Howard Gardner - Dr. Gardner is the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. The author of over twenty books translated into twenty-seven languages and several hundred articles, Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of Multiple Intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be assessed by standard psychometric instruments. He has also written extensively on creativity, leadership, and professional ethics. His latest book “Five Minds for the Future” was published in April 2007. Gardner has visited China several times as an honorary professor at East China Normal University. You can find accounts of these experiences in his 1989 book “To Open Minds.”
Curriculum Advisor
Julie Viens is the Managing Director of the Multiple Intelligences Institute. She is one of the world’s leading experts on applying Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory in the classroom and is the creator of the Pathways approach for the MI-based curriculum. Previous, she was a senior researcher at Harvard Graduate School of Education and has worked with Professor Howard Gardner (who developed MI theory) for over sixteen years. Her research is widely published and she has written numerous books including Multiple Intelligences in the Elementary Classroom: Pathways to Thoughtful Practice and Building on Children’s Strengths.
Julie holds a Masters in Education from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
Faculty
Londi Carbajal is the Chief Education Officer in Ivy Group. She is responsible for maintaining the high quality of standards in all campuses. She grew up in Southern California, where she began her career in early childhood development in 1968. In 1985 she co-founded a museum in Santa Fe specifically designed for children between the ages 2-12. She has been part of Ivy Academy since 2007.
Her first overseas adventure brought her to Beijing in 2005 as the founding Principal of a kindergarten. Throughout her career Londi has been deeply committed to creating environments that are physically and psychologically safe, offer choice and independence for learners, and challenge them intellectually. She emphasizes the teachers’ role as a facilitator of learning, and honors parents as the primary educators of their children.
Vanessa Notley has been the Campus Director of Ivy Academy for over a year but she joined the school four years ago. She has over 15 years of teaching experience in China, France and Germany and has worked with different age groups for language and fine arts training. Fluent in French and with a working knowledge of Chinese, she is also an artist who exhibits regularly in Europe and China
Vanessa holds a Masters in Fine Arts from the Ecole des Beaux Arts and a B.A. in Art History from Bryn Mawr College. She also received her certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Nursery Class
Rebecca Zhang is the lead teacher in the Nursery class and joined us from Sydney Australia four years ago. She has worked in Pre-Kindergartens and Kindergartens for the past seven years both in Australia and in China. Before joining Ivy Academy, Becky taught English as a foreign language in Chinese and international Kindergartens.
Rebecca holds a Bachelors degree from Sydney University and an advanced TAFE certification in Early Childhood Education. She has also received a certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Sherry Tang comes from Southern California and has been the support teacher in the Nursery class for over three years. She received her elementary and secondary education in Singapore, where she was born. While attending college in Colorado, she developed a strong interest in working with young children back in 1996 as an after-
school program child care assistant. Sherry taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in Denver, Colorado for two years providing ESL instruction to children from kindergarten to sixth grade before becoming a first and second grade teacher in Cupertino, California. Sherry is fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and proficient in Japanese. She has been living in Beijing for the last seven years and her passions include singing, dancing, and cooking.
Sherry holds a B.A. in Japanese Studies and a Masters in Elementary Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She also earned her post-graduate certification in English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction from the same university. She also holds a certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Hana Wu is a teacher in the Nursery class. Before joining Ivy Academy two years ago, she taught English at an elementary school. Hana loves children and has great interest in early childhood education. In her spare time, she enjoys drawing, listening to music, playing basketball and cooking.
Hana received her Bachelor degree from Beijing Normal University and has received a certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has completed her certification in becoming a Kindermusik teacher.
Pre-Kindergarten 202
Lisa Perdomenico is the lead teacher of the Pre-Kindergarten 202 and comes from Boston. She has been teaching pre-school for almost 15 years. She has had much experience working with young children from hosting exhibitions of young children’s art to participating in the Cambridge Science Festival. Lisa also has facilitated a wide range of workshops for teachers and parents. She is also an author of two science recipe books.
Lisa graduated with an M.A. from the Wheelock College majored in the Early Childhood Care Careers Program in Boston.
Sovandara Chhin grew up in Southern California and has been working in a variety of educational settings for the past 9 years. Before arriving in Beijing, she was working with an international development agency to train Early Childhood Educators in West Africa. She has also worked as an early childhood educator in Montessori and independent schools in New York City and in Colorado. During her summers, she lived in the mountains of New York and California in providing experiential learning opportunities for at-risk youth. During her leisure time, she is an outdoor enthusiast: snowboarding, hiking, backpacking, canoeing and motor biking.
She graduated from University of Colorado, Boulder with a BA in Classics and she also received a certificate in Early Childhood Education from West Side Montessori School-Teacher Education Program in New York City.
Sophia Zhang started a year ago as an intern in pre K 202 and now joins us as our Chinese Assistant teacher. She loves children very much, and has great interest in early childhood education. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, dancing, drawing and cooking. Previously she had an experience working with children in internship.
Sophia received her Bachelor degree and certificate in teaching English as a foreign language from Teacher’s College of Beijing Union University.
