AMI Adolescent Diploma from Train Montessori in Denver, Colorado

BS in Computer Science from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

MEd in Instructional Leadership: Education Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago

“Since I began teaching, my approach has been to collaborate with students to learn together in community. Through inquiry projects, class discussions, and individual conferrals my students have taught me countless new things and been great partners in investigating topics we all want to learn more about.”

Sylvia is the Adolescent Community Director and the Adolescent Mathematics and Science Guide at Greenspring Montessori School. She also serves as our Spanish Program Director.

Before Greenspring, Sylvia taught middle school for 16 years in a variety of progressive education settings. During this time she has had opportunities to develop a deep understanding of students’ cognitive development, craft an integrated curriculum, and coach several new teachers.

As part of her work teaching, Sylvia developed a passion for curriculum design. She authored four units of constructivist math curriculum in the Contexts for Learning Mathematics series and regularly leads professional development for teachers. She has presented her work on student proof at the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) annual conference and her work using statistics to explore social justice at the National Association of Independent School (NAIS) People of Color Conference.

Sylvia is an active member of the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE). She has been a presenter at their annual conference for the past two years, sharing her curriculum tracing human knowledge about global climate change. Sylvia also is the Chair of the Green School Committee and an integral part of our recent certification as a Maryland Green School.

Sylvia is also deeply aligned with our work in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. She believes that the struggle for social justice is an important part of every subject. As the adolescents work to build a strong and equitable community among themselves, she also guides them to use math and science as lenses to examine society and identify ways we personally can step up to create a more just and sustainable world. She has mentored student action projects including a student investigation of microaggressions in schools, collecting money and assembling food to support the homeless, writing to legislators on a variety of student-identified issues, and organizing a climate rally in downtown Chicago.

On campus, you may find her investigating composting microorganisms under a microscope, guiding students in propagating heirloom vegetable seeds, or studying projectile motion. Outside of school, Sylvia enjoys hiking, gardening, making music, and reading books with her family.