GRADE 8 CORE
Amanda Dente
Social Studies
"I have always loved learning and going to school. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher and I can't imagine doing anything else!"
Bachelors in History and Political Science
Master's in Education
Violet Alvarado-Slatis
English Language Arts
Verein zur Forderung Naturheilkunde, Berlin Germany, Associates in Process Oriented Psychology
Hampshire College, BA English Literature
Mount Holyoke College, Masters of Arts in Teaching
Dorchester, Massachusetts Native
Puerto Rican American
Published poet and performance artist
Fluent in English, Spanish, German
I learn and teach with and for our community to support creativity, competence and independence.
Erik Walther
Science
Hello! My Name is Erik Walther and this is my 11th year teaching science in Springfield. I love to garden, play sports, talk movies and video games, and be a role model for young people. My biggest drive in teaching is the knowledge that I can make a difference. I have seen first-hand what compassionate support and high expectations can result in.
I am constantly thinking about where we are headed in the grand scheme of the universe as humans, how can we solve the big problems of our time, and how can we push past that and discover things no one thought possible? I want to think big, bold, and benevolent. We all succeed as humans when we help the people in our communities who struggle most, and our best tool to do that is science. Our children will lead the way when given the tools.
RICH MALINOSKI
For Mr. Malinoski, Math has always come naturally to him. He entered teaching to find ways for Math to come more naturally to students so they engage with the subject more and find inspriration that they can do it!
Mr. Malinoski has taught at TAG for 15 years and in that time has been very proud of always leading the district in Math Growth.
Math
Mr. Malinoski has been married to his High School sweetheart for 30 years!
Agawam High School 86'
UMASS Bachelor's Degree 90'
UMASS Master's Degree 10'
TAG Math Teacher 15 years
"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing" Mick Jagger