Team Member Biographies
Meet the team members of the TIIP II Project, "Growing Readers for Life"
Trine Apfelberg
Trine grew up in Los Angeles and attended UC Santa Cruz for her undergraduate degree in Psychology. She then attended UCLA and earned her teaching credential and Masters in Education through the Teacher Education Program. She has been teaching at FDR for 11 years and has taught in 3rd, 5th, and 6th grades. Trine participated in the Cotsen Foundation Art of Teaching Fellowship program. Through this two-year experience she grew immensely as a teacher; both in curriculum development and in her capacity to become a teacher leader on her campus. Trine believes that opportunities like Cotsen and TIIP are invaluable experiences for building capacity in teachers and school communities.
Kevin Koga
Kevin Koga holds a Masters in Education with an emphasis in curriculum along with an administrative credential and certification in teaching/differentiating for gifted students from UCI. He has been teaching for 8 years at FDR Elementary School, in grades 3, 4 and 5. As a Cotsen Family Foundation Alumni, Kevin has availed himself of many professional development opportunities including training on Cognitively Guided Instruction with Megan Franke, Writer’s and Reader’s Workshop with the Alvarado Institute, and Reading Comprehension with Ellin Keene. He has also participated in extensive trainings on teaching gifted through differentiated instruction and has attended the National Conference on Differentiation. He has also led professional developments for his school staff on Marzano’s Vocabulary instruction as well as Parent workshops in Math. Finally, Kevin is a proud new papa of a baby boy!
Phuong Nguyen
Phuong has taught at FDR for ten years in 3rd and 4th grades. During the grant period, she taught 3rd/4th grade combination classes. She earned her undergraduate degree in Urban Studies from Stanford University and her Master's of Education and teaching credential from UCLA. Phuong is an alumna of the Cotsen Foundation Art of Teaching Fellowship Program, which provided selected teachers to develop their own professional development with the guidance and support of Cotsen mentors. This experience first exposed Phuong the Reading and Writing Workshop approach.
Susan Safah-Garcia
Susan is a South Bay girl all the way! She grew up in Torrance, attended El Camino College and transferred to UCLA where she got her BA in English and World Literature. During this time, Ms. Safah-Garcia also studied abroad in France. She loves learning different languages and about different cultures. She got her Teaching Credential and Master’s Degree from Pepperdine University. Susan has 9 years of teaching experience in 4th and 5th grade and has loved every minute of it! Susan is also an alumna of the Cotsen Foundation Art of Teacher and Fellowship Program. She is a firm believer in collaboration, learning from other educators, and sharing innovative ideas.
Previous:
Garden of Resources
