TIIP Team Member Brief Biographies

Patricia Castañeda completed her B.A in Comparative Literature from Chapman University in 2000 and is currently finishing her Masters of Education Administration from the University of California, Dominguez Hills. She has been at Edison for eleven years. While at Edison, she has taught 7^th grade English, 8^th grade English, AVID, and Language! She has served on the Shared Decision Making Council, School Site Council and was also the Instructional Support Provider, Data Intervention Coordinator, and Testing Coordinator. She has also served as English Department Chair various times. She co-presented at California State Literacy Conference (2012). She has attended the following conferences: California Association of Teachers of English (CATE); California League Middle Schools (CLMS).

Sarah Fritz completed her B.A. in English at UCSB in 2002 and obtained her Master of Education Degree from UCLA in 2004. She has been teaching at Edison for nine years and was Edison Running Team Leader, training students to run the Los Angeles Marathon, for six. In addition to teaching 8th grade English, she has taught ESL, Creative Writing and AVID. She has attended the following professional development workshops: initial High Point training (2003) and follow-up sessions for three years afterwards, AVID Summer Institute (2007) followed by four training days per year for two years to help develop and maintain the AVID program at Edison, LAEP’s PLE Retreat for Interdisciplinary Team Planning, UCLA's Chancellor’s Conference (2003), "With Different Eyes" Conference (2008), and CATE (2008 and 2009). Sarah moved back East this school year and is currently teaching English in a South Carolina middle school.

Melissa Minkin began teaching in 2003 after working as a writer for many years. She received her National Board Certification (Early Adolescent English Language Arts) in 2008 and is a fellow of the California Writing Project. She received her B.A. in English and History from UC Berkeley and her Master in Education at UCLA (with Sarah). She is credentialed in English and History and currently teaches 7th grade English. She served as the budget chairperson on Edison's Shared Decision Making Council for three years and served on the School Site Council for four. She was also a member of Edison’s Technology Committee. Additionally, Melissa initiated and runs Edison’s Annual Tree Giveaway, which has distributed nearly 400 fruit-bearing trees to students’ families. Conferences she has attended include: California Association of Teachers of English (CATE), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Annual Conference, and the California League of Middle Schools (CLMS) Conference. She has presented at CATE, the UCLA Chancellor’s Conference, Edison’s English and History departments, and for the history department at Santee High School (in collaboration with the UCLA History and Geography Project). She has also presented several times for pre-service teachers in UCLA’s Teacher Education Program, CSU Dominguez Hills' Teacher Education Program, and for the youTHink Teacher Network. Melissa blogs about teaching at www.TeacherHacks.net. 

Andrea Mordoh has spent her twenty-seven years of teaching at Edison. While she specializes in working with remedial students, teaching DRWC and ELS, she has taught English in 7th, 8th, 9th grades, as well as Electives of Creative Writing Through Computers, Cinema, Leadership, and Peer Mediation. She was the Language Arts Lab Coordinator for 2 years and Dean of Students for ten, returning to the classroom five years ago. She earned her B.A. in Theater with a minor in English from California State University Northridge in 1979 and she has an M.A. in Administration from Cal State Los Angeles. Her trainings include California Literature and Writing Projects, Spenser Kagen Cooperative Learning, and a variety of other programs such as IMPACT and Peer Counseling. During her time at Edison, she has served as the English Department Chair three different times, has been a member of the School Site Council and Shared Decision Making Council for more years than she remembers. She has chaired both the Professional Development Committee and the Technology Committee for the SDMC. She has presented at the California League of Middle Schools and at various schools in LAUSD. She has mentored teachers both for the District and for her school. She has sponsored both a Computer Club, where she taught students HTML, and a Video Club and she was the Edison Running Team Leader, training students to run the Los Angeles Marathon for ten years.