Sabrina Cochran, a Multilingual Coach, brings 24 years of seasoned experience to champion the success of emerging bilingual students (Pre-K-middle school). Her expertise includes classroom instruction, specialized coaching, and curriculum writing, all focused on supporting the emergent bilingual community. She is dedicated to developing strategies that enhance linguistic and academic achievement, and cultural awareness. Sabrina has shared her insights at esteemed conferences such as TABE, SEED, Bella, Literacy Matters, Region 4, and NAYEC. A lifelong learner, she is passionate about effectively meeting the unique needs of all students.

Coach Danzer has been teaching in Aldine for 15 years. She has dedicated her career so far to the MacArthur vertical getting her start at Hambrick Middle School and is currently a 5 Star General at Mac. Her teaching experience has been in both 8th and 11th grade US History but she is currently serving as the Social Studies Instructional Coach. Coach Danzer has also coached basketball for her entire teaching career as well. She has been the head girls basketball coach at MacArthur for the last 6 years and has helped the Generals make it to the playoffs for 14-6A for 4 of them. She is married to a fellow educator/coach and is the mother to a wild 3 year old son. 

Karen Gonzalez, a passionate 2nd-grade ESL teacher at Odom Elementary, is dedicated to bringing literacy to life in the classroom. She is excited to share how effective literacy strategies can transform lessons and captivate learners. By integrating engaging and research-based approaches, she helps foster a love for reading and language development among her students. 

Ms. Longoria is a dedicated educator with 30 years of experience in Aldine ISD, where she has served in a variety of roles across five different campuses. She currently works as the Instructional Specialist for Social Studies at Stovall Middle School. Over the course of her career, she has taught grades 1 through 7, supporting students in bilingual, ESL, AEA, gifted, and dyslexia intervention programs at both the elementary and middle school levels.

In addition to her classroom experience, Ms. Longoria has held several leadership positions, including Magnet School Coordinator, Elementary Instructional Specialist for Bilingual/ESL ELAR, and Information Literacy Specialist—serving in the latter role for four years at her current campus. She has also presented various topics at district staff developments and social studies state conferences.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Ms. Longoria is a proud mother of three adult sons, including one who teaches 8th grade U.S. History at Jones Middle School. She is also a grandmother of two. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, traveling, music, cooking, and spending quality time with friends and family. 

Mr. Meier is currently an Algebra 2 teacher at Blanson CTE High School. He has spent the majority of his 18 year career working with EB’s. He taught Algebra AEA students for many years producing high results on the Algebra STAAR exam. He has also worked as an Instructional Specialist in the district and presented at numerous trainings. His philosophy is making your classroom into a family where everyone is comfortable talking and answering questions. 

For years I worked as a math and reading tutor at a Kumon learning facility before transitioning into the role of Lead Coordinator at an after school recreation center near my alma mater, Texas A&M University. It was in these comforting spaces that I was truly exposed to student diversity in leaps and bounds. Once I began to fully transition from a tutor role into a teacher role, my skill set became more refined as I learned how to interlace a core sense of community, empathy, and equity within the collective conscience of my students. That level of responsibility was incredibly grounding and set ablaze a fire within me to be intentional about providing a place where all of my students, especially my English language learners, felt comfortable enough to put forth quality effort and learn from their mistakes. Sentence stems/frames, graphic organizers, structured conversations, visuals…every resource that I could recall was utilized in order to continue to provide an educational learning environment that provided comprehensible input and lowered the affective filter for all of my students. Combine that with the supplemental aids I would give to assist in their comprehension, and you’ll see a tiny glimpse of the classroom structure that I strive to replicate on a daily basis. While I have ascertained vast amounts of wisdom as a result of reading and instructing using texts by diverse authors, equally as important to a student’s success is the relational aspect of teaching; I personally believe that my ability to be patient, dedicated, and understanding allows me to create a positive learning environment where my students feel comfortable enough to let their guard down and maximize their capacity to learn. This belief culminated in me eventually receiving the SHABE TOY award for my campus in February of last year.