Meet our Instructors
Visual & Performing Arts Instructors
Ashley Sarver :: asarver@sileducation.com
Director
English Department Chair
Instructor of English, Photography & Art History
Ashley Sarver is one of three Directors of School for Independent Learners, as well as our English Department Chair. She’s grateful for the opportunity to help the Ohmes realize their ‘failure is not an option’ approach to education.
She works closely with our teachers to create a cohesive school-wide curriculum set, with a full range of classes, from college prep to Advanced Placement. Ashley spends her days directing and editing our school-wide curricular shift, away from the ‘one class, one textbook’ mentality and toward collaboratively written online lesson plans. Ashley is incredibly intrigued by the Internet's ability to make knowledge available to anyone with the yearning to seek it. She envisions a school that enables every student--through the creative use of technology--to individualize their education.
As a peer tutor in high school and college, Ashley first discovered her love of teaching, which is fueled by those moments when a student suddenly understands, when some line of thinking shifts just enough. Her enthusiasm for teaching evolved into a broader interest in curriculum development and educational theory, as she seeks to understand the cognitive and emotional processes that create meaningful learning. Her curiosity has led her to pursue an M.Ed. in Teaching and Learning, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Ashley was born and raised among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, in the rural college town of Athens, Ohio. She enrolled in college at 15 and, at age 19, graduated with honors from Boston University with a B.S. in Literary Journalism and Education. In Boston, she worked as a website copywriter, political speechwriter, literary editor, and music publicist. In 2005, she moved from Boston to San Francisco to begin her teaching career.
Ashley is also invested in the arts. She studied photography at California College of the Arts (in Oakland), and has exhibited work, curated shows, and taught photography workshops. Ashley teaches and performs vintage jazz dances, such as the 1920’s Charleston and the Balboa, and helps to produce San Francisco’s annual Mission Creek Music and Arts Festival.
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Chris Raynor :: craynor@sileducation.com
Administrator, Print & Web Designer
Instructor of Art
Chris assumes many roles here at SIL. He is an administrator, our lead designer for all that appears online and in print, and a driving force behind our art department.
Chris graduated from Penn State University with a B.A. in Integrative Arts. While his studies emphasized graphic design, his passion for the arts is much broader. Previous to SIL, Chris worked as part of a marketing team at a firm in Boston, and as a freelance designer. Chris feels at home in the school environment, and finds his experiences at SIL to be incredibly rewarding.
Outside of school, Chris fills his time with a variety of outdoor sports and recreation. When he's not exploring the natural world, Chris is playing music, reading, and cooking.
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