Danae Dieken is an English teacher at Holmes Junior High School in Cedar Falls. Determined to find magic where the world dismisses it, she writes plays with her students, leads the Holmes writing project (a 7th through 9th grade writers group), and shows far too many pictures of her dog, Maple Syrup. Currently, she teaches English 9 and English Enhancement (a phonics and comprehension focused reading class). Danae came to teaching by way of coaching speech and working in communications at John Deere.