Since a young age, Alex has shown a great passion for schools, teaching and working with young children. Alex received her BA in Child Development from Tufts University. At Tufts, she worked in a Head Start preschool classroom as well as a private, research-based preschool based at the child development department at Tufts University. In addition to her studies and classroom work at Tufts, Alejandra co-founded and participated in an afterschool program for young children that promoted movement and physical education. Upon graduation, Alejandra became a kindergarten and first grade teacher as a Teach for America corps member. While teaching, Alejandra realized the importance of returning to school to further her expertise in theory, research and practice. Alex returned to graduate school where she earned an MA and PhD in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. While at graduate school, Alex worked with families and young children in research settings and furthered her expertise in child, family and classroom theory and assessment. Since graduate school, Alejandra has been working with a professor at UNC’s School of Education to co-create a parent outreach program that helps recent Latino immigrants prepare their preschool-aged children for school. In addition to her work with families and young children, her favorite time is spent with her husband and two young sons. Alex is the preschool program director and Spanish teacher in the pre-k classroom. She is also fluent in Spanish.

Hi, I am the lead teacher for the Preschool class. I have a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and a certificate to teach preschool. I have been a teacher for over 17 years. Over 7 of those years have been teaching Pre-K. Before coming to teach at Discovery Child I taught at Duke School in Durham. I loved using the Project Approach so I was so excited to find a preschool close to home that also used this way of teaching. Children investigate topics thoroughly based on their interests and have lots of hands- on experiences. They go on field visits, learn to ask questions, collect information and make observational drawings. It's an exciting way of learning and teaching! 
I live in Cary with my husband, two daughters and two cats. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, shopping, spending time with friends and I wish I could say exercising! 

I grew up in a beautiful city called Banja Luka in Europe and moved to the United States in 1996. Teaching has always been my passion and joy. I have been working as a preschool teacher and director for more than ten years. I recently received an ESL (English as a Second Language) Teaching Certificate from Wake Tech Community College. I currently volunteer as a tutor helping non- native English speakers with English.  

I believe that every day creates new teaching moments.  To me, childhood is a journey, not a race, and I am grateful to be a part of each child’s journey.  I also believe that basic educational disciplines and hands-on activities taught in a positive environment yield happy, well-rounded children. My personal goal is to provide a safe, creative, warm, and challenging atmosphere in the classroom. Positive communication between parents and teachers is extremely important to me. 

I am excited to be part of the Discovery Child Development Center and am always looking forward to working with your child. 

Sarah Coeyman has always had a great love of teaching. Although her undergraduate degree is in Journalism, she followed her heart's lead towards education and earned a MS in Elementary Education from Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York. There in Brooklyn, she also taught at a public elementary school, grades kindergarten through third. 

While teaching third grade, one of Sarah's students entered and won a speech writing contest and had the opportunity to read her speech at Lincoln Center with Sarah standing at her side. The title of her speech was "What A Good Teacher Means to Me." To quote her third grader, Victoria, "A good teacher is a person that cares and loves to teach. A good teacher should also teach things that will be helpful in the future. You, as a teacher, should stand your ground the right way, but remember to be nice. My main points are: a good teacher should be well prepared, have a nice attitude, and be influential." This is what Victoria thought of Sarah as a teacher.  In her spare time, Sarah enjoys baking, swimming, watching baseball, and spending time with her family. Sarah resides in Cary, North Carolina with her husband, daughter, son and fat cat.

Gaby Livas Stein is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor in clinical psychology at the UNC - Greensboro. She also provides consultation at El Futuro, a mental health clinic for Latinos in Carrboro. Dr. Stein completed her clinical psychology training at UNC - Chapel Hill, where she focused on child and adolescent therapy and research. At the end of her graduate work, she was presented with an APA/APAGS Award for Distinguished Graduate Student in Professional Psychology. Along with her work, Dr. Stein enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children. Dr. Stein serves as a psychology consultant to Discovery staff.

Ann Marie Dlott has been an educator for 25 years. She received her undergraduate degree from Boston College and her Masters in education with a focus on curriculum and instruction from Lesley University. Even though Ann Marie has worked with students from preschool through 12th grade, her primary work is with children in kindergarten through grade six. In her role as technology integration coordinator in Shrewsbury and Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Ann Marie’s focus has been in helping children use technology in an educational setting. She has designed curriculum and developed several graduate courses. During the summer of 2009, she developed and taught an online course for teachers on the use of technology in the 21st century classroom.  Ann Marie has also published an article,"A (Pod)cast of Thousands", on the use of podcasting with children which appeared in the April 2007 edition of Educational Leadership. Even though, students write and create for their teachers, there is nothing more powerful than creating for a global audience. Watching the excitement children feel when they create content for real-world authentic audiences is very powerful. You can listen to two examples of these types of podcasts, both of which have been created by third graders working with Ann Marie and their teachers. The first highlights an audio tour of the town center in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Visitors can download the audio tour to their mp3 devices and listen to the historical background information at each stop. The second are podcasts that have been published and are now part of the official "Freedom Trail" website. You can imagine the pride these children feel knowing that visitors from around the world can learn more about these historic landmarks by listening to student voices.
Even though Ann Marie has thoroughly loved teaching through the years, her greatest love is her three grandchildren. Ann Marie will serve as technology consultant, but don’t be surprised to see her interacting with the preschoolers too.