Presenters

Tracey Tierney is currently a third grade teacher in Milford, New Hampshire, and a consulting teacher for Center for Responsive Schools. She has been in the field of education since 1984, and has been privileged to have taught people from two years of age into adulthood. Tracey began her education career by owning and operating her own private kindergarten for nine years before entering the world of public education. She remembers how magical it was when some of her former kindergartners were in her first fourth grade class. Tracey has a degree in elementary education and earned her master’s in curriculum and instruction from Lesley University. She is the math coach for her grade level, chairperson for her school’s Responsive Classroom committee, and member of the district’s competency committee. In her spare time, Tracey loves to spend time in her gardens reading wonderful books and cuddling with her two cats, Fenway and Montauk.

Vincent Leggio is a middle school science teacher at a K–8 school in South Orange-Maplewood, New Jersey. After spending two years struggling to get his students to listen, Vincent attended a Responsive Classroom workshop that gave him a renewed passion for teaching and the tools needed to be successful in any classroom. Vincent is now known in his school district as an expert at creating and nurturing a positive community with each class he teaches. As a former “class clown,” he utilizes his unique sense of humor to make learning lighthearted and engaging. Vincent’s classroom marries the Responsive Classroom philosophy with Next Generation Science Standards to create an inquiry-based, hands-on classroom for all students. Outside of the classroom, Vincent enjoys cooking, painting, making music, and most other creative pursuits.