Returning Featured Speakers

Andrea Zellner, Red Cedar Writing Project
Scribbling on the Internet: Exploring Web Literacies
Sunday, October 2  3:00-4:00 pm EST

Andrea Zellner is a Tech Integration Specialist at Oakland Schools, working with the School District of the City of Pontiac. She is a Red Cedar Writing Project Teacher-Consultant, a former High School English and Biology teacher, as well as a doctoral candidate in the Ed Tech/Ed Psych program at Michigan State University.  For more, visit her website. 

Jianna Taylor, Oakland Writing Project
Making the Switch: Moving from a Paper to a Digital Writer's Notebook 
Sunday, October 9   3:00-4:00 pm EST

Jianna Taylor is an ELA and Title 1 teacher at Orchard Lake Middle School in West Bloomfield.  She is a member of the AVID Site Team and Continuous School Improvement Team at her school, among other things.  She is also a MiELA Network Summer Institute facilitator and member of the Oakland Writing Project Core Leadership Team.  Jianna earned her bachelor’s degree from Oakland University and her master’s degree from the University of Michigan.  She also writes reviews of children’s books and young adult novels for the magazine Library Media Connection.

Jeremy Hyler, Chippewa River Writing Project
Digital Writing and Grammar
Sunday, October 9  6:00-7:00 pm EST

Jeremy Hyler is a 7th/8th grade English teacher at Fulton Middle School in Middleton, Michigan. In addition, he is a co-director for the Chippewa River Writing Project. He co-authored Create, Compose, Connect: Reading, Writing, and Learning with Digital Tools. He is also a contributing author to Assessing Students' Digital Writing: Protocols for Looking Closely. He is currently working on his second book about teaching grammar in the digital age.
 
Jeremy has presented both statewide and nationally on the importance of integrating technology effectively and with purpose into the language arts classroom. He is always interested in helping teachers find new, productive and meaningful ways to implement technology into their classrooms. Jeremy can be found on Twitter @jeremybballer and his website is jeremyhyler.wikispaces.com.

Sharon Murchie, Chippewa River Writing Project & Red Cedar Writing Project
Authentic Research, Authentic Writing
​Sunday, October 9  9:00-10:00 pm EST

Sharon Murchie teaches high school English in Bath, Michigan. A graduate of Michigan State University and The University of Edinburgh, she has taught in urban and rural environments in both independent and public schools. She has taught all levels of high school English, from remedial and credit recovery to Advanced Placement courses. 

As a teacher consultant for Red Cedar Writing Project and Chippewa River Writing Project, both satellite sites of the National Writing Project, Sharon has designed and presented workshops for teachers at several ISDs and RESAs in the Mid-Michigan area. She writes for the Chippewa River Writing Project blog, has presented at the Michigan Council of Teachers of English (MCTE), and at the 4Tvirtualcon. She is driven to promote and support critical thinking, and she advocates for the integration of technology in thoughtful and deliberate ways. You can find her on Twitter at @smurchies.

Janet Neyer, Chippewa River Writing Project
​Authentic Research, Authentic Writing
​Sunday, October 9  9:00-10:00 pm EST

Janet Neyer (@janetneyer) teaches English at Cadillac High School in Cadillac, Michigan, where she is passionate about incorporating authentic reading, writing, and research experiences into all of her classes. She serves as a teacher consultant for the Chippewa River Writing Project in mid-Michigan, and she is a Google for Education Certified Trainer.  You can find Janet's Google Apps resources as well as her thoughts about teaching at upnorthlearning.org.

Beth Rogers, Clarkston Community Schools, MI
​Blogging in the Classroom: Purpose, Planning and Perseverance 
Sunday, October 16  1:30-2:30 pm EST

Beth Rogers is a fifth grade teacher for Clarkston Community Schools, where she has been teaching full time since 2006.  She is  blessed to teach Language Arts and Social Studies for her class and her teaching partner’s class, while her partner teaches all of their math and science. This enables them to focus on their passions and do the best they can for kids. Beth was chosen as Teacher of the Year for 2013-2014 in her district. She earned a B.S. in Education at Kent State University and a Master’s in Educational Technology at Michigan State University. ​

Amy Quinn, West Bloomfield Schools, MI
​Creating a Digital Writer
Sunday, October 16  4:30-5:30 pm EST

Amy Quinn is a first grade teacher at Gretchko Elementary School in West Bloomfield, MI.  She is a graduate of Oakland University and has her Masters in Early Childhood.  Amy was part of the MAISA Writing Units of Study pilot and review process and also assisted in collecting student artifacts for K-2 writing units.  She is an active member of her school MTSS team, part of "Teacher Lab" and school coordinator of First Lego League Junior teams.  Amy is currently being trained to become a NGSX facilitator.    

Mary Kate O'Meara, Grosse Pointe Park Schools, MI
Retooling the Writing Process
Sunday, October 23  4:30-5:30 pm EST

Mary Kate O'Meara is a multiage classroom teacher (first - third grade) at Trombly Elementary in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan and a graduate of the University of Michigan. She has a masters degree in education with a specialization in early childhood. Over the course of her career, she has taught grades from pre-k through fifth in schools in Appalachia, mission/reservation schools in Colorado and inner city schools in Flint and Detroit. She has published articles for ASCD and her multiage class was filmed for ASCD training videos on differentiation. She has presented at the University of Virginia's Summer Institute for Academic Diversity and is an Edmodo Ambassador. She has presented at MACUL and the 4T Virtual Conferences and loves educational technology, project-based learning, Genius Hour, the Maker Movement, and integrating mindfulness into the classroom.