Faculty
Melinda Alcosser and Maria Mortali
Melinda Alcosser and Maria Mortali have been the middle school teaching team for the past four years in an independent school in Branford, the former Wightwood/Pine Brook School. Last spring when it became known that the middle school would close permanently at the end of the 2008-2009 academic year, some of the families wanted them to continue teaching their students for the remainder of their middle school years. This inspired the creation of the Connecticut Experiential Learning Center.
Melinda began teaching in 1987 for the Music and Art Center for the Handicapped. From there she became certified in music, preK-12, from the Yale Teacher Preparation Program. She received an MS degree in Environmental Education and preK-6 certification in Elementary Education from Southern Connecticut State University. Melinda attended the University of Rhode
Island’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies where she received her certification as a level one trainer in Kingian Nonviolence. Melinda has taught in New Haven at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet, Co-op HS and at the Cold Spring School and has been a middle school teacher at Wightwood/Pine Brook for the past 15 years. Melinda is also a percussionist and has an organization called Hands-On-Rhythm, where she teaches drumming and other music from around the world to people of all ages. She is the mother of two girls, ages 13 and 10, and has lived in the Guilford area since 1997.
Maria has had a variety of careers, including restaurant management, accounting, professional cook and caterer, and editor. She ran her own daycare for many years and continues to work as a private tutor, for students ranging from elementary age through college, in all subjects, including grammar, writing, reading, geometry, algebra and physics. Maria worked as a substitute teacher as well as a middle school teacher at Wightwood School where she taught Spanish, U. S. history, language arts, and math. She studied at Purdue University as an undergraduate. Maria is a mother to two boys – both recent graduates – one from Branford High School, class of 2009 and the other just out of college.
