Middle School Teachers
6th Grade Homework and Test Calendar
7th Grade Homework & Test Calendar
Chris Harvey
Chris joined BFA last year as a fifth grade teacher. He is thrilled to now be a part of the incredible Middle School team as the Social Studies teacher at BFA teaching his favorite subject and continuing on with his fifth grade class.
Chris earned a bachelor of arts in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and obtained his teaching license from Metropolitan State College of Denver. His main license is in Elementary Education, and he has secondary endorsements in English and Social Studies.
When Chris is not teaching, he enjoys spending time with his family. He credits his wife, Karen, for being instrumental in helping him achieve his dream of being a teacher. Chris and Karen have two sons, one at Thunder Ridge High School and the other at BFA. They also have two dogs, Ody and Bella, and enjoy all aspects of the outdoors, including backpacking, hiking and camping.
Agie Behounek
Agie joins BFA from another Core Knowledge Charter School where she taught middle school language arts for the past three years. She is very excited to be part of the BFA community and is especially thrilled about helping to develop the middle school.
Agie grew up in Poland and moved to the U.S. at the age of 13. She earned a Master’s of Arts in Education from The University of Michigan where she began as an elementary teacher, but soon discovered her passion for middle school. She also holds a degree from the University of Denver in International Studies.
When she isn’t teaching, Agie loves spending time with her husband Chris and their cat Nube, reading, playing the cello, practicing Yoga, and attending Colorado Symphony concerts.
Catharan Smiley
Catharan joins BFA as the middle school writing teacher from Douglas County Schools. Over the past year she assisted children with significant special needs and coached the sophomore girls volleyball team at Douglas County High School.
Catharan is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of North Georgia College & State University. There she earned her degree in Middle Grades Education with certification in both Language Arts and Science: grades fourth through eighth.
Catharan and her husband, Tyler, love cycling, camping, skiing, and exploring the outdoors together. Bailey, their 6 year old Shih-tzu, loves to camp as well. Catharan enjoys reading a good book, and loves the performing arts. Her favorite works include Pride and Prejudice and Wicked.
Kate Crespo
Kate is excited to be starting her second year with BFA as the Middle School Math Teacher. Kate earned her master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Phoenix in 2010 and received a bachelor’s of science degree in Information Technology from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2004, where she played basketball and soccer.
Kate has been married for seven years, and has two children, a son who attends BFA, and a toddler daughter. Kate and her husband, Jose, also have a dog named Mufasa. Kate grew up in New Jersey and feels lucky to have called Colorado home for the past seven years. Kate enjoys staying fit, taking long walks, watching and playing sports, and spending time with her family and friends. She can't wait to help kids enjoy learning math at BFA.
Marty Denham
Born in Iowa, Marty moved to Casper, Wyoming prior to her 7th grade year. She graduated from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, where she earned her BS in Biological Sciences with a minor in Chemistry. Her primary focus of study was microbiology, but realized she wanted a career that offered more social interaction, so took the required education classes to become a teacher.
Marty taught three years of 9th – 12th grade science (physical science, biology, chemistry, physics) in Byers, Colorado, then substitute taught for the science department at Cherry Creek High School for a year. She then entered the computer industry where she eventually specialized in selling high end Hewlett Packard servers to corporate clients. After 12 years in the field, Marty realized she needed to be a more available mom, and a return to teaching made sense.
The Core Knowledge Curriculum caught her attention when researching schools for her son and she immediately became a fan. In the fall of 2000, Marty enrolled her son in a Core Knowledge school where she, too, joined the team and taught 7th and 8th grade science for the next 12 years. It took an opportunity like this one at Ben Franklin Academy to convince her to make a change. She is very excited to be part of this new charter school with such a huge focus on STEM education.
Her teaching style definitely leans toward hands-on experiences in the lab, and collaboration among student groups where technology can be utilized. Marty tries to incorporate as many opportunities as possible for students to ‘show what they know’ in creative ways such as storyboarding, cartoon animations, movie making, podcasts, etc. These technologies make learning more exciting and touch those students that traditional methods do not.
She and her husband Dave recently celebrated their 27th anniversary. Their only child, Jack, is a senior at Cherry Creek High School. When not wearing her ‘teacher hat’, she enjoys playing golf, working in the garden and camping with family and friends. Marty enjoys a good book when time allows, and when the funds allow, loves to travel!
