2nd Grade Faculty

Head of Primary School

Sagrario Argüelles

Sagrario is a passionate professional with more than 20 years of experience in a wide variety of educational settings. She is a lifelong learner that believes that students learn best when they are empowered and feel ownership of their learning. Sagrario has a BA in Education from the Pedagogical University in Mexico and has taken different undergraduate courses from Stanford and Harvard University. She is bilingual in Spanish and English and has a deep understanding of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program.

Sagrario was born and raised in México City. During her journey in education she worked in different schools in México such as Alexander Bain and the American School Foundation, where she held different teacher and administrative roles such as, lower school teacher, Primary Years Programme (PYP) coordinator and dean of students. She began her career in the United States in 2008 at Escuela Bilingüe Internacional in Oakland, California where she came to implement the Primary Years Programme (PYP). She held the roles of Assistant Head, PYP Coordinator and Director of Curriculum and Learning for Pre-kinder to 8th grade and oversaw the Middle Years Programme (MYP) implementation.

Her passion for education has also allowed her to do significant work for the IB as a workshop leader, consultant, school evaluation and accreditation leader and IB field representative in charge of the quality of the workshops given in The Americas. Sagrario has also been instrumental in the implementation of new IB services for schools at a global level, to develop a quality curriculum in schools.

Sagrario has sought to share best practices wherever she has taught, presenting at educational conferences such as the IB Regional Conference and the California Association of Independent School Conference.

Sagrario describes herself as an inquirer and is a true believer that as educators we need to nurture each child’s love of learning by cultivating academic excellence, emotional intelligence, and social engagement.

Lead Teacher

Carol Dala

Carol Dala was born and raised in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where she attended Academia Los Piñares, a K-12 private bilingual Christian school. In high school she was part of the volleyball and soccer teams and was involved in various service projects and functioned as a translator during mission trips. She earned an academic scholarship to attend Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA where she completed a dual degree in Early Childhood and Special Education. At Mercyhurst, she was an active member of the Unicef chapter and a volunteer for the city’s Special Olympics.

Carol Dala was born and raised in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where she attended Academia Los Piñares, a K-12 private bilingual Christian school. In high school she participated in various service projects and served as a translator during mission trips. Carol earned an academic scholarship to attend Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA where she completed a dual degree in Early Childhood and Special Education. At Mercyhurst, she was an active member of the UNICEF chapter and a volunteer for the city’s Special Olympics.

Carol joined the Magellan International School team in 2014 as a teaching assistant and became a PYP lead teacher in 2016. Since that time, she has taught in both 1st and 3rd grades. Carol also completed advanced language practitioner training at the Rawson Saunders Institute, enriching her ability to support students with learning differences, including dyslexia.

Primary Instructional Coach & Assistant PYP Coordinator

Paola Samaniego

Paola Samaniego is from Quito-Ecuador, and this is her fifteenth year teaching. She has has experience working with children between the ages of two months and eight years old. This is her tenth year teaching Spanish. Paola received a BS in Early Childhood Education and Developmental Psychology from Keene State College in New Hampshire. Paola later earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from Jaen’s University in Spain. Paola loves the PYP program and implementing it in the classroom. In the last year she has been learning more about sensory integration and self regulation. She is a firm believer in differentiation in the classroom, every child learns differently and as a teacher she wants to be able to provide many opportunities in order to acquire the skills needed to become lifelong learners!

She believes the inquiry based program works for children of all ages, but especially with young children who have that natural curiosity and desire to learn how the world around them works. She welcomes all your input and support throughout the school year!

Lead Teacher

Mónica Chávez

Mónica Chávez has more than 20 years of experience teaching the IB Primary Years Program (PYP). She has a BA in Education and has spent the majority of her career working as a bilingual lead teacher at schools in Mexico City. Mónica also taught for three years under the supervision of our Primary Head, Sagrario Argüelles, at the Escuela Bilingüe Internacional in Oakland, and more recently served as the PYP Coordinator for a small international school in Denver.

