Traci Shields Email and Phone Number

My primary role was to support quality implementation of varied science and math curricular resources. I oversaw the GEMS, KidzScience, Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading and Amplify Science Curriculum Implementation Networks, working to support quality implementation across the U.S. and abroad. I worked with thousands of teachers, from all 50 states, at conferences and traveled to at least 30 states and several foreign countries to teach and work directly with educators in schools, museums, and science centers. Partnership with UC, Berkeley's Space Science Laboratory and NASA led to many curricular and professional learning projects. In addition to designing and delivering dozens of live workshops to NASA Space Flight Centers and NASA Schools, we worked collaboratively with many institutions nation-wide over many years to build capacity for our rich array of curricular resources. Similarly, the NOAA-funded Ocean Sciences Sequences were designed and implemented in support of effective pedagogical practices to teach climate change using NOAA assets to a global audience. My secondary role was to support student-facing and teacher-facing curriculum development efforts. To this end, I served as a program leader for the development of the NGSS-based Amplify Science K-8 curriculum. I co-led the development of 24 instructional videos for the NSF-Funded MECM project - Multimedia Educative Curriculum Materials. MECM's are embedded in the Amplify Middle School curriculum for just-in-time teacher support. For the out-of-school time educators, in addition to designing and delivering professional learning resources, I oversaw the development of AfterSchool KidzScience curricular and video resources, working closely with publisher: Developmental Studies Center and videographer: Group 5 Media. The video resources broke into 2 categories: 1) one video per kit for instructional leader implementation support and 2) Leaders Tips providing pedagogical and management support.

When I returned to EESD, I co-led the math department at Parsons Junior High School where I taught 6th and 8th math and 6th grade science for nearly 2 years. My return to EESD was in the early days of No Child Left Behind, the school was in a School Improvement situation, the pressures were very real. Ironically and with what seems like a bit of prescience, I had spent that spring and summer studying algebra by completing all the exercises in Saxon Math's Algebra 1 text book. Thankfully. January 2007, I accepted my post as the Director of the GEMS (Great Explorations in Math and Science) international network at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science. March 2007, I received a Distinguished Service Award from the California Association for the Gifted via the Shasta County School Superintendent.

The Turtle Bay project was funded, starting in the mid-1990's, by a $55 million capital campaign. The goal was a 240-acre park and museum complex straddling the Sacramento River in the heart of Redding. The museums merged, closing several beloved spaces in Redding, as we moved the collection as well as the physical and human resources downstream to the new grounds of Turtle Bay Exploration Park. I joined the Turtle Bay team part-time in 1999, working to enhance capacity in their docents and to create object-based, inter-disciplinary teaching kits. I also taught for their Summer Adventures Day Camp program. It was an honor to be recruited early in 2001 to serve as the Turtle Bay Museums Director of Education and Community Outreach. I led a team of 5 educators, 50 docents, and 100+ Museum Teen Volunteers. During my tenure, the Turtle Bay team opened Turtle Bay Museum, the Sundial Bridge, and the Arboretum and Gardens. Our mission was "Creative Sustainability". We featured sustainable materials in the various buildings and in our interpretation. Among other projects, we enjoyed years worth of water conservation funding for projects and programs. I led the Redding GEMS Center, providing professional development to teachers in the 5 county north state region. The education team was an active and well-respected member of the Irvine Foundations' Museum Youth Initiative. I also served as the liaison between Chrysalis Charter School and Turtle Bay Exploration Park, as the school was housed on the museum grounds in the Exploration Space. The work to document the construction of the Sundial Bridge was a highlight, as was the opportunity to represent the community as a spokesperson on Hewell Houser's California Gold, Sedge Thompson's West Coast Live and in the award-winning documentary about the Sundial Bridge, "Angle of Inspiration".

Chrysalis Charter School was one of the first 100 Charter Schools in the state of California and the first in Shasta County. It is a teacher-run school. The school motto while I was there: Creating the Naturalists of the Next Generation. The charter was granted by Enterprise Elementary School District. The school opened in 1996, serving K - 5 only. I joined the staff in 1997 as the first middle school teacher at the school. The school was a hybrid, part home-school, part at-school.I was responsible for their applied math and science and saw the students 2 days per week. I worked with school founder, Paul Krafel, to lead weekly 1/2-day+ field study. I also oversaw the students home-school program of study for the other subjects of their curriculum.The Chrysalis Charter document was revolutionary. We were responsible for our own budget, based on our ADA (Average Daily Attendance). Our salary, a building use fee, and a 'tax' that teachers agreed upon to pay for administrative services by one of our own were the basis for our classroom budgets. If there were additional funds left over, then you could hire an aide, take field trips, purchase supplies, and cover other discretionary costs. Our parent teacher conference was centered around the question, "Is your child thriving?" It was of utmost importance to serve students well, as any drop in admissions meant a direct drop to your classroom budget. This model did not survive, but it certainly left its impression on me. Chrysalis thrives today. I offer a link to Paul Krafel's book: Roaming Upward as it will give you insight to the school, particularly in the later chapters.

While student teaching at Shasta Meadows Elementary School in 1985 at the Enterprise Elementary School District (EESD), I was hired as a 4th grade teacher. I taught 4th graders there for two years, then 5th graders for three years. During these years, I introduced the first computers and digital technologies to the district. State Superintendent of Schools Bill Honig innovated teacher mentorships. Between 1987 and 1990, I was awarded three of these for EESD: 2 in technology, 1 in inter-disciplinary curriculum.In 1990, after 5 years in the classroom, I was recruited to serve half-time as the Chapter I math Coordinator for qualifying 4-8th students and their instructional aides and 2) to serve half-time to build, teach and coordinate Gifted and Talented Services (GATE) for 4th-8th graders in EESD. In 1996, I was awarded Teacher of the Year for the Mt. Shasta region by California Association for the Gifted (CAG). Chrysalis Charter School was chartered by EESD in 1996, I joined the teaching staff in 1997, teaching 6h-8th grade math and science two days per week, with 4th-8th grade GATE program coordination and delivery the 3 other days.Throughout my tenure with EESD, I participated actively in district learning opportunities, leadership committees, delivered professional development to my colleagues and oversaw a math adoption. Working under direction of EESD Superintendent, Lee Jenkins, I designed, developed and delivered (not always favorably) a prototype for his L to J assessment system for 4th and 5th grade classrooms district-wide. I also served two terms as Mt. Shasta Educator Representative for the California Association for the Gifted, was president of NorthState for GATE, and was instrumental in bringing the Odyssey of the Mind program and tournament to the north state region, captaining the score room for 20 years. In 2007, I received a Distinguished Service Award from the California Association for the Gifted via the Shasta County School Superintendent.