Meet: Marcus Morales: K-2 Coding Teacher @Caliber: Beta Academy

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Words about Marcus from his coworkers: 
"Marcus brings joy and passion to his work.  He loves exploring and creating with students and watching him in his maker space and coding classrooms, his joy is clearly contagious."

"Marcus is kind, thoughtful, funny, and puts in immense time and effort into everything he does. Marcus' ability to listen and make students feel valued and heard is unmatched. Teaching computer science and the design thinking process to children is all about staying patient and understanding, all while pushing students past that place of "I can't" to "Well, maybe I can...". it is inspiring to see how Marcus supports students as they take risks and cross this threshold every day. Marcus truly loves what he does, and it absolutely shows! Go Marcus!"

“Marcus’s passion for educating the youth and facilitating their own learning discoveries until reaching that epiphany moment, clearly shine through his work everyday.  The results can be seen on the smiles of his students, heard throughout the buzzing excitement surrounding his classroom, and felt in the endless positive energy he brings to campus all 180 days.”




A recent interview with Marcus: 
What is your favorite thing about Caliber?
My favorite thing about Caliber is our community. The people here are incredible. Over the last few years since I started working at Caliber I have seen the families and staff here have the community's interest in mind. We have parents who care about other peoples' children as well as their own. We have staff that takes the time to talk things through with students when things get messy. And when staff, family, and friends come together for events like the start of year BBQ or the recent Spring festival, I really get the sense that something special is happening here.
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What was your favorite subject when you were in school and why?
Science! I grew up watching shows like Bill Nye the Science Guy and reading science fiction (Jurassic Park, Shade's Children, Ender's Game to name a few favorites). I love learning about new things in the world and how they work. When the show Planet Earth came out I spent months watching each episode over and over.  When I was in middle school I had an incredible science teacher who sparked my interest in academic science and got me started on the path to a degree in physics.
 
What is your favorite memory associated with music?
I'm all about music, so it's hard to choose just one memory. I love live shows, but one of my favorite memories of music is from my childhood. My parents had a house-wide speaker system they used to listen to music while doing house work. I have very fond memories of listening to Paul Simon's album, Graceland, through the speaker while my brother, my sister and I would help my parents around the house. The best times were around Christmas when we would help put up decorations on the Christmas tree.

If you could go on a dream vacation, what would you do and where would you go?
I'd like to travel by bike around Mexico and do the transient worker/traveler thing for a few months. I've been feeling a call to learn more about my cultural heritage, practice my Spanish, get in touch with a nature-based life style, and explore while my body can handle the wear and tear.

What is your favorite thing about the Bay Area (or more specifically Richmond)?
There's this ramen restaurant that opened up in downtown Oakland about 8 months ago. Shinmai. It's outstanding. Go check it out, I was floored.

What is one fun fact that most people don't know about you?
In college I ran a small weekly Super Smash Brothers PM tournament with my friends. We would project the finals onto the side of a shed in my buddy's backyard and the winner would take home a Super Mario trophy.