Morgan Russo Email & Phone Number

Amsterdam Area, Netherlands

-Collaborated with creative team to write digital episodes and stories that teach gross motor skills for children ages 2-5-Led and directed the creation of a fictional world building initiative for expansion of program

Toronto, Canada Area

-Leading development of middle school curriculum, expected release Sept 2021-Developed COVID-19 Lesson plans and wrote unit story to support schools and families during the Pandemic-Led expansion into the 8-10 year old market through development of age-specific, evidence-informed, and standard-aligned curriculum, lesson plans, and supporting materials-Designed and wrote digital games, quests, and stories to support lessons-Wrote 10 educational scripts for personal digital learning game-Wrote leveled comprehension quizzes for all 10 stories -Designed professional development for districts implementing social emotional learning

Chicago, Illinois, United States

-Designing and leading professional development for educators on learning from screens, and technology and digital media use in schools and at home-Conducting research study to better understand how teachers use technology to support students during remote learning and how children learn from technology -Supporting and facilitating an action research project with teenagers and technology

United Kingdom

-Aiding in U.S. expansion of Good Play Guide (Formerly Fundamentally Children) led by Dr. Amanda Gummer, UK’s go-to toy and play expert-Coordinating toy testing centers to raise industry standards for children’s products (toys, apps, books, etc.) so that children can have the best possible resources for play and development -Writing lesson plans and enrichment activity guides for toy companies during COVID-19 pandemic

-Assisted in learning design, game design, and script writing

Chicago, Il

-Wrote two scripts for animated series, Nature Cat, on PBS

Chicago

-Selected to serve as Inaugural Executive Director-Responsible for overall direction and execution of TST’s mission and supporting programming-Expanded TST from supporting teacher-leaders in 5 schools to 25 teacher-leaders across 19 schools during time as Executive Director (260% increase) - expanded student impact by ~9000 students-Recruited and developed 9 instructional coaches to support teacher leaders in building teacher-led teams-Developed and organized 4 networking & professional development events with 100+ attendees-Began with Teacher Supporting Teachers as Instructional Coach - assisted low-income Chicago Public School in developing an instructional leadership team

Chicago

-Mentored & coached K-8 teachers at a low-income school to build curriculum, instructional strategies, and classroom culture -Led 5th grade team of 6 teachers and 150+ students-Created Think Tank Team, an innovative teacher team designed to empower and energize teachers with resources, research, and time to implement best practices - ​expanded to 20+ teachers-Served as Math Team Lead for 15 teachers to research and implement innovative math teaching strategies and vertically align across grades - ​asked to begin as Lead in second year at school-Designed a curriculum, Student-Teach, that coached high-risk students to develop social emotional learning/classroom management strategies by empowering them with leadership opportunities

Chicago, Il

-Taught and planned core subjects for two years and taught one fifth grade remedial reading class-Developed and implemented leadership program called Student-Teach for underserved students to build their metacognitive awareness and strengthen leadership skills-Participated in 45-hour Gifted Educational Seminar and wrote final thesis on building lifelong readers-Member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Negaunee Music Institute Connect, a professional development program focused on building an arts integrated curriculum and collaborating with CSO civic musicians-Coached Battle of the Books 4-6 team and competed in the city finals-Member of the STARS instructional team which implements new learning strategies and member of the Math Team

Greater Chicago Area

-Designed and founded 7t​ h​ grade ELA curriculum and all learning materials-Classroom had top academic growth out of ~100+ Chicago Charter Schools based on NWEA MAP Data -Students grew the equivalent of 3+ grade levels in one year of school-Engaged in professional development workshops every week on teaching and classroom strategies-Produced raps to engage students in reading (youtube: Morgan Stumbras) - videos viewed ~22K times

Greater Chicago Area

-Led a Reading Investment Seminar for Corps Members about fostering a love of reading for students-Created daily lesson plans aligned with Illinois standards and taught remedial summer program -Established effective classroom management policies to engage a diverse array of students

Masters Of Science, Child Development

Activities and Societies: GPA: 4.0 Research Assistant at the TEC (Technology in Early Childhood) Center

Bachelor Of Education (B.Ed.), Elementary Education And Cultural Anthropology

Activities and Societies: GPA: ​​3.78/4.00 Magna Cum Laude Lilting Banshees Comedy Troupe, Theatre/Performer, Founder of Laugh It Off.