Theresa Hinkle recently retired after spending thirty-two years in a middle level classroom. She is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the area of Early Adolescent English/Language Arts. During her career, she taught language arts, reading, social studies, and gifted education. She also served as literacy facilitator for five years.
Theresa is active in the NC and National Middle School Associations. She was the first teacher President of NCMSA and also served as President of the National Middle School Association after serving two terms as the Teacher Trustee representing the South/East regions. She has also been a trainer for the US Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative which provided professional development for schools and teachers across the country for six years. For the past two years she has served as a consultant to the National Dairy Council as they prepared the release of a new health, nutrition and fitness initiative geared toward middle level schools. She is currently an Instructional Leadership Partner with B&D Consulting working in the area of School Improvement. Through these affiliations Theresa has presented workshop sessions and school/district professional development in over 30 states, Canada and Mexico. Her sessions are best known for being research-based and classroom-tested. Her practical ideas are easily adapted into any setting. Her years in a middle level classroom taught her that humor and common sense are key elements in both professional development and education. Teachers enjoy her workshops because they know they will leave having had the opportunity to talk with their colleagues and work on issues relevant to their classrooms.
In addition to workshop settings, Theresa has presented keynote addresses at several conferences across the country. She has also spoken to parent groups, community leaders, and school boards.
Her session topics include the following:
Literacy (Reading in the Content Areas; Vocabulary-The Gatekeeper to Reading Success in Every Classroom; Writing in Every Classroom; Summarizing and Note-taking); Differentiated Instruction (Taking the First Steps to Differentiation; Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom); Classroom Organization and Management; Characteristics of Young Adolescents and Implications for Instruction; Character Education (Building and Sustaining a Culture of Success; Advisory Programs…Without a Dedicated Advisory Period; Student-led Conferences); Effective Classroom Practices-Engaging the Young Adolescent Learner; Formative Assessment; Teacher Leadership; Middle School Basics (Teaming-Working with Collaborative Teams to Enhance Student Success; Components of a Successful Middle School)