Second Grade Lead Teacher

Daniel Acosta

Daniela Acosta comes to Magellan from Bogotá, Colombia where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Education at Universidad distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas. She loves to learn new languages and is fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. When not teaching she enjoys the outdoors and is an avid reader.

Assistant Teacher

Vivienne Morrow

Vivienne was born in Mexico City and was raised in a town called Cuernavaca. At the age of 18, she moved to Austin, Texas where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology from the University of Texas. After graduation, Vivienne lived in L.A. and Houston and then moved to Beirut, Lebanon. During her time in the Middle East, Vivienne taught English as a second language in both the French Baccalaureate and the IB Programmes, gathering over 10 years of experience in teaching. She returned to Austin in January of 2020. She is fluent in four languages including Spanish, French, Arabic and English.

Teacher Assistant

Sandra Bejarano-Carrero

Sandra Bejarano has an Associate’s Degree in Textile Design and is a certified Montessori Paraprofessional Assistant. While raising her children after moving to the United States, she had the opportunity to start working with young children at a Montessori School from the ages 3 to 11, as well as teaching Spanish from preschool to 6 grades for the same school.

Throughout the years Sandra started getting more involved with the community and learning about the growing population with Special Needs. This called her attention and she started looking for an opportunity to work with these children, to learn and help, getting a ‘Bilingual Program Assistant’ position with the school district 15 in the Chicago northwest suburbs. This is when her journey started helping young people with different kinds of abilities.

Her first years were working with junior high students. Each child was different, being exposed to daily challenges, experiencing different situations, and doing her best to offer them a safe and comforting environment. The program was moved to a different district and this made her look for other areas to work at within the school district. She found a pre-school children with disabilities program and applied. For the last eight years she gave her heart and soul, helping them accomplish small goals from saying a two syllables word to saying a four words sentence, celebrating with them every step of their progress, and giving them the opportunity to have a wonderful school experience.

Art Teacher, PP3 - 2nd Grade

Dan Kaplan

Dan Kaplan received his BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. After working for several years as a visual artist, he returned to school and obtained his K-12 art teacher certification at Carlow University. He has spent his professional life working as an educator, artist, and musician.

Dan believes that art is a great way for students to express and nourish their ideas. Every student, from the most literal-minded to the most abstract thinker, can find their place in the art room. The elementary years are a great time to explore these possibilities. For the past several years, Dan has been working in Austin as a visual artist and musician, and enjoys being a teacher at Magellan International School.

Lower Primary School Physical Education Teacher

Rubi Reyna

Rubi achieved a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University Of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. She has twelve years of experience working with children. Rubi previously worked at Hudson Bend Middle School in the Special Education Department for the Lake Travis district.

Prior to working at Lake Travis, Rubi was the Physical Education Specialist at the International School of Texas. Rubi was a founding member of the International School of Texas. Early on in Rubi’s career she was an Education Assistant at Pflugerville High School.

Rubi grew up in Sinton, Texas which is north of Corpus Christi. She has two brothers and three sisters. In her free time Rubi enjoys working out and spending time outdoors.

Music Teacher, Preschool and Lower Primary School

Rolando Ibañez

Rolando Ibañez has a degree in Music from the National Pedagogical University of Colombia. The emphasis on which he focused his career are drums. Thanks to his profession and his career he has ventured into other instruments such as guitar, bass and piano, the latter being one of his favorites.

His experience as a music teacher is 14 years. He has worked in different schools in Bogotá, Colombia, such as: Colegio Liceo Edad de Oro, Colegio Americano de Bogotá and Fontán Capital School, developing different musical projects, Choirs, Tunas, musical groups of different genres, festivals, concerts, etc.

In 2010, he started working at Colegio Gimnasio del Norte, which is certified by the international baccalaureate in the PYP, MYP and DP programs. There he held the position of head of the music department, PYP and MYP teacher, director of the school’s symphony orchestra, conformed by more than 120 students. He has participated in short films as a support to students who are in the film program of the Diploma acting and writing music scores. At Gimnasio del Norte he got passionate about the International Baccalaureate and decided to do a post-graduate in the university Camilo José Cela of Spain with the title of “Expert in International Education”, acquiring his certificate of teaching and learning in the IB. He currently has 8 years of experience within the international Baccalaureate programs and is in initial training of IBEN to be a workshop and visiting member of the International Baccalaureate.

