Lana Bunning is a lifelong learner and has a passion for sharing her love of education with her students. After earning a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Education from the University at Albany, she began her career with the New York City Department of Education. She has been a public school teacher for over eight years where she has taught math, science, and many other enrichment courses. She proudly holds the title of Model Teacher because of her skill and expertise of best instructional practices and student achievement growth. Lana has also worked as a private tutor for several years with students from kindergarten through high school. Her experiences have ranged from supporting students with academic coaching, test preparation, and executive functioning.

Lana Bunning is thoughtful when designing curriculum and supports for students, ensuring that the instruction is engaging, rigorous, and accessible for all learners. She is able to plan and execute her lessons in this way due to her ability to build a strong rapport with her students. Lana takes the time to get to know each of her students’ strengths and areas of growth, building trust and taking the time to get to know their hobbies and interests outside of the classroom. For these reasons, Lana is a lead teacher on her school’s Instructional Leadership and Equity Teams as well as District 13’s Math Leadership Group.

Lana’s experience educating students has not stopped at the classroom. She has privately tutored students of all ages attending NYC private and public schools, including The Dalton School, Horace Mann, Stuyvesant High School, and The Summit School. She skillfully differentiates instruction for all of her learners, including students with more complex neurocognitive profiles. Her tutoring work integrates monitoring and enhancing students’ executive functioning capacities and skills. She loves working one-on-one and in small groups with students because that is where she can have the most impact.

Lana Bunning is always working towards furthering her own learning in order to engage students at the highest levels. She participated in Honeywell Educators at Space Academy in 2016 where she participated in traditional Space Camp activities such as engineering design challenges, mock flight and space missions, rocket construction and launches with teachers from around the world. Sometimes you can still find her in her blue flight suit! She partnered with University of Washington Burke Museum paleontologists in 2017 to conduct field research on an active site, digging up 66 million year old fossils with teachers and researchers. In 2018, she explored Yellowstone National Park while engaging in STEAM projects to implement into the classroom with her students. She is always learning new ways to reach her students and spark their natural curiosity.

In her free time, Lana loves riding her Peloton and biking outside, snowboarding in the winter months, enjoying the beach waves in the summer, collecting and listening to vinyl records, and sharing meals with friends and family.