John Almarode

Dr. John Almarode, an educator and staff developer for many years, has worked with all age groups in education from pre-kindergarteners to graduate students. John began his career in Augusta County, Virginia teaching a wide-range of students. He then taught PreCalculus, Physics, and Modern Physics at the Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School for three years. While at the Governor’s School, a significant proportion of his time was devoted to providing outreach and enrichment activities to Pre-K through eighth grade students.

As a staff developer, John has presented locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally. He has worked with thousands of teachers, dozens of school districts and multiple organizations such as the Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools, International Schools Group, Council for Exceptional Children, The Division for Early Childhood, P. Buckley Moss Foundation, the Virginia Association of Science Teachers, and most recently the Leadership and Learning Center. John’s action-packed workshops offer participants ready-to-use strategies and the brain rules that make them work.

John has presented locally, nationally, and internationally on the application of neuroscience to classroom, school, and home environments. He has authored multiple journal articles, reports, book chapters, and two books including Captivate, Activate, and Invigorate the Student Brain in Science and Math, Grades 6 - 12 (Corwin Press, 2013). John lives in Waynsboro, Virginia with his wife Danielle, a fellow educator, their two children, Tessa and Jackson, and labrador retreivers, Angel and Forest.

John continues to provide activating, captivating, and invigorating staff development workshops all over the world. John recently joined the College of Education faculty at James Madison University. JMU is the perfect setting for John to continue his work with pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and pursue his research interests.