Rolando is passionate about music education as a fundamental part of the integral development of every human being and that is why he has dedicated himself for more than 14 years to this profession. Now, together with his wife, who is also a graduate in Basic Primary with an emphasis on Spanish Language and their two children, undertakes this beautiful experience in “The Magellan International School”

Counselor

Alessia Bulsara

Alessia Bulsara grew up in a multicultural family, living in her father’s native India for five years before residing in Houston, Texas with her mother’s Catalan family. She received her Bachelors of Science in Psychology from the University of Houston, later returning to obtain her Masters of Education in Counseling. Alessia is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor, as well as a certified teacher, in the state of Texas and is also working towards becoming credentialed as a Registered Play Therapist.

Alessia’s passion for counseling children and families only grew as she completed her practicum hours for her master’s degree, and later stayed on to continue working as a counseling intern, at a child psychologist’s private practice in Houston. There, Alessia was able to attain experience and clinical skills providing individual, group, and dyad counseling services, both in office and in the school setting. Following this, she worked as a Professional Educator at the Monarch School and Institute for two years before moving into the role of a Therapeutic Coach, providing students with neurological differences individualized social, emotional and self-regulation/management support. Alessia simultaneously worked with children and families in a play therapy private practice in Houston, providing individual counseling services, parent support and online resources.

Alessia primarily utilizes a child centered therapeutic approach when working with children, meeting the child where they are at. She truly believes in the importance of a strong foundational relationship in order to provide support to the child and their family, and works as partners with parents, teachers and other supports in the child’s life to create a tailored, consistent and unique plan which focuses on the whole child.

In her spare time, Alessia enjoys travelling and exploring new places, yoga, and photography. She is very excited to be a part of the Magellan team.

Primary Innovation & Design Teacher

Sophia Pellegrini

Sophia has more than 20 years of experience in education in both public and private schools. She graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in Elementary Education and holds certifications in Special Education and ESL. Her passion is to help students become creative problem solvers and independent thinkers.

Nurse, Anderson Lane

Deepa Vinodh

Deepa was raised in Toronto, Canada where she successfully completed her Bachelors
of Science in Nursing degree. She has been a nurse for the last 18 years, 16 of which
were spent in the Emergency department at the University Health Network (UHN), one
of Canada’s top research and teaching hospitals. During her time at UHN, Deepa also
served as the Nurse Educator for the emergency department and has completed a
couple of research fellowship projects to improve patient safety. She pursued her
passion for teaching by becoming a clinical course director for undergrads and
international nursing students at York University.

Deepa enjoys practicing hot yoga, hiking, cooking, baking and travelling. She currently
has a first grader at Magellan and is looking forward to expanding her role
professionally at Magellan International School.

Research Teacher & Associate Librarian

Sandra Noack

Sandra Noack was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She comes from a multicultural family, half Colombian and half German. She was also influenced by British and American cultures as she studied at a bilingual school. At age 12, she realized she was meant to be a teacher when she started teaching her little sister how to read and write. Later on, she continued this practice when she decided to home-school her own kids. She is proud of her three children, who decided to become teachers, thus prolonging the legacy of educators in her family.

Upon graduation, Sandra completed her education as a preschool teacher at the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional from Bogotá. Her experience as a PYP teacher for more than 11 years has reinforced her beliefs and values regarding education. Her main purpose is to engage her students and help them become internationally minded, caring, inquisitive, and knowledgeable. She believes education is a never-ending process and teaching gives her the opportunity to learn new things everyday.

She enjoys connecting with her students and learning from them in many ways. Sandra also enjoys art, which has always been part of her life. As a self-taught painter, she believes that persistence and discipline can be more powerful than talent. She enjoys exploring different media and shares her creativity with her students. Sandra is proud to belong to a group of lifelong learners at MIS and will strive to build strong bonds within the community she cares deeply about.

