Instructor Biographies
Elaine Duff – Elaine Guy Duff holds both a master’s degree in English education and a bachelor’s degree in English education from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Elaine taught site-based high school English in North Carolina for 14 years, and for the past five years, she has taught English online for the state’s only virtual high school. She also holds the position of Online Professional Development Coordinator for the Web Academy, where she writes and facilitates courses for educators throughout North Carolina. In 2002-2003, Elaine was honored to represent 19 counties in southeast North Carolina as the North Carolina Southeast Region Teacher of the Year. Elaine has twice achieved National Board of Professional Teaching certification, for which organization she has presented nationally and serves as a regional mentor.
Erin Brandol – Erin Forthofer Brandol holds a master’s degree in early childhood education from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in art education with a minor in psychology from Kent State University. An Ohio native, she has taught visual arts at the elementary level since 1994, garnering multiple grants for her school district’s arts programs as well as serving for many years as cooperating teacher for The Ohio State University student art teachers. Erin is a juried art show exhibitor, mural artist, and private arts instructor.
Suzanne Obuchowski – Suzanne Obuchowski holds a master’s degree in reading from Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. With dual certification in elementary education (grades 1-6) and math (grades 1-6), she has taught first, third, and fifth grades, with the most recent of her 20 years as a professional educator focused primarily on teaching sixth grade math. Suzanne has also worked as a reviewer for the Impact Math series published by Glencoe/McGraw Hill.
Kristi Hannigan – Kristi Hannigan holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington, and a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota. In addition to her experience as a veteran teacher of middle-school language arts and math, Kristi shares with T.O.E. her leadership skills as a department chair and leader in both staff development and school-improvement planning.
Amy Jordan – With a master’s degree in English from Miami University, Ohio, and a bachelor’s degree in education from Ohio University, Amy’s dedication to the teaching profession has been shaped by more than a decade of experience as an upper-elementary language arts, math, and science teacher. She was a member of her school’s instructional team where she worked collaboratively with her colleagues to make decisions about the school’s curricula materials and to plan content for staff meetings. Amy was the language arts chair on this team, which allowed her to become the head of staff development in language arts, teaching colleagues about best practices during staff meetings and individually. As a graduate of the revered Ohio Writing Project MAT program, Amy brings her passion for the best of contemporary classroom practice and inquiry to her T.O.E. classroom. She uses her superb writing skills and expertise in working with adult learners to support and guide her T.O.E. students with enthusiasm and highest-quality feedback.
Deanna Grider – Deanna Grider holds a master’s degree in Secondary Education and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and English from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. For the last decade, Deanna has taught Spanish at both the middle and high school levels and in urban and suburban settings. As department chair at the middle school level, Deanna brings to T.O.E. her enthusiasm and leadership experience from delving into various facets of school improvement, curriculum development, and staff development.
Sheryl Drewyor – Sheryl Miller Drewyor holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, and a bachelor’s degree in education from Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Her post-graduate work has focused on the field of reading and culminated with an Ohio Reading Endorsement (K-12).
As an elementary school teacher, Sheryl served as the school Math Teacher Leader, was honored as one of the district’s Martha Holden Jennings Scholars, and rates her experiences in achieving National Board Certification (Early-Childhood Generalist) as pivotal to her professional growth as an educator. With an added background as an editor and writer for educational publishers, Sheryl combines superb writing skills with classroom-based expertise to provide T.O.E. participants with real-world insights and clearly detailed feedback and support.
Shellie Herrmann – In addition to her master’s degree in literacy curriculum and instruction from Ashland University (Ashland, Ohio), Shellie Kathleen Herrmann brings a K-12 Reading Endorsement and a bachelor’s degree in education (grades 1 through 8) with a minor in social studies from Ohio University. Along with a decade of successful experience as an elementary teacher in grades two, four, and five, Shellie shares an unusually wide range of expertise that includes teaching in a full-inclusion setting, working collaboratively with colleagues and parents to support literacy-building for struggling students as a member of her school’s Building Leadership Team, and also serving as a technology support for other staff as they try to integrate new software and Web 2.0 applications into their daily classroom instruction. Shellie’s an outstanding addition to the T.O.E. faculty, and her students are sure to be inspired by her professionalism, her infectious enthusiasm, and her great personal passion for learning.
Jennifer (JJ) Perrine – JJ Westervelt Perrine holds a master’s degree in supervision and pre-administration from the College of Baldwin Wallace in Berea, Ohio, and a bachelor’s degree in K-8 elementary education from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. As a 13-year veteran teaching at the middle-school level, she has taught a wide range of subject areas, including language arts, social studies, science, and health, also taking part at the district level in the development and writing of individual courses as well as curricula for both social studies and health. JJ’s strong belief in the power of professional dialogue positions her as an ideal instructor in the T.O.E. learning environment, where her enthusiasm for life-long learning blends beautifully with the highly interactive, teacher-to-teacher, feedback-based course format.
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