MEET
THE TEAM

Dr. Crean is a degreed biologist and educator, specializing in incorporating real world scientific data into classroom activities. He has taught for 24 years, currently teaching biology courses at Lyons Township High School and both biology and preservice science teaching courses at Saint Xavier University, Chicago. Dr. Crean has been awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching by President Obama, the High School Science Teacher of the Year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as well as awards from the National Science Teachers Association, National Association of Biology Teachers, Illinois Science Teachers Association, Golden Apple Foundation, among others. He is the President of the Illinois Science Teachers Association and Illinois Association of Biology Teachers, HHMI Teacher Ambassador, and sits on the College Board’s National Science Advisory Panel. He also co-chairs the Pre-AP Science Curriculum Development Committee for the College Board and has extensive experience with teacher professional learning in both formal and informal settings, like that of the Education Department at the Chicago Zoological Society. Through his leadership in many of these organizations, he began the NGSS Biology Storylining Working Group that has collaboratively created a full biology course curricular replacement with six coherent storyline units that are now used across the country and internationally.

Michael Fumagalli has involved in education for over a decade, spending ten years as a biology teacher at Leyden High School District 212 and then as a Dean at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, IL. He currently serves as Principal at Glen Westlake Middle School, also in Lombard, IL. Michael is a 2015 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), the most distinguished teaching award in the United States, and was honored at the White House in September of 2016. Michael’s passion for utilizing phenomena to elicit student questions that drive learning through the use of science and engineering practices transformed the experience of his students.



From 2010-2014, Michael worked on Project READi (Reading, Evidence, and Argumentation in Disciplinary Instruction) writing curriculum and evaluating students' ability to obtain evidence from text and engage in argumentation. In 2014, Michael was selected as one of 16 high school teachers in Illinois to develop middle and high school units aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Michael was also named the 2014 Exxon/Mobil Illinois Science Teacher of the Year. Michael was a contributing author to the EQuIP (Educators Evaluating the Quality of Instructional Products) Rubric Facilitator’s Guide, has spoken at more than 20 local, state, and national conferences on instructional shifts toward the NGSS, is the former Vice President of the Illinois Science Teachers Association, is a peer-reviewed journal published author, and continues to guide K-12 science educators nationwide through various professional learning endeavors. Michael has a Bachelor’s in Athletic Training and a M.A.T. in Secondary Science Education from the University of Iowa as well as a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Concordia University.

Koehler, is a graduate of Western Illinois University with a degree in Biology Education. After college, she began her full-time teaching career at Mother Guerin High School in River Grove where she spent one year before returning to her alma mater, Morton West High School in Berwyn, Illinois. She spent three years at Morton West teaching Intro to Physical Science and Biology to freshmen. After three years, she was recruited by Riverside-Brookfield High School where she is currently in her 16th year of teaching. She began her teaching career at RB with Honors Biology and AP biology and she now adds their Anatomy & Physiology course to her repertoire. She has completed a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction through National Louis University and then continued curriculum work as she became a member of the AP Biology Leadership Academy. As part of the Academy, she has participated in running one of the first ever Regional Teacher Academies at Michigan State University. She is also a Teacher Ambassador for HHMI, presenting science curriculum using Biointeractive resources. For the past two years, she has worked as part of the Pre-AP Biology Curriculum Development Committee for the College Board. In 2017, she was presented with the National Association of Biology Teachers’ Outstanding Biology Teacher Award.

Dr. Lemmer is an instructional support specialist in the Illinois District and School Improvement (Illinois DSI) program at American Institutes for Research (AIR). She has more than 10 years of experience in science and STEM education, project-based learning and assessment. She also volunteers as the Director of Assessment for the Illinois Science Teachers Association and serves on the groups Professional Learning Team and Professional Development Steering Committee. In this role, she works with ISTA members to plan, design, develop and deliver high quality professional development that embody the vision of the K-12 Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards. Topics include foundational understandings of the Framework and Standards; Instructional Shifts; Assessment Literacy and 3-D Assessment for NGSS; Phenomena-based learning; and Administrator Academies with a focus on high quality science instruction aligned to the Danielson Framework and key shifts that should be visible in the NGSS classroom.



She has extensive experience in implementing 3-dimensional science and the Next Generation Science Standards at the state, district, and classroom level, and in particular with the development of 3-dimensional science assessments for both local and large-scale assessments. Previously, Dr. Lemmer was a principal consultant for the Illinois State Board of Education in charge of developing and administering the science portion of the large-scale state assessment system for Illinois, where she oversaw the review, adoption, and subsequent implementation efforts for the state and served as state level expertise in the development of balanced assessment systems, standards cross walking and comparison studies, and development of a new state science assessment blueprint. Dr. Lemmer holds a PhD in Professional Studies in Education with a focus in science education from Capella University.

Kristin is a high school life science and special education teacher with 18 years of classroom experience. Kristin has worked with the Next Generation Science Standards since their adoption in 2014 and has worked both locally and nationally in helping districts implement their new state standards. Kristin serves as a professional development facilitator and instructional coach for the National Science Teachers Foundation and also reviews NGSS aligned curriculum for Achieve's Peer-Review-Panel for Science. She has also received the Robert E Yager Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017 and was named NSTAs Distinguished Teacher in 2018. She is also the co-founder of the NGSS Biology Storylining Working Group that has led teachers from vastly different backgrounds through the storylining curriculum development process.

