StudioGraphia Associates: Teachers, Writing
- Lisa DaDeppo Education Writer
- Teresa DellaPietra Assessment Aficionado
- Christine Hamel Word Wrangler
- Amethyst Hinton-Sainz Education Writer
- Sandy LaCava Education Writer
- Sharon K. Miller Writer, Word Wizard & Graphomaniac
- Heather Ordover Literary Soldier of Fortune & Craft Commando
- Rebecca Richards Education Writer
- Heather Severson Mercenary Writer & Gypsy Scholar
Lisa DaDeppo
Ph.D. University of Maryland: Special Education
Master of Arts, University
of Arizona: Language, Reading & Culture
Lisa DaDeppo has worked as an educator since 1997. She has taught junior high, high school and college students. She earned her Masters degree in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona in 1997 and her Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Maryland in 2007. Her areas of expertise are in Social Studies, Reading, Study Skills, and Special Education. She has worked at the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland teaching, developing curriculum, and directing learning support programs for student-athletes and college students who are academically at-risk. As a writer Lisa has published articles in Teaching Exceptional Children Plus, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, and Learning Disabilities Research & Practice. She also has also written textbook reviews for Pearson and other publishers. Currently Lisa teaches Reading courses at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona as adjunct faculty.
Teresa DellaPietra
Masters of Science, Education: State University of New York at Brockport
Bachelors of Science, Psychology: State University of New York at Brockport
Certification: New York State Elementary Education (N–6)
Teresa is an educational consultant who has worked in the field of education since 1990.
After 10 years as an active classroom teacher, Teresa took a position as an Educational Analyst with Lightspan, Inc. There, her research and analysis of both state and national educational standards and assessment practices grew into a passion for assessment development.
As Senior ELA Content Specialist with Plato Learning, Inc. and ELA Assessment Writer for Kaplan K12 Learning Services, she developed state-specific blueprints, test passages, items, internal process documents, and product specifications.
Teresa is currently designing, producing, and publishing standards-based fixed benchmark tests, curriculum support materials, and test auxiliary materials for various companies.
Christine Hamel
Master of Arts, University of Arizona: Comparative Cultural & Literary
Studies
Master of Arts, University of Arizona: Rhetoric, Composition & the Teaching
of English
Bachelor of Arts, Wellesley College: American History, American Literature
Chris Hamel began her teaching career in the University of Arizona’s Writing Program in August 1994. While still teaching in the First-Year Composition sequence at the University of Arizona, she has also branched out to the online writing instruction world with her work at the Center for Talented Youth program at Johns Hopkins University. She has two M.A.s, both of which focus on college teaching and writing, and has been coordinating the University of Arizona Writing Center since January 2007. She develops curriculum for first-year college writing courses and for writing tutor training, and has several publications in national journals and poetry collections. In the little free time she has left, Chris works with University of Arizona graduate students and writers in the Tucson community as a freelance editor, and dreams of becoming a nature writer and world-famous blogger.
Amethyst Hinton-Sainz
Master of Arts, Bread Loaf College of English, Middlebury College: English
Literature
Bachelor of Arts, University of Arizona: Creative Writing/ Philosophy
of Science
Amethyst Hinton Sainz has been a high school English teacher in Southern Arizona since 1995, with brief stints teaching and tutoring SAT and SSAT preparation courses for Kaplan and teaching freshman composition and developmental writing for Capital Community College in Hartford, Connecticut. She currently teaches English at Tucson High Magnet School in Tucson, Arizona. She has written an online reader in the rhetorical modes for Thomson Wadsworth, and has written content for McGraw Hill. As an educator, she has worked intensively on curriculum development and integrating technology tools into her classrooms, including using digital storytelling and Ning online communities. She is a technology liaison for the Southern Arizona Writing Project and enjoys contributing to the newsletter on a regular basis. She has written two successful classroom project proposals with Donorschoose, and continues to use her writing to seek resources for her high school classroom. She has also written client restaurant reviews for Coyle Hospitality. She is a licensed realtor and partner with her husband Rich Sainz at Tierra Antigua Realty, applying her skills in contract wording, business writing and marketing.
Sandy LaCava
Master of Arts, University of Arizona: Language, Reading & Culture
Sandy LaCava is a long time educator and businesswoman. She has taught elementary school, junior high and community college students, where she specialized in reading, language arts, Spanish, and life skills guidance. LaCava has also educated and supervised young adults for over 20 years in the business world developing and implementing training programs. Writing has played an integral part of her life and has influenced her work with various writing groups from children’s writers to poetry and memoir writing groups. A fellow of the Southern Arizona Writing Project, LaCava continues to explore writing in all its glory as a writer of children’s stories, memoir, non-fiction and educational content. More recently her writing experiences include a restaurant review blog from a vegetarian perspective and a dual blogging experience with a fellow writer as they work their way through the Artist’s Way program.
