Mr. Belliveau - 8th Grade US History

This is Mr. Belliveau. He attended the University of Redlands and CSU, Dominguez Hills. He also played collegiate football and baseball. He first started teaching in the Los Angeles Unified School District and has been happily teaching at JWMS for 11 years. In his free time he likes golfing, spending time with friends and family, and gourmet cooking.

http://belliveauhistory.googlepages.com

Team web site:http://jwmswaves.googlepages.com

Mrs. Turetsky-8th Grade Language Arts

I am married and have two wonderful children and six grandchildren. I have a bachelor's degree in English and a Master's degree in reading. I have been teaching a JWMS since the school opened. Before that I taught elementary school in Desert Hot Springs. I love teaching middle school. The kids are funny and smart and just fun to be around.

Mr. Zemek-8th Grade Science

Mr. Zemek was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan and lived there for over 20 years. In Michigan he lived on a lake and loved it! After 5 years of college he landed his first teaching job in Southern California. While working for Nellie Coffman he heard about James Workman opening up and quickly took the job. When he is not teaching you might see him hiking, biking, camping, 4 wheeling-- pretty much everything that has to do with the outdoors. He says "I wouldn't teach anything else but Science!"

Mr. Amplo - 8th Grade Math/Algebra

I grew up in New Hyde Park, NY, which is on Long Island.  I attended eight years of Catholic grade school and then went to Chaminade High School.  I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics at St. John’s University.  I also minored in secondary education and received my New York State Teacher’s Certification.  I continued my studies at St. John’s University, where I then earned a Master’s Degree in Mathematics while working as a graduate assistant.
 
I moved to Palm Springs in June 2006.  I lived a year in Zaragoza, Spain and I also lived for 12 years in Edison, NJ.  I love live theater and I saw many Broadway shows when I was living in the NYC area.  My favorite musical styles are classic rock, R&B, and opera.  I am also a cat enthusiast and I have an extensive collection (over 200) of cat figurines.

  While teaching here at James Workman, I have used my love of music to parody several tunes with Algebraic Formulas.  Last year a group of my Algebra students won first prize in the academic content area of the DigiComm Contest for an original video they made for a rap version of the quadratic formula.  I am excited to be working with such an enthusiastic group of students in the graduating class of 2010!
 
William J. Amplo