My Web Site - Our Facilitators

Our Facilitators

Christine Landaker Charbonneau, a National Board Certified teacher, has been teaching at the middle school level for twelve years. She has taught English/Language Arts and Social Studies as well as an interdisciplinary class of both at grade seven. Christine holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History from Florida Atlantic University and a Master’s Degree in English Language Arts from the University of Central Florida. She considers herself a life-long learner, participating in the Central Florida Writing Project in 1997, attending workshops, and reading professionally often.

Lee Corey has been teaching English Language Arts for twelve years in Florida, South Carolina, and Turkey. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Florida and her Masters in English Education from the University of Central Florida.

Lee has served as a team leader, department chair, and president of the Orange County Council of Teachers of English. She has presented in her district and state, nationally with the It's Never Too Late Literacy Institutes for eight years, and in conferences in Turkey. She stays involved in professional development through reading and attending local workshops and national conventions. She is also a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of Adolescent and Young Adult English Language Arts.

Troy Cunningham became involved in experiential education in 1987 working for Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. He has since received an associates degree in photography from the Maine Photographic Workshops and a BLS in Outdoor Leadership and Creative Imaging from the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Troy has had extensive training and experience in Experiential Education from Outward Bound, Project Adventure, Wilderness Inquiry and Maine Bound. He is also an Achieve Global Certified Trainer. This certification has provided opportunities for Troy to facilitate professional development workshops in education, business, industry, and health care. The majority of Troy's teaching and training has been with students, teachers and administrators. Troy was a lead instructor and program developer for Training and Development Corporation of Bucksport, Maine for four years in a Job Corp's vocational education program. While at Job Corps, Troy created student leadership teams with students ranging in age from 16 to 24 years old. These leadership teams facilitated workshops for institutes, schools and universities including visiting educators from Canada and Scotland.

Steve Czerniejewski just completed his 14^th year in education teaching fifth grade at Fern Creek Elementary School in Orlando, Florida. His previous experience includes teaching 4^th, 5^th and 6^th grade in a wide variety of settings within Orange County, Florida and 2 years in administration as a Dean of Students. Earning National Board Certification in 2001 revitalized Steve's desire to remain in the classroom, working with children.

Steve also enjoys teaching adults, working as a Mentor /Teacher Consultant for the Central Florida Writing Project. Collaborating with a team sponsored by the National Science Foundation that developed a program to keep parents up to date with trends in mathematics education Steve traveled to Los Angeles, CA to train the teachers who would implement the program. Steve has also served as a facilitator for his district's Great Beginnings, a program for new teachers designed that seeks to ease their transition into the profession.

Lynnette Elliott has experience teaching Social Studies, English and Reading at both the middle school and secondary level. For the past 8 years she has worked with students of all ability levels and truly enjoys working with at-risk learners. She currently teaches 9th grade English on an at-risk team in Orlando, Florida. In addition to being a classroom teacher, Lynnette has been a part of Dr. Janet Allen's Literacy Institutes since 1998. She has a BA degree from the University of Maine at Presque Isle in English Literature and holds Florida teaching certification in English for grades 5-12. Aside from her work with students and literacy, she is attempting to write her first Young Adult novel and working on her Reading Endorsement.

Kelli Floyd graduated from Francis Marion University in South Carolina in 1994 with a B.A. in English Certification with a minor in professional writing and has been teaching for thirteen years, with experience at junior and high school levels. Currently teaching English I at Carvers Bay High School in rural Georgetown County, SC, she teaches single gender classes in the Ninth Grade Academy, where she is the lead teacher for the academy team. The 2007 Teacher of the Year, Kelli is certified in AP and GT education, is a candidate for National Board Certification, and is currently working on her Master's degree in secondary education. She is a SC STAR recipient for Outstanding Educators and is a South Carolina certified mentor. Kelli has presented for numerous local and state venues, including the Writing Improvement Network in SC and the unveiling of English II Curriculum, participating in the English II Curriculum Pilot Program for the SC State Department of Education under the direction of Dr. Janet Allen from August 2005 - May 2006. Most recently, Kelli co-authored curriculum for Dr. Janet Allen's Plugged-in to Reading series with Recorded Books. In her spare time, Kelli enjoys singing, decorating, cooking, and teaching and preaching as a lay speaker in the United Methodist Church.

