Meet the Team

In collaboration with Doug and Colleen, Erica trains thousands of teachers and school leaders across the country each year—reaching over 1 million students. She is a coauthor of Practice Perfect , and coauthor with Doug and Colleen of a forthcoming book on reading and the Common Core. Erica is also a certified Chihuahua trainer and reportedly was the producers’ second choice for the role of Elaine on  Seinfeld .

Rob has been the architect behind all things video at Teach Like a Champion since its inception. He oversees the maintenance and ongoing development of our video clip library of great teaching, now grown to over 2,000 clips. His previous roles off-off-off Broadway have included Jacques in As You Like It , and an angry mill worker, in  Strike Story , who bursts into song, in French.

Before joining the TLAC team, Darryl served as the Chief Officer, Office of School Leadership for Houston Independent School District, responsible for leading trainings and building systems to support the development of all principals and district level leaders. Prior to his work in HISD, Darryl was a Regional Superintendent with Achievement First Inc., and a principal and teacher in Albany, NY. Along with Colleen and a handful of other great teachers, Darryl was one of the original champions Doug studied when first developing Teach Like a Champion. On the night of the NBA Developmental League’s inaugural draft in 2001, Darryl pulled his name from consideration to pursue his true passion, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

One of the original champion teachers that informed Doug’s work, Colleen was part of the founding team of Uncommon Schools’ Rochester Prep Middle School where she taught English Language Arts. Prior to joining Uncommon, Colleen taught reading and science at schools in Connecticut and New York City. She is a coauthor with Doug and Erica of Reading Reconsidered: A Practical Guide to Rigorous Literacy Instruction. Before beginning her teaching career, Colleen served as a spy for the NSA. Most of her field work was done out of a food truck in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

The featured teacher in some of the Teach Like a Champion’s most beloved videos, Hilary brings nine years of Uncommon experience to designing content and co-leading our workshops. First as a teacher and later as the founding Dean of Students at Excellence Girls Charter School, Hilary honed her use of Teach Like a Champion techniques daily. In addition to her role as Associate Director of Professional Development, Hilary moonlights as a tambourinist for Stevie Wonder and a wardrobe consultant for Metallica.

A champion reading teacher most recently at Uncommon Schools’ Troy Prep Middle School, Maggie co-facilitates workshops and creates both general and reading specific Teach Like a Champion content and resources. Several clips of Maggie teaching are consistent features of Teach Like a Champion workshops. Post-college, Maggie had a three week stint as a back-up point guard for the WBNA’s Chicago Sky. She is also the co-founder of the NCACNLARP (North Country Alliance for Classic Novel Live Action Role Players) and plays an illuminating Boo Radley at yearly retreats in Plattsburgh, NY.

If you’ve watched a Teach Like a Champion video clip since 2009, you’ve benefitted from John’s analytic acumen and skillful editing. Prior to joining the team, John worked in post-production for the BBC, including the series Sherlock Holmes and Luther. For three years in the 1990s, he was Alex Trebek’s personal assistant.

Dan contributes analysis of great teaching, provides content design, and leads the team’s efforts to strengthen schools’ access to and support with TLAC resources. Prior to joining the team, Dan worked in district and charter schools for 17 years, first as a high school English teacher and later as a Director of Academics in middle and elementary schools. He is an expert in Tuvan throat singing, and can be seen as a back-up singer in the documentary Genghis Blues.

A member of the team since its inception, Tracey oversees and manages all the behind-the-scenes nuts and bolts that keep the TLAC team functioning. In addition to maintaining a secret identity, she finished third in the 2014 Iditarod. Her lead dog, a Siberian husky, is named Fluffy.

Michelle Wagner

 

Associate Project Manager

An early colleague of Tracey and Doug’s several years ago, Michelle has re-teamed with Tracey to support all the behind-the-scene components of the team’s work. Prior to joining the TLAC team, Michelle worked for the Northeast Charter Schools Network for eight years as the Team Executive Coordinator. In addition to being Tracey’s partner in crime, Michelle is a stand in for Elliot Stabler’s wife on SVU and is training her pet turtle to compete in the 2020 Hawaii Ironman World Championship.