positive relationship with math and each member of this team has a similar philosophy. When the root of why we are here aligns, then everything we do is done with the intention of what is best for our students and their learning. This team has made me a better teacher, and I am grateful every day to be part of it.

Brian Maline:

• I began teaching in Cherry Creek School district in 1997.  Nearly all of those years were as a Middle School Math teacher teaching 6th,7th and 8th grade.  I Spent 19 years at Prairie Middle School, 3 Years at Falcon Creek MS, 3 years at Overland High School as a Dean of students, and am currently in my 3rd year at Thunder Ridge MS. Both my degrees are from the University of Northern Colorado.  My Bachelors degree is in Mathematics and my Masters degree is in Educational Leadership.  I love all things math.  My favorite topic to teach is decomposing complex geometric figures and finding their area and perimeter.  

• I am the proud father of triplet boys who are currently in their junior year at CU Boulder where each of them are pursuing degrees in STEM.  I am also the proud husband to a wife and fellow Cherry Creek employee who teaches Middle School Science.  I love to boat, fish, camp, play disc golf and spend time with my loved ones. 

• I joke that our math PLT is so special and successful because we operate on a ratio of fun to work at about 80% fun to 20% work.  That is to say we laugh a lot, have fun a lot, but we know when and how to work together to support our students and their growth.  We have fun and we work smart.  We have developed a formative process called "attempts" which enables us to give specific feedback to individual students on learning targets as we move through the lessons for any given unit.  Students have the opportunity to show growth from one attempt to the next in a continual pursuit of growth and mastery.  Our qualitative scoring rubric has students constantly pushing themselves to show just how much they've learned on any given topic.   

Sarah Gosselin:

• This is my 17th year teaching, my 11th year at Thunder Ridge and my 15th year in Cherry Creek School District.  I earned my bachelor's degree in mathematics through Metro State College of Denver (now Metro State University) in 2009 and got my master's degree in teacher leadership through CSU Global Campus in 2017. I have been teaching at the middle school level for all my 17 years, including 7th and 8th grades.  I love being able to set foundations for Algebra with my young adults and doing informal proofs for Geometry concepts like Pythagorean Theorem and congruence.  However, the reason I love teaching middle school the most is that I get to work with kids that crave responsibility and independence but still enjoy and have fun being kids. 

• In my "free" time you can find me with my 3 children, Addy (11), Penny (10), and Keaton (7), who keep me busy with their sports, clubs, music, art, and imaginations.  When the kids are not filling my time, I will fit in some snuggles with my two fur babies, Joey and Charlie.  I love to read and do jigsaw puzzles to wind down from my days and spend my weekends cheering on my favorite teams the Broncos, Nuggets, or Oklahoma Sooners.  

• Thunder Ridge Middle School has a special place in my heart because my coworkers here are not just colleagues, they are  family.  I have seen year after year, people stepping up to take care of one another and there is no other place like it.  I have taught many of my colleagues' kids and even had some come back to be a part of the Thunder Ridge family in their adult life.  My Math 7 team is no exception to the family dynamic, we work hard and play harder.  We care deeply about our students, the content we teach, and mostly each other.  We continue to push each other to be better every day and grow as professionals.  We have MANY silly stories and inside jokes, and we are not afraid to laugh at ourselves or never take life too seriously.  I can always count on Kara, Jyl, and Brian to make me laugh, make me think about mathematical connections, and to be a sounding board.