Raised and educated in the Midwest, Mary Lou Folts moved to Maine for her first teaching job in 1970. Since that time she has taught English/language arts, grades 8 through 12, for nineteen years in Maine, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and worked as an administrator. Mary Lou became the language arts supervisor for a suburban Philadelphia school district in 1990 and in 1993 received her Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. She was named curriculum director of a 6000-student Pennsylvania school district in 1999. She recently retired after 35 years in public education and lives in coastal Georgia. Mary Lou's major professional interests include curriculum development, lesson design and teacher learning. She has worked with state and local agencies, elected officials and parent groups to help them understand the complexities of No Child Left Behind and the impact of the law on students and schools.

Julie Joynt has been in education for sixteen years and has taught kindergarten through high school subjects from English to drama. For the last four years she has served as a resource teacher for Safe and Drug Free Schools. While at the high school level, Julie worked closely with the Tech-Prep Program aligning her drama content with work-related skills that were required for dual-enrollment degrees. She was voted Titusville High's Teacher of the Year as well as the North Area Secondary Teacher of the Year.

Antonia Issa Lahera has been in the field of education for more than twenty years. While living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Antonia taught learners in grades first through tenth, English, reading and writing. In California she has worked on both the elementary and secondary level with the bulk of her teaching in upper elementary. Her last two assignments have been administrative serving as the principal of two unique programs. The first program was a district prototype ending social promotion to regular high school for targeted students. The second assignment was as principal of a reconstituted 4-8 grade school. Each assignment has further cemented her commitment to public education.

Donna Maxim has taught third and/or fourth grade for 33 years. For the past four years she has taught a 3/4 looping class at Boothbay Region Elementary School. Prior to this she taught a 3/4 combination for twelve years at The Center for Teaching and Learning, a K-8 demonstration school in Edgecomb, Maine, directed by Nancie Atwell. She has presented workshops throughout the United States on reading and writing workshop and reading and writing across the curriculum. She ha sauthored two chapters in a collection of teacher stories in Coming to Know and co-edited School Talk, an NCTE periodical. Donna received her bachelor of science from The University of Maine at Portland-Gorham. A lifelong learner, she has been attending and present-ing at conferences and workshops ever since. Donna has worked for Dr. Janet Allen's It's Never too Late Literacy Institutes for the past five years. Currently she has spent five years on the Maine Student Book Award committee and two years as president of Maine Reading Association. She has also served as president of the New England Reading Association and served four years on the Elementary Section of National Council of Teachers of English. She has been awarded The IRA Literacy Award for Maine, NERA's Special Recognition Award for Maine and MCELA's Outstanding Achievement Award.

Marina Michalski attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where she majored in applied and abstract linguistic theory. During this time, Marina studied language in Santander, Spain, and fell in love with the exploration of diverse cultures. Upon returning to the United States, she determined to research intervention strategies for struggling readers and language learners on behalf of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy in Washington, D.C. Concurrently, Marina worked for NEA Publishing as a contributing editor of the book Innovative Discipline and as an editorial assistant for NEA Today and the higher education journal, Thought and Action.

Jill Perry is a mathematics educator committed to finding ways to help all learners understand and engage in mathematics. Though her love of math began early in life, her work as a high school mathematics teacher at Land O' Lakes High School in Pasco County, Florida fueled her passion for the subject. As an associate professor and chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, she now enjoys teaching mathematics content and pedagogy to preservice and inservice secondary and elementary teachers.

Connie Piper - After teaching English, grades nine through twelve, at Presque Isle High School in northern Maine for many years, Connie has taught English the last four years at Westbrook High School in Maine's Greater Portland area. She earned both her bachelor of arts degree and her master of education degree from the University of Maine. During her tenure, Connie has enriched the curriculum and developed students' literacy skills by enabling her students to make cross-curricular connections. In addition, one area of particular interest to Connie is involving students in the learning process by employing an individualized approach in meeting the literacy needs of each student. Connie spends her spare time with family, and in each season she is out in the elements with skis, bike or kayak.

Thomas Rozolis-Hill has been a teacher in Long Beach, California for the past nine years. Thomas earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from California State University, Long Beach and his Master of Arts in Education, Administration and Supervision from the University of Phoenix. Thomas has taught United States History, Language Arts, reading comprehension, phonics, and an introduction to computers course. Additionally, Thomas has worked with teachers in the role of staff developer and curriculum coach. In this capacity, he has led small group and whole faculty professional development sessions. He has served department chair and presented at the California Reading Association's Annual Conference. He is member of the National Staff Development Council and the Association of California School Administrators. This year, he is seeking a position in administration so that he can take the message of literacy education to a school-wide level. His belief in the continuous improvement process and the power that teachers have to affect profound change in the lives of children drive him in his pursuit of excellence in education.

