Simon currently works at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School of Scotland in San Juan Capistrano, where he teaches World History classes in the Upper School. He has worked for over 20 years teaching history in both public and independent schools, and as both a Middle and High school teacher. Simon joined the UCI World History Project coordinating team in January 2007, and has worked as a presenter, coordinator, and teacher-leader for a diverse range of institutes and workshops to help teachers throughout Southern California to enhance their teaching of content and skills in the history classroom.

Simon has been involved in the Media Literacy Collaborative since 2020 and has integrated media literacy content and strategies into a wide range of Upper School classes to develop his student’s digital consumption and critical thinking skills. He is excited to share his media literacy work and experiences with fellow educators.

Nicole Gilbertson creates opportunities for educators to learn and collaborate with one another the Director of the UCI Teacher Academy. Gilbertson received her Ph.D. in history with an emphasis on modern Europe and world history, while at the same time earning a secondary teaching credential in history-social science. She has led professional development in Southern California for the last 18 years.

At the center of this work is the goal of supporting teachers as they engage their students in the habits of mind and practices that are essential for our participatory democracy. Her dream is for the Media Literacy Collaborative to nurture teachers as they create classrooms where students engage in the skills that allow them to be thoughtful and critical consumers, curators, and producers of media so their voices and perspectives can be part of our public sphere.

Mark Gomez is a long-time K-16 educator focused on history, social studies, and education.  He is also an educational consultant and thought partner helping districts and schools in California build Ethnic Studies programs as well as integrate authentic civic learning. Before that he served as the History & Social Science Curriculum Specialist for the Salinas Union High School District.  Mark has also helped to lead regional communities of practice for teachers building their capacity to implement the 2016 California HSS framework.  Mark’s curricular and instructional expertise include action civics, ethnic studies, civic imagination, critical media and literacy studies, restorative justice, environmental/social/racial justice, effective integration of technology, placed-based education, and community-driven school design.

Mark has taught both middle and high school history for the last 18 years.  He has also taught within teacher education programs at UCLA, Antioch University LA, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Monterey Bay,  where he currently teaches within the Education and Service Learning Institute. Mark also serves on the Board of Directors for the California Council of the Social Studies, co-chairing the Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice committee. He is a founding design team member of the Schools for Community Action at Augustus Hawkins High School in Los Angeles and has been working throughout his career to empower students and teachers through authentic and participatory action research projects.  His work has been presented at multiple education conferences and research publications  He has co-authored several articles on practices in transformative and liberatory education for students and teachers.

Daisy Martin, Ph.D. directs The History & Civics Project at the University of California at Santa Cruz [UCSC] and teaches in the UCSC Master of Arts/Credential Program. She is an Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer and works with NEH projects focused on teaching the Reconstruction Era and connected to the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in South Carolina. Dr. Martin previously was a Senior Researcher at Stanford University where she directed the History/Social Studies work and online education courses at the Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning and Equity. She also served as the Director of History Education at the National Clearinghouse for History Education (teachinghistory.org), and cofounded the Stanford History Education Group. She coauthored the award-winning book, Reading Like a Historian: Teaching Literacy in Middle and High School Classrooms and website “Historical Thinking Matters,” and recently served as a Core Author for Public History Weekly – The International BlogJournal.

Martin has worked with K-12 teachers nationwide and developed and led professional development workshops funded by, among others, the National Parks Service, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. She has an abiding interest in the teaching and learning of historical thinking, inquiry, and informed civic engagement and this has informed all of her work, including her years as a high school teacher in California public schools. Martin holds a Ph.D. in History Education from Stanford University, a M.A. in Education from U.C. Berkeley, a California History-Social Science Teaching Credential, and earned her B. A. in history and philosophy at the University of Michigan.

Mila Re is a doctoral student in Education at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research sits at the intersection of critical media literacy, civic education, and teacher learning, with a particular focus on how educators can be supported in integrating justice-oriented approaches to media literacy across disciplines and grade levels. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, Mila spent over twelve years in education, first as an environmental educator and later as a middle school teacher in a rural public school, where she taught history, English, and digital literacy. She holds a B.A. in Human Biology with a concentration in Environmental Education from Stanford University and an M.A. in Education, along with a teaching credential, from the University of California, Davis.

Jacob is a former High School ELA and Social Studies teacher. He is now a doctoral student at UCI School of Education. He is committed, through research and outreach, to helping teachers prepare their students for a complex, challenging, and often misleading information society.

As a member of the Media Literacy Collaborative, Jacob is eager to work with experienced and innovative educators to design and test solutions to the information problems they face. Through this shared work, he hopes to help students become citizens who engage in dialogue around social and political issues with open minds, reason, and an appreciation for diverse perspectives.