Our Customers

Peter Mates
Teacher, Bret Harte Middle School, Oakland, CA

Meet Peter Mates, a teacher at Bret Harte Middle School in Oakland, California and the 2009 Alameda County Teacher of the Year. Happily for us, Peter is also a big fan of TCI. He feels that TCI is “more rigorous” than traditional social studies programs and likes that it “involves all senses” of his students. He thinks it’s important that lessons be as kinesthetic as possible to engage middle schoolers. For this reason, he likes Experiential Exercises.

His students admit that he’s tough and demanding. “I’m real with kids,” he told us, “I have a lot of rigor. I keep expecting the best from my kids.” One student recently wrote in her journal that his classroom “feels like home,” a testament to Peter’s efforts to create a safe place physically and emotionally for his students.

Peter began his teaching career in New York City over 30 years ago. He left teaching for gigs in sales and eventually owned an office furniture company. Claiming that sales and teaching are closely related—“You’re talking to people who may or may not want to listen trying to get them on your side”—he admits that he figured out what he wanted to be when he grew up a little later in life than most people when he returned to teaching in his early 50s. In our favorite it’s-a-small-world moment of late, we discovered that Peter taught in New York’s public schools with TCI’s Director of Curriculum Development, Liz Russell.

Mary Garretson
Teacher, Sunrise Point Elementary, Overland Park, KS

“In my first year using Social Studies Alive! I have had wonderful success in my second-grade classroom. The lessons are interactive and meet a variety of learning styles. The CDs engage my musical-rhythmic students. The concise textbook speaks to my verbal-linguistic students. The transparencies and placards prove powerful to my visual-spatial students. Plus, working in teams is very effective at developing interpersonal skills.”

Paul
Middle School Student, Los Angeles, CA

“Before I began 7th grade, I thought history was pretty boring. Basically, we had to read our books, and teachers would lecture about dates and places. I just didn’t relate to history. That changed when I began using History Alive! in 7th grade. I now enjoy history and my grades show it. I used to get Cs in history and now, in 8th grade, I’ve earned As.”

Justin Singleton
World Geography and Psychology Teacher, Carver Magnet High School, Houston, TX

“. . . I believe that teaching with TCI programs was instrumental to being recognized by the Milken Foundation. The TCI Approach has taught me how to use the multiple intelligence strategies to ensure that every one of my lessons are varied and reach each child. I have learned how to modify and simplify some lessons. My students now perform in the 90th percentile on district common assessments.”