Our Team
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Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa is the Associate Editor of the Nature Partner Journal Science of Learning peer-review journal. She is a former member of the Organisation For Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) expert panel to redefine Teachers’ New Pedagogical Knowledge due to contributions from Technology and Neuroscience and is the founder of Connections: The Learning Sciences Platform, which provides evidence-based resources to teachers.
Tracey has taught Kindergarten through University and works with schools, universities, governments and NGOs in more than 40 countries around the world. Her office seeks to improve the quality of education through research, teacher training and student support. She has authored multiple books in the Mind, Brain, and Education field, including Five Pillars of the Mind, Neuromyths, Making Classrooms Better, and Mind, Brain, and Education Science.
Her current research focuses on the integration of Mind, Brain, and Education science into practice and development; changes in math and literacy skills based on neuroconstructivism; multilingualism; the leveraging of technology to enhance learning outcomes and “The Learning Sciences Framework in Educational Leadership.”
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Chris Rappleye, M.F.A.
Chris Rappleye has taught English at Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School since January of 1989, primarily in the Upper School, and has coached cross country and track and field for almost as long. He has consulted and presented for the ACT as well as for the College Board's Advanced Placement program in English Literature.
Chris is also the recipient of the Eleanor Church Johnson Chair of Distinguished Teaching in English. He regularly presents to teachers about research on the brain and social-emotional learning. As an advisor to students in the Upper School and a mentor to fellow teachers, he builds relationships and ensures the growth of his school community. In addition to teaching grade-level English, AP English Literature & Composition, Chris designed and taught courses on: Creative Writing, Graphic Novels, The Faust Tradition, Creativity, Myth, Math & Music (co-taught), and Bookmaking (co-taught).
He holds an M.F.A. in Writing, and for the past several years, he has pursued an interest in Mind, Brain and Education Science, Creativity, and Social and Emotional Learning.
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Jovi Nazareno, Ed.M.
Jovi Nazareno graduated from the Mind, Brain, and Education program at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She also studied psychology at Harvard Extension School, and previously completed a B.A. in English and psychology. Her experience includes 10+ years as a writer/editor for engineering projects, where she developed writing toolkits and templates, conducted research of historical documents, and assisted with producing reports on environmental investigations.
Jovi has also worked with K-12 students in tutoring centers for writing and math, taught computer skills to adults, and tutored college students in writing.
She enjoys learning and teaching about the brain and about the learning sciences. As such, she currently serves as a teaching assistant in “The Neuroscience of Learning: An Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health, and Education” and “The Brain in Psychology: The Neuroanatomical Basis of Psychological Function.”
Our Backstory
We began writing together through what may be called a non-traditional writing group. We met to experience the act of writing, together. No feedback or exchanges of writing occurs, no one collaborates on their individual writing pieces, and no judgement on the quality of writing is made (or so we thought). Rather, this incredible writing group—initially created by two friends who wanted to support each other—served a simple purpose: Be in the same room or Zoom and just write.
Together, we experienced writing. What we uncovered, though, surprised us! We’d spend the beginning 5-10 minutes and the last 5-10 minutes of each meet-up talking about our writing goal and then debriefing. We began to notice that we were incredibly judgmental (not necessarily about the writing as we didn’t see each other’s writing) about the writing experience. We’d find we entered the room hoping to write but instead spent time thinking. We’d debrief feeling rather guilty about not getting enough words down on the page, yet we made incredible progress in perhaps researching ideas, reflecting on experiences, or day-dreaming of possibilities. We caught ourselves devaluing the process of learning that unfolds during writing, despite the important roles we played in life, Jovi as an editor/writer and student, Chris a high school English teacher, and Tracey a lifetime educator. So, we began to ask what the process and experience of writing actually looks like in reality and not just in the typical settings where we receive a grade or other reward for the final outcome. We wondered, by placing value on and giving words to the real experience of writing, could we help more people to find success in writing? This led to a major question that continues to propel the ThinkWriteMBE© project forward: How does mind, brain, and education (MBE) research help to maximize a person’s potential to learn to write? The answer, we believe, starts with recognizing the way that thinking helps writing, and writing helps thinking.