Search Results

Gina M. Estrada Danley has been a teacher of gifted and talented students since 1997. She taught junior high English for 11 years and has served as district GATE resource teacher in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District for 4 years.

Jolene’s experiences came from the fact that she was a “young, naïve teacher with little writing instruction and experience.” The remedy: she became involved in the first writing project in Pennsylvania in the summer of 1980 when she attended the six-week summer writing institute. For the next 15 years she was the co-director of the project with Dr. Robert Weiss at West Chester University.

Dick’s interest in writing and visualizing goes back to his college days at Penn State University when he was a writing major with a minor in photography. After graduation, he traveled the country in a Kerouac-mode working as a photographer. From Maine to Colorado to Florida and every state in between, he met the people of the country and heard their stories. Returning from “the road” he began teaching English in the Athens Area School District in Athens, Pennsylvania.

Stephanie taught first and second grade where creative writing was a part of the language arts curriculum. She encouraged her students to be storytellers and write their stories down; not just Stephanie, but also her students and school community heard and saw the power of their stories through their authorship. Years later, Stephanie was offered a position as a reading specialist in a public school in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Amy J. Mazur, Ed.D., lead faculty in bilingual special education and a professor at the George Washington University, has been involved in teacher preparation for over 30 years. She has long been an advocate for the minority student who, as a result of poverty, health and developmental issues, immigrant status, or level of English language acquisition, has not been provided access to appropriate educational service delivery. Dr.

Clair "Tuffy" Reason attended the University of Toledo, where he received his bachelor's degree in education and was a Mid-American Conference Champion Division I basketball player. In the Army, Tuffy was a member of the Border Patrol in West Germany and served as a reporter for the Stars and Stripes military newspaper. After college and the army, he worked in commercial radio as a sportscaster, news writer, and talk show interviewer at stations in Ohio and Michigan.

Dr. Debbie Silver is a humorist, consultant, and retired educator with over thirty years of experience as a classroom teacher, staff development facilitator, and university professor. As a classroom teacher, Debbie won numerous awards, including the 1990 Louisiana Teacher of the Year award. She speaks worldwide on issues involving education and is a passionate advocate for students and teachers.

Margaret (Peg) Smith is a Professor Emerita at University of Pittsburgh. Over the past three decades she has been developing research-based materials for use in the professional development of mathematics teachers.

See Avis's Presenter Profile Here!

Learn more about Ruth Mattingley's PD offerings

Rich Korb has thirty-three years of educational experience as a successful educator and consultant working with difficult and at-risk students. He has taught both general and special education at all levels and has served as Youth Ranch Director of Education for delinquent youth.