The Coaching Team

The primary vehicle for collaborating around the shared endeavor of the Midwest School Transformation project is a coaching team model.  For more information on why EdVisions has chosen a coaching model, check out our first blog post on the project.

Cory Anda

Transformational Coach

Minnesota New Country School

Cory is an educator at teacher-powered Minnesota New Country School. MNCS is a rural, highly recognized project based charter school in the Minnesota River Valley of Henderson, MN. Currently, he co-teaches in multiage grades 4-6 classroom. Additionally, he has served on the following committees/teams: Health and Wellness, Math Team, Experiential/Middle School/Orientation (EMO), Transportation Team, and Technology Team. Cory has been working in education since 2011, including roles in 7-12th grade and as athletic director.

Cory holds a Bachelor’s from Minnesota State University, Mankato in Social Studies Education and has done volunteer work with starting lacrosse in Southern Minnesota. His interests include: Sports, nutrition, weight lifting, investing, video games, and his dog Indy “Jones” Anda.

Annie Beck

Transformational Coach

 

Joey Cienian

Transformational Coach

High School for Recording Arts

Joey Cienian serves as the Director of Educational Programming at the High School for Recording Arts in Saint Paul, MN. High School for Recording Arts is dedicated to engaging dropped out, overaged, and under-credited students using a highly personalized, creative, and constructivist learning program. HSRA believes in Hip Hop Pedagogy and an Arts Engagement focus to provide a creative and therapeutic environment to re-engage students. The focus of Joey’s work has been in building out HSRA’s advisory structure, a site-wide commitment to social justice programming, innovative pedagogy in the classroom, competency based assessment models, a portfolio validation system as a core vehicle for student learning, and dynamic project based learning. He is passionate about researching and implementing creative re-engagement techniques that help young people build positive relationships, resiliency skills, start to work through the effects of trauma, and learn topics they find provocative in ways that match their needs.
Joey has worked the last ten years in education in the Twin Cities as a Paraprofessional, Teacher, and Administrator. The foundation of his work in social justice advocacy came in his years as a Community Organizer working with Greenpeace in Arizona and Minnesota.

Joey holds an Honors BA in History and Political Philosophy from University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a licensed Social Studies Teacher and has his Masters in Teaching from Hamline University. He is currently a member of the University of Minnesota’s Principal Academy and a Deeper Learning Equity Fellow. He enjoys making art and music, spending time with his family, camping and hiking in Minnesota’s amazing parks, and playing basketball.

Walter Enloe

Transformational Coach

 

Walter Enloe is a coach, staff and board member at EdVisions. For fifty years he has been a co-creator of many schools including Paideia School in Atlanta; International School in Hiroshima, Japan; the Downtown Open School and Minneapolis International Schools; Twin Cities Academy, Urban Academy, Great River School and Avalon School, St. Paul; Valley Crossing School in Woodbury, and the “Zoo” School and Blackhawk Middle School in Apple Valley. He also co-founded the MAED and EDD learning communities at Hamline University.

Aaron Grimm

Transformational Coach

Minnesota New Country School

Aaron is an educator at teacher-powered Minnesota New Country School. MNCS is a rural, highly recognized project based charter school in the Minnesota River Valley of Henderson, MN. Currently, he co-teaches in a multiage grades 4-6 classroom. Additionally, he has served on the following committees/teams: Building, Supporting Students Together (Intervention), Experiential/Middle School/Orientation (EMO), Personnel and Technology. Aaron has been working in education since 2004, including roles in the nonprofit EdVisions Schools and serving as Director of EdVisions Cooperative.

Aaron holds a Bachelor’s from Minnesota State University, Mankato in English/Speech Education and a Master’s in Advocacy and Political Leadership from University of Minnesota, Duluth. His interests include: mindfulness/meditation, education policy, intervention work with students, hiking and skiing. His happy place is anywhere outdoors.

Paul Jaeger

Transformational Coach

Paul is in his ninth as an advisor at Minnesota New Country School. He lives in Henderson, USA, and is positively thrilled to be part of the MNCS learning community. From the git go, he has been drawn to all things homemade (pies, hot dishes, and furniture, to name a few), and he loves the homemade practice of learning at MNCS. Students have a unique chance to write their own script at MNCS, and Paul feels being part of that journey with them is endlessly interesting.
 
