Dan Merk has been a public-school teacher for over fifteen years.  He began his teaching career in Chicago Public Schools, where he taught K-8 art.  He received his Master of Education degree from DePaul University in 2010. He attended University of Illinois at Chicago where he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film, Photography and Electronic Media.

For the last ten years, Dan has taught middle school art for West Aurora Schools, in the district he attended as a child. He serves as the lead fine arts teacher and art club teacher at Jefferson Middle School in Aurora. Dan recently completed his English as a Second Language endorsement to better meet the needs of the diverse student population.  Dan is very interested in Montessori education and believes in the benefits of its approach as he has seen his own children flourish from learning in the Montessori environment.  When he’s not thinking about learning, he enjoys playing guitar, pretending to be a graphic novelist, and wondering how much coffee is too much coffee.

He looks forward to bringing his unique perspective and understanding of curriculum to the Headwaters community.