Learning Specialist - K-3

Allison McCallum

Allison is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. Most recently she served in administration at Langston Hughes Academy Charter School in New Orleans as the Response to Intervention Coordinator. She has taught K-5 English at the International School of Denver, the Harriet Tubman Montessori Charter School, and the International School of Louisiana. Allison taught English at Magellan from from 2018-2019 and colleagues are delighted at her return.

Allison enjoys working in a multi-cultural environment, building meaningful relationships with students, families, and colleagues. She is passionate about advocating for and supporting students with learning differences and strives to instill this enthusiasm in her students through identifying unique learning styles, interests, and talents.

Allison holds a Bachelor of Science degree in History and English from Mississippi College and a Master of Arts in Teaching Degree from the University of New Orleans. She holds a dual certification in elementary education and special education.

Allison enjoys reading and cooking in her free time.

English Teacher

Joy Marcus

Joy Marcus is from London, Ontario, Canada and holds dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, due to her mother’s roots in Amarillo, Texas. Joy’s lifelong love of languages was kindled when her parents enrolled her in the French Immersion program offered in Canada’s public schools. She later became interested in learning Spanish while studying at Western University and interrupted her formal education to spend a year living in Santiago, Chile. After completing her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, Joy went on to earn a Bachelor of Education degree and then spent two years gaining invaluable experience as a substitute teacher for the public school board in her hometown.

Joy’s travel adventures continued when she moved to São José dos Campos, Brazil in 2009 where she learned Portuguese while working at Esfera Escola Internacional for six years. There she trained as a Primary Years Program teacher and grew in her practice of inquiry-based learning while acting as a lead English teacher in each of the primary grades. Joy was also delighted to play an instrumental role in helping students develop a love for reading as a specialist library teacher for grades 1-5.

In 2015, Joy began teaching at Magellan as the first grade English teacher. She soon became fascinated and intrigued by a specific subset of students who, despite great effort on their part, struggled to acquire basic reading and writing skills within the regular classroom. Motivated by an acute desire to help these students succeed, she embarked on a journey to learn how to teach reading and writing using an explicit, multisensory and systematic approach. She is set to become a fully qualified Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) through the Academic Language Therapy Association in the fall of 2022.

Joy was thrilled to transition into the role of Language Specialist to provide reading intervention classes for students in grades 1-3 who need specific support to become independent readers and writers. She is passionate about children and feels incredibly fortunate to be a part of the Magellan community.

Outside of school, Joy enjoys gathering around food with friends, running Austin streets and trails with her dog, Mr. Darcy, and exploring the Hill Country.

Lead Teacher

Carmen James

Carmen James is an enthusiastic educator who sees potential for great things and uniqueness in every child. She believes that the more we connect school-based learning to students’ interests, experiences, and curiosity, the better the educational outcomes will be.  She sees freedom within boundaries, exploration, and risk-taking as necessities. Carmen promotes cooperative learning, inquiry, creativity, and play in early learning experiences, while also recognizing the importance of focused and structured learning of early literacy skills. She loves reading, and especially loves sharing reading experiences with children.

Carmen earned a B.A. in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Spanish from Columbia College Chicago/Erikson Institute for Child Development. The early emphasis on developmentally appropriate practice, creativity in teaching and learning, and the multiple languages/intelligences of children has greatly influenced her teaching through the years. She has an M.A. in Latin American Studies/Humanities from UT Austin as well as a M.Ed. from UT Austin in Bilingual/Bicultural Studies, which has helped to connect her to the local education community.

Carmen holds several state teaching certificates: IL Early Childhood Education and Bilingual Education, TX EC-6 Generalist, Bilingual Education, and was a candidate for Master Reading Teacher in Fall 2014. She is a member of the National Association for Bilingual Education and the International Reading Association. She has taught in public, charter, and private schools for 12 years in the primary grades. She started out in her home city of Chicago and came to Austin in 2009 to be a part of the Magellan founding team. She taught Kindergarten for five years at M.I.S. before moving into the Literacy Specialist position in 2014. Carmen loves nature, gardening, music, writing, sewing, and traveling, and is kind of obsessed with her dogs. She also loves spending time with her husband and family.