Lifelong educator
After graduating from the College of Education at The Ohio State University in 1981, I began my career teaching at St. Joan of Arc Catholic School located in Toledo, Ohio. I taught grades 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8. After obtaining my Master's degree in 1985 from The University of Toledo, I accepted a position with the Lucas County Office of Education as a Reading Recovery Teacher and Teacher Leader-in-training studying once again at The Ohio State University under Dr. Gay Su Pinnell and Dr. Diane DeFord. In this position I supervised Reading Recovery teachers-in-training across northwest Ohio. My family and I moved to the Charlotte, North Carolina area where I taught and directed preschool. The next move took my family to Savannah, Georgia where I taught kindergarten at Thunderbolt Elementary School for two years.
The Cincinnati suburb of West Chester is where my family and I would call home for the next 20 years. Much of my career and passion for literacy were developed while working for the Lakota Local School District under the guidance of former principal Matt Glover (Matt currently is a consultant for Heinemann specializing in early childhood literacy). After attending conferences at Teachers College Columbia University, I discovered my passion and belief in the workshop approach to teaching early childhood literacy. Many of the professional writers, presenters, and educators who visited Creekside Early Childhood School (aka Lakota Early Childhood Center) had a part in my education journey as a professional. This led to my career change to an instructional support coach in the areas of reading and writing. The next four years of teaching in an elementary school took place at Eanes Independent School District in Austin, Texas. I worked as an Instructional Coach for a K-5 campus as well as the district Curriculum Representative for first grade. I wore many hats in this role working as both teacher and administrator, and very much enjoyed my role in the Central Texas Writing Project (adjunct for Texas State University) helping facilitate professional development for K-12 administrators and educators .
The life change for me came full circle when I found my way back to Ohio. I jumped at the chance to work as Project Coordinator of STAR-Ohio and Co-Coordinator of STAR at Home. These positions were located at The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at The Ohio State University. STAR-Ohio was the scaling-up of the STAR literacy intervention delivered to children in Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) classrooms across Ohio to reduce their risk for future reading difficulties. Although the position was a term position funded by a grant, I felt the experience of working in early childhood research and professional development design would offer me growth in my professional career. At the conclusion of my grant work the next move took me to Palm City, Florida where I was employed as Literacy Coach (I prefer Literacy Partner) for Martin County School District. Due to the fabulous administration and educators housed at Bessey Creek Elementary School, I worked myself out of a job as this well-deserved "school of excellence" lost funding for my position due to high student testing scores.
As I make this final change of employment, I am seeking a position that continues to expand my educational growth and allows me to give back to my profession by positively impacting the lives of children, staff, families, and community.
Laura Chrisman
The Cincinnati suburb of West Chester is where my family and I would call home for the next 20 years. Much of my career and passion for literacy were developed while working for the Lakota Local School District under the guidance of former principal Matt Glover (Matt currently is a consultant for Heinemann specializing in early childhood literacy). After attending conferences at Teachers College Columbia University, I discovered my passion and belief in the workshop approach to teaching early childhood literacy. Many of the professional writers, presenters, and educators who visited Creekside Early Childhood School (aka Lakota Early Childhood Center) had a part in my education journey as a professional. This led to my career change to an instructional support coach in the areas of reading and writing. The next four years of teaching in an elementary school took place at Eanes Independent School District in Austin, Texas. I worked as an Instructional Coach for a K-5 campus as well as the district Curriculum Representative for first grade. I wore many hats in this role working as both teacher and administrator, and very much enjoyed my role in the Central Texas Writing Project (adjunct for Texas State University) helping facilitate professional development for K-12 administrators and educators .
The life change for me came full circle when I found my way back to Ohio. I jumped at the chance to work as Project Coordinator of STAR-Ohio and Co-Coordinator of STAR at Home. These positions were located at The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at The Ohio State University. STAR-Ohio was the scaling-up of the STAR literacy intervention delivered to children in Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) classrooms across Ohio to reduce their risk for future reading difficulties. Although the position was a term position funded by a grant, I felt the experience of working in early childhood research and professional development design would offer me growth in my professional career. At the conclusion of my grant work the next move took me to Palm City, Florida where I was employed as Literacy Coach (I prefer Literacy Partner) for Martin County School District. Due to the fabulous administration and educators housed at Bessey Creek Elementary School, I worked myself out of a job as this well-deserved "school of excellence" lost funding for my position due to high student testing scores.
As I make this final change of employment, I am seeking a position that continues to expand my educational growth and allows me to give back to my profession by positively impacting the lives of children, staff, families, and community.
Laura Chrisman