Telannia Norfar
Telannia is a mathematics teacher at a public high school in Oklahoma City, OK. She has taught all high school courses, including AP Calculus AB, for over 15 years. As a former journalist and account manager, Telannia found project-based learning a viable method for teaching worthy mathematical concepts. She implemented and grew in implementation of PBL in her classroom during her first year of teaching. Soon into her career, she became involved and known by several organizations. She is a board member of the Oklahoma Council of Teachers of Mathematics and member of several organizations, including the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, International Society for Technology in Education, and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. She is a former Teacher of the Year and Rookie of the Year, and is a winner of the 2020 Oklahoma Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. She is a National Faculty member for PBLWorks, where she facilitates PBL training across the United States.
Chris Fancher
Chris is a retired Middle Years Programme (MYP) design teacher at a public International Baccalaureate (IB) charter school in Round Rock, TX. He has taught every course, from prealgebra to calculus, in more than 20 years of public education. As a military spouse, he found himself teaching mathematics in four states and two countries, as well as teaching college algebra and college statistics for the University of Maryland University College. Chris honed his project-based learning (PBL) skills at the nationally recognized Manor New Technology High School in Manor, TX. From that experience, he was selected to be on PBLWorks’ National Faculty (http://www.pblworks.org). Prior to the charter school, Chris was an instructional coach for a middle school, where his focus was on helping teachers understand the PBL process and bring their project ideas to life. He was with PBLWorks for 6 years and facilitated PBL training in 15 states, as well as in China and Australia.