Kathy worked for 15 years as Medical Technologist before becoming a teacher. After getting a Master’s Degree in Biology, she taught Anatomy and Physiology at College of DuPage for 5 years and then high school biology for 24 years. Most of those years were spent at York High School in Elmhurst, where she taught AP Biology, Genetics, Microbiology, Medical Careers and freshman honors biology. Since retiring a year ago, she keeps busy consulting for the College Board and NMSI, and is an HHMI Teacher Ambassador. Kathy loves to spend time with her 6 grandkids, especially at their cabin in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.

Nicole Vick has taught science for the past 15 years and has been involved in curriculum development for the past 4 years. She has worked in curriculum development for Northwestern University, University of Colorado Boulder, and Great Minds. Ms. Vick has taught all science subjects at the high school level. Over the course of her career, she has also served in positions for the National Science Teachers Association and Illinois Science Teachers Association. She is the District XII Director, an NGSS@NSTA Curator and a Professional Learning Facilitator with the National Science Teachers Association. Nicole is a Region 3 ISTA Director, Earth and Space Science Director for ISTA Professional Learning Team and served as an Area Teacher Leader for the I-STEM MSP Grant.



She has presented on example phenomena, storylines, and assessment and has created tools on why using phenomena to drive three-dimensional learning is important and how to choose them. In July 2017, Nicole wrote, “Using Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning (CER) Strategy to Improve Student Learning” for NSTA Next Gen Navigator. After obtaining a B.S. in General Biology from Northern Illinois University in 2002, Nicole obtained a P.M.A. in Environmental Science Education from Bradley University in 2013. She has served as a Science Teacher at Peoria Public School District 150, Avon CSUD 176, Abingdon-Avon CUSD 276, and Galesburg CUSD 205.

Britt has been teaching biology for nearly two decades and wouldn’t want it any other way. She currently teaches at Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois. She loves working with a diverse population of students and helping them to make sense of the world through exploration of real-world phenomena. Her favorite thing about storylines is that they provide a rich library of authentic, real-world–based resources that can be immediately put to use in the classroom that engage students in the use of the scientific practices, and they are accessible to anyone anywhere. What she loves most about teaching science is when students get excited about understanding how science can explain something in their life. She loves it when she hears a student say “Oh, that makes sense!” When she's not teaching, she enjoys being active, running, outdoor adventure activities, and camping with her family.

Lisa Pavic has been a champion of the Illinois Biology Storylines for many years. She is an active member of ISTA, NSTA, NABT, and ASEC where she annually presents on the topic of the Illinois Storylines and Project Based Learning (PBL) Curriculum for Environmental Science AP. She has been recognized in numerous ways, but most recently in 2022 for the Excellence in Service and Teaching Award at Glenbrook South High School and the 2021 NABT Awardee for the Environmental/Ecology Teacher of the Year. Currently Lisa is an active writer and reviewer of 3D assessment clusters for the Illinois Science Assessment. She also is a consultant with the College Board for PBL and APES Curriculum Development and is an AP test reader. Lisa also has experience in agriculture curriculum development as she is a teacher leader with Nourish the Future. This is her 14th year in high school teaching with experience teaching higher teacher preparation courses for science education at Lake Forest College and National Louis University this past year.

Charlie Pozen began his teaching career in Illinois where he taught Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Science. During this time, he received training around NGSS, 3-dimensional teaching and learning, and storyline implementation. Now that he has actively implemented storylines in his science classes for the past few years, he is the Team Lead for the Chemistry Storyline Project led by the same team that produced the Illinois Biology Storylines. He has since moved to teach at the Virgin Islands Montessori and Peter Gruber International Academy, on St. Thomas, USVI and now leads the Science Department as Chair. In 2022, the National Association of Biology Teachers awarded Mr. Pozen the Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year Award and was recognized at their annual conference in a special ceremony. He currently teaches diploma program science courses while he is leading the Chemistry Storylining Writing Team. Charlie's experience not only teaching a variety of science classes, but also the diversity of school environments in which he has taught, gives him a unique perspective that translates to both the curriculum he develops and the students he teaches.

Gloria has taught science at Wheaton Warrenville South High School for 34 years. She also has a wealth of mentoring and professional development experience, having conducted workshops for the American Modeling Teachers Association and ASEC. She holds a Masters in Educational Leadership and Instruction and founded her school's Ecology Club, STEM Club and LBGTQ Alliance. She has been a PLC Facilitator and has earned the recognition from her peers, including be awarded the NABT Outstanding Biology Teacher Award as well as the Distinguished Educator Award. She was part of the original development of the Illinois Biology Storylines and continues to provide professional learning workshops around storyline implementation and 3-dimensional teaching and learning.

Shane Cullian has been teaching life and environmental science courses at the high school level in Wisconsin. Shane began his teaching and coaching career at Williams Bay High School and currently teaches multiple life science classes and coaches basketball at Whitewater High School. Shane obtained a Bachelor’s in Biology and played basketball at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI and recently obtained his Master of Science in Science Education from Montana State University, where he has since helped develop storyline pedagogy for MSU’s introductory course for the MSSE program. Shane has presented on storyline development and implementation at both the Illinois Science Teachers Association and National Science Teachers Association annual conferences. Shane is currently serving on the Illinois State Board of Education’s Agricultural Biology Storyline Writing Team. He enjoys collaborating with educators nationwide to construct meaningful experiences for students interested in the natural world and human impacts on the environment.