Beth Scanlon has taught English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), intensive reading, and English for the past fourteen years in Orlando, FL. Currently she teaches reading to ESOL students in ninth grade and works half-time as the curriculum resource teacher. She teaches an online English class for the virtual adult and technical school in her district. She also teaches preservice English teachers as an adjunct at the University of Central Florida. As a member of the Literacy Council at her school this year, she helped coordinate the BEARS Florida Teens Read program. As the sponsor of the Student-Teacher Book Club at her school, her students were chosen to participate in the Random House Author 411 program this year. She also works as teacher mentor and leads professional development at her school. She received the NEA Learning and Leadership grant to lead a content area reading study group at her school site.

Gail Sherman is a Reading Coach for Palm Beach County Public Schools, as well as an educator, teacher mentor, and literacy facilitator. She is a graduate of The University of Central Florida. She holds a degree in English Education with certification in the areas of middle and secondary English. In addition, she is Gifted Endorsed and Reading Endorsed. Gail has twice been named Teacher of the Year. She also received a School-to-Work Best Practices award; Learning & Leadership Grant and co-authored the Language Arts Benchmarks for Orange County Public Schools. For the past five years, Gail has worked for Dr. Janet Allen's It's Never Too Late Literacy Institutes. She enjoys helping strengthen reading programs, build enthusiastic classroom teachers, and design creative curriculum to help all students become successful, active learners. Most recently, Gail co-authored curriculum for Dr. Janet Allen's Plugged Into Reading series with Recorded Books, LLC.

Lee Ann Spillane has been teaching students to find joy in reading and writing since 1989. In central Florida she has worked at the secondary level with students of all ability levels. As an English teacher in a technology magnet program, she designed and implemented a science based language arts curriculum. She currently serves as the teacher-coordinator for the Reading Writing Center at University High School (RWC), a concept that marries best-practice-literacy instruction with embedded professional development. One side of the center serves as a demonstration classroom for faculty where Lee Ann conducts cross-content, literacy lessons for teachers with their students. The other side of the center serves as a help center run by and for students. The model has recently been adopted by Orange County Public School's League of Educational Excellence and will be implemented in select area secondary schools next year. Lee Ann's work in the RWC has flamed her passion and commitment to helping students and teachers become lifelong learners.

Jessica Grabiner Thur has been teaching English Language Arts for seven years in Columbia, South Carolina. She earned a B. A. in English and a M. T. in English education from the University of South Carolina. In 2001, she earned her Gifted and Talented
endorsement. In 2003 she received National Board Certification the area of Adolescent and Young Adult English Language Arts. For the past two years, she has worked with South Carolina’s Department of Education and Dr. Janet Allen to pilot a revised curriculum for English II. In addition to teaching high school students, she taught a
pre-service teaching practicum for the University of South Carolina, and currently is an instructor for South Carolina’s Program for Alternative Certification for Educators.

Anthony Vicari is Principal of Lucille S. Rogers Year Round Elementary School, Clark County School District, Las Vegas, Nevada. Mr. Vicari opened Rogers School as its first principal in August 2001. At the end of 2003, Rogers School was the largest elementary school in the Clark County School District: 1,468 students in grades PreK-5.Anthony holds several degrees in education; two bachelor degrees from the University of New York, Buffalo and two graduate degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has been with the Clark County School District for twenty-five years, and has served as teacher, assistant principal, and principal. Additionally, Anthony has presented to faculty throughout the Clark County School District on effective robust vocabulary instruction and writing process strategies that make significant positive differences in student achievement levels.

Bob Wortman has been an elementary teacher, K-12 Reading Specialist for thirteen years. He was principal of a court-ordered desegregated magnet school with a dual language strand for thirteen years. He also served as director of Title I and Literacy programs for Tucson Unified School District for four years. After thirty years as a teacher, principal and central office administrator in public schools, he currently teaches graduate courses in Literacy and Children's Literature as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Language, Reading and Culture at the University of Arizona. He is a seasoned presenter at national and state conferences and is active on the board of the Tucson Area Reading Council and the University of Arizona College of Education Alumni Council. He especially enjoys bringing the writing of our best authors into the writing lives of children K-12 and energizing teachers and administrators to the joys and challenges of authentic reading and writing in classrooms by modeling reading and writing workshop lessons in classrooms across the country. He is the author of two books published by Stenhouse Publishers: Administrators Supporting School Change and Leadership in Whole Language.

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