Pre-Kindergarten 203
Ryan Cardwell is the lead teacher of the Pre-Kindergarten 203 class and comes from British Columbia in Canada. He has been working with children for 10 years both in recreational and educational settings. Ryan has worked as a teacher in private schools in Beijing and in Vancouver, Canada, and worked in after–school care centers as a special needs aide. Before coming to Beijing Ryan was also active in social outreach programs in Vancouver. He has worked with a non-profit organization that provides financial aid to Central America, as well as educational and social assistance to new immigrants. This is his fourth year at Ivy Academy.
Ryan was educated at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver where he studied Physical Education, History and Asian Studies. Ryan also has a certificate in Multiple Intelligence from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Marie Cordelia Oliver is starting her third year at Ivy Academy. After receiving her first Master's degree, she worked as a guidance counselor but later moved on to teaching. She taught Lower School children from two international schools in her home country, the Philippines, and in Xiamen, China. Prior to working overseas, Odie was involved with special children with special needs both as a teacher and as a volunteer worker.
Odie holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Nueva Caceres and two graduate degrees; a Masters in Guidance and Counseling ( University of Nueva Caceres) and in Special Education (University of the Philippines).
Lily Jiang is starting her third year with the pre- Kindergarten class. Before joining Ivy Academy she worked in various bilingual kindergartens in GuangZhou and Beijing for four years. She loves children and is especially interested in early childhood education. In her spare time Lily enjoys playing and listening to music, dancing and traveling.
Lily graduated from Hebei Normal University and has received training in the Orff approach to understanding music.
Pre-Kindergarten/ Kindergarten
Jeff Sanders is starting his fourth year as the lead teacher in the Kindergarten. He grew up in Oregon and has had over twenty years of teaching experience. He mainly taught 1st and 2nd grade levels but has had experience teaching all different grade levels. His first overseas teaching assignments were in Japan and in Venezuela.
Jeff earned his B.S. in Elementary Education from Oregon College of Education and has completed graduate coursework toward his Master’s of Education at the University of Oregon. He also holds a certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Nicole Hughes has been with us for over two years. She comes from Sydney, Australia where during high school she tutored primary school children in Mathematics and English. While attending university, Nicole continued working with children as a childcare assistant for 2.5 years. During that time she assisted in running child based activities and developing curriculum for children ranging from 1 to 5 years old. Once Nicole graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Land and Water Science she moved into a very different field of environmental contamination management. However, she continued to work with children in her spare time as a state coach and development officer for the New South Wales Handball Association.
Nicole was given the opportunity in July 2007 to come to China and train professionally with the Beijing Provincial Handball Team in the lead up to the Handball World Championships in which Australia was to compete. During this time she worked as a junior tennis coach with GS Academy and traveled around Beijing to various International Schools to coach in after-school activities for 5 to 10 year olds.
She also holds a certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Stacy Gao is starting her fourth year with Ivy Academy and prior to that she spent two years working with children in elementary schools. She spent three months in Boston last year on an Ivy Academy training and internship program at Tot Lots. In her spare time, she enjoys singing, listening to music and traveling.
Stacy holds a B.A. and a teaching certificate from Yantai Normal University. She has also received a certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is currently participating in a training course at Beijing Normal University on parent-child education based on Multiple Intelligences teaching practices.
Specialty Teachers
Li Cao is our Orff Music teacher. She has been training Orff teachers at the Chinese Orff Music Association for the past 4 years, and has been working with pre-school age children for the past 8 years.
Ms. Cao received her Masters in Music Education from Inner Mongolia Normal University and also studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Winnie Sidharta comes from Indonesia and is the art teacher for all of the classes. She has a BA in Visual and Communication Design and she finished the Certificate Program at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Art in 2007. She is a highly accomplished artist who understands and practices various art techniques such as oil painting, printing and still life drawing.
Winnie has worked as a freelance illustrator and designer for the Peking University Press and the Chinese National Geographic and for the last year, she has been working as a private tutor for young children. This is her second year at Ivy Academy.
Cindy Hu has joined Ivy Academy as our Safety and Security teacher. She studied Pre-School Education and then Psychology to a master’s degree at the Chinese Academy of Science in 2008. Before joining Ivy in 2008 she worked at the Beijing United Family Hospital for over eight years. She has also just recently become a mother to a 4 month year old son.
School Staff
Jessica Huhemuqi has been with us for over three years as one of our Chinese assistant teachers, and she starts as our office manager in January 2010. Before joining us, she also taught English as a foreign language to children of different ages.
Jessica received her Bachelor degree and certificate in teaching English as a foreign language from Beijing Normal University. She has also received a certificate in Multiple Intelligences from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has also obtained certification in teaching Kindermuisk and will continue to give classes to Ivy children.
Amy Cui is Ivy Academy’s office assistant and she joined us last year. She comes from Han Dan and received both her B.A and Teaching Certificate from Han Dan College. Before joining Ivy Academy she worked in a Kindergarten, elementary and high school for nearly two years.
Shi Jing Hong is our school nurse and has been with us for over four years. Before joining us she worked at Number 1 Kindergarten for over 2 years and she received her nurse’s certification from Chaoyang District nursing college in 1994.
Li Su Ju has been one of our caregivers for over four years and she comes from Beijing. Before joining us she was a Kindergarten teacher and a sales lady in a department store.
Han Li Ming is one of our care givers and she joined us a year ago. She comes from Beijing and worked previously at our bilingual campus.
