Teacher Advisory Board

John nearly snuck into the Spy Museum by accident in 2009 and still kicks himself for asking if he was in the right line (he accidentally fell in with a group). After being trained in museum work, John is now in his seventh year teaching full-time at Westfield High School in Fairfax County, where he uses simulations, debates, and games to bring his more typical notes and stories to life.

Best Spy Skill: Finding and getting rid of phones — he would have been Maxwell Smart’s worst nightmare.

Gabriel has been a fan of espionage from a very young age. As a young boy, he ran shadow operations by secretly counting and organizing money in his bedroom. For the past 15 years, Gabriel has been conducting Psychological Operations convincing children and adults that they are math people, and that mathematics is fun! Gabriel is inspired by our youth and works tirelessly to make mathematics more interesting and engaging for all learners – including finding connections between mathematics and espionage.

Spy Skills: Keen observation skills, tactical thinking, decoding enemy intel.

Shannon has been a big fan of the International Spy Museum for years. She brings her 8th grade students to the museum each year. As a teacher for more than 25 years, Shannon knows that to get kids excited to take on academic challenges, they need the lessons to be highly engaging. She loves that the Spy Museum created hands-on lessons including her students becoming advisors to President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  

Best Spy Skill: convincing middle schoolers that history is interesting.

Raymond has been a patron of the International Spy Museum since he moved to the Washington, DC area in 2013. Prior to relocating to the area, he conducted his espionage work in Florida. As a Social Studies teacher and leader for the last 16 years, Raymond has been educating young spies the TOP SECRETS of history in his classrooms. He enjoys the historical contexts of all of the exhibits and understanding the connections for students and looks to incorporate some of the materials for many DC students.

Best Spy Skills: undercover work, spy briefing and debriefing.

Amy Oswalt is the founder and director of Conduit, an online school that provides a transformative journey for neurodiverse students. Her interests include daydreaming, cat wrangling, reading, training her dogs to outrun the aliens, playing basketball with third graders (only for the competition), offering unsolicited advice to strangers, hiking, travel, languages, and eavesdropping in restaurants. Amy’s dream is to one day grow a prehensile tail.

Spy Skill: Highly skilled at a wide variety of escape techniques (for obvious reasons).

Rachel is a high-school STEM coordinator at Templeton Academy in DC.  She loves bringing students to the Spy Museum to learn more about how STEM impacts espionage and vice-versa. She has taught for 15 years and loves hands-on activities, place-based education, and interdisciplinary connections to help students engage in learning.  

Best Spy Skill: Keeping a cool head when multiple students are working with open flame in a lab class.