Mike Castiglione, CMAST TL
I graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia, with a Mathematics degree and a Middle Childhood Education concentration.  I continued in school to earn my masters in Curriculum and Instruction.  I moved out to Los Angeles in 2006 to take a full time teaching position in Algebra and Geometry at Richard Merkin Middle School, a member of the Alliance College Ready community of schools. During my first year in Los Angeles I participated in the CAMS grant at Pepperdine University, where a small group of teachers worked on interactive strategies to help engage students in math and science.  I then pursued leadership positions that directly impacted student learning.  I set up and facilitated the after school math tutoring program, became grade level chair, actively participated as a member of the Leadership team, and have facilitated monthly classroom walkthroughs modeled after the UCLA program.

In 2007 I began working with LMU-CMAST where I was identified as a standout math teacher and potential leader and selected to participate in the CMAST Transformational Leadership program to learn how to teach the Math and Science (MAST) teaching program.  Since working as a TL my classroom has become a model for teachers to observe MAST in action, where all of my students are engaged and achieving in mathematics.  I have worked closely with other teachers, mentoring them in their first year of teaching and shifting their practice to increase student learning.

I am currently implementing MAST throughout Alliance by customizing and facilitating monthly professional development seminars that will move teaching practice forward, teaching teachers at several sites within the organization, continuing to teach in the classroom, and sharing leadership with the administration to institutionalize an expectation of high quality and rigorous teaching and learning in mathematics that aligns with the key tenets of MAST.  I am currently finishing my tier 1 preliminary administrative credential and I look forward to the challenge of balancing teaching in the classroom with working with a diverse group of teachers, collaborating within the CMAST professional learning community, and expanding the CMAST program to New York.