Sharon K. Miller
Masters of Education (Secondary English), Towson State University
Bachelor of Science (Secondary English), Frostburg State College, Maryland
Over the last 45 years, Sharon has taught students at many levels, from second grade through graduate school, and she has been involved in the Maryland Writing Project (MWP) and the Southern Arizona Writing Project (SAWP) for 26 years. As an online writer, Sharon maintains three blogs and manages the content and design of four websites. She has published in a variety of printed contexts, including coauthoring a chapter, "Effective Writing for Teacher Researchers," in Teachers Taking Action: A Comprehensive Guide to Teacher Research, (2008) and a book, Doing Academic Writing in Education: Connecting the Personal and the Professional, (2005). She has also published articles in MWP, SAWP, and National Writing Project publications, as well as the international journal, The Thinking Classroom/Paramena, published in both English and Russian languages. Additionally, she served on the Editorial Review Board for The Thinking Classroom for seven years. She is skilled in substantive editing, as well as copyediting for manuscripts written by native English speakers and for writers for whom English is a second language. Being a grammar nerd makes her an effective proofreader and final editor. Whether it is academic, educational, or non-fiction writing, whether it is online or off, Sharon can produce winning content and polished prose.
Heather Ordover
Master of Arts, New York University: Individual Studies
Bachelor of Arts, University of California Los Angeles: Theater Arts
Heather Ordover, an award winning New York high school teacher, transitioned into writing full time after ten years in the classroom. Ordover started as project manager/writer on several large, urban core curriculum initiatives for Kaplan K-12. Eventually she moved back to writing part time for these projects while her children were small and has stayed writing ever since. Since leaving the high school classroom she has written online content for Pearson's CD-ROM Elements of Grammar, Teacher's Notes for Scholastic's Literary Cavalcade, and several online masters-level courses in education for Kaplan Online University. Along with writing for education, Ordover has written and recorded essays for Cast-On: A Podcast for Knitters and currently hosts her own long-running online podcast, CraftLit: A Podcast for Crafters Who Love Books (think "books on tape with benefits"). Her crafty writing has appeared in Spin-Off, WeaveZine, and The Arizona Daily Star. She currently lives and writes in Tucson, Arizona, and teaches writing at the University of Arizona.
See: Crafting a Life: A Hub for a Multi-Node Life http://crafting-a-life.com/
Rebecca Richards
Master of Arts and Ph.D, University of Arizona: Rhetoric, Composition, & the Teaching of English
Rebecca Richards works as technical and professional freelance writer, while educating high school and college students about business writing and composition. She began her career as a textbook editor for SRA/McGraw-Hill in Columbus, Ohio. Soon after, she transitioned into high school teaching where she won the Teacher of the Year award for Heath City Schools. Currently, she is finishing her PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English at the University of Arizona. She has won several teaching awards for her courses at the University of Arizona. Richards' writing can be read in the book, Writing Public Lives: From Personal Interests to Public Rhetoric, published by Hayden McNeil in 2010. Also, Richards has a forthcoming scholarly article, "Cyborgs on the World Stage: Hillary Clinton and the Rhetorical Performances of Iron Ladies," in the Spring 2011 edition of Feminist Formations (formerly the National Women's Studies Association Journal).
Heather Severson
Master of Arts, University of Arizona: Language, Reading & Culture
Bachelor of Arts, University of Arizona: Interdisciplinary Studies (English,
Creative Writing, Dance)
Heather Severson is an award winning adult educator and gypsy scholar, plying her craft at the National Writing Project, the Southern Arizona Writing Project, the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, University of Phoenix, the American Red Cross, Girl Scouts of America, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, and other places where adults gather for self-development and education. She specializes in developmental reading and writing, with forays into sustainability, eremology, outdoor education and SCUBA diving. To support her habits in teaching and teacher education, Heather is a freelance writer. She has written supplemental online content, instructor manuals, curriculum, and textbook reviews for higher education publishers for over ten years.
Heather Severson at National Association of Independent Writers and Editors: http://heatherseverson.naiwe.com/
Heather Severson at Editorial Freelancers Association: http://www.the-efa.org/dir/memberinfo.php?mid=7595
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