MNCS is teacher-owned, and Paul appreciates all the team work that goes into keeping the MNCS engine running. He is the Professional Development Chair of the Q Comp team and part of the Senior Team that guides MNCS Seniors through their capstone project. He has also served as the MNCS Lawn Boy for the last eight years.

Nichole Kotasek

Transformational Coach

Merrissa McLean

Transformational Coach

Monessa Newell

Transformational Coach

Avalon Charter School

Monessa has been a 6-8th grade Social Studies middle school advisor at Avalon Charter School, a PBL, Teacher Leadership Model charter school in St. Paul, MN since 2005.  Due to her time at Avalon, Monessa has had opportunities to work amongst a staff that is at the forefront of the teacher leadership movement. She is well versed in PBL and the benefits and processes.  Monessa has presented at conferences, workshops, and provided staff professional development on topics such as teacher leadership, PBL, restorative justice, and collaboration. Some teams she has been a part of and roles she has played include: Avalon school board, Communication and Mediation Team, Avalon 2.0, peer mediation trainer, QComp coach, middle school team, and many others. Monessa is thrilled to be part of the EdVisions Coaching Team and work to help educators create schools and spaces that most benefit students and empower teachers.

Craig Wignes

Transformational Coach

Craig grew up in central MN where he spent his time outside. Playing sports, hiking, and camping put him in his element. He traded the woods and lakes for the Red River Valley and attended MN State University- Moorhead to earn his degree in Secondary Education (Social Studies). While in Fargo/Moorhead, he spent 4 years working with at-risk youth in group home and residential treatment settings at the Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. After moving to Buffalo in 2005, he attended Bemidji State University to obtain his Work-based Learning license and then graduate school at St. Catherine University for his Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Craig spent 11 years teaching at Knights Academy ALP in the St. Michael-Albertville school district before co-founding the Jane Goodall Environmental Sciences Academy which opened in 2015. There, he serves on numerous committees with an amazing team of passionate educators and balances a dual role as Advisor and Administrator thanks to JGESA’s teacher-powered approach to learning and leading. Craig was elected President of the MN Association of Alternative Programs’ (MAAP) in 2015 and served on the Board for 8 years to “lead, promote and support innovative learning experiences” for all students in MN. He is passionate about educational innovation and advocates for educational reform. Craig is a husband, father to two boys, educational innovator, lifelong learner, wanna be home chef, and reluctant Vikings fan. His special skills involve pointless trivia, quoting movies, and exactly matching leftovers to the right size container.

Jim Wartman

Transformational Coach

Jim is an advisor at Minnesota New Country School, a role that he has been in since 2002. Jim has a Bachelor’s from MSU-Mankato in Social Studies/History and a Masters in Educational Leadership. He works at the secondary program, with 7th through 12th grade students.  He currently serves on the Finance and Arts and Literature team at MNCS, as well as serving on the  MNCS Board of Directors. Jim worked with the task force that received approval for the elementary expansion at MNCS, numerous vision and goal setting committees, Personnel Committee, Outreach and Project Based Learning Teams. In addition to coaching through EdVisions Summer Institutes in the past, he has presented on the school at numerous conferences and university classes.

Peter Wieczorek

Transformational Coach

Northwest Passage Charter High School

Peter Wieczorek is currently the Director of Northwest Passage Charter High School in Coon Rapids, MN. He is a passionate advocate of Project Based Learning, Field Studies, Expeditionary Learning, and Inclusion. Peter started his career at NWPHS 15 years ago as a biology teacher and advisor, he has also served on the NWPHS school board as the chair, and treasurer. Peter took over the role of Director in 2013 during this time he has been able to maintain a limited teaching role, lead expeditions and lead an advisory of student ambassadors. Prior to working at NWPHS Peter was the Director at YMCA Camp Icaghowan, he has also spent time as a trail guide, outdoor educator and consultant. Peter received an undergraduate degree in Outdoor & Experiential Education from the University of Minnesota. He earned this Life Science licensure and M.Ed from Goddard College in Vermont. If you ask Peter to describe himself he would say he is a Dad, a teacher, a youth worker, a disruptor, an explorer, a part-time Jedi Master and a life-long learner.