The State Design Team Member role for Teacher Fellow alumni in Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee emerged from the need to differentiate support to the cohorts of Teacher Fellows, and to the State Director, of those each of those established Teacher Fellows programs.
Alumni Teacher Fellows (TFs) in the role of State Design Team Member serve to plan, prepare, and execute engagement opportunities for current TFs and professional learning networks (PLNs) in their respective states. Working closely with the State Director, Design Team Members help to coach current TFs in their development of high-impact competencies, and assist in the building of annual meetings, regional events and Work Group activities, as well as the presentation and dissemination of data.
For more information about our 2018-2019 Design Team Members and ways to collaborate with these teacher leaders, please follow @HSG_Ed on Twitter or contact the respective Teacher Fellows program’s State Director.
State Design Team Members
Kentucky Design Team
Allison Slone
2016-2017 KY Teacher Fellow
Allison Slone is a special education teacher in Morehead, Ky. Allison is also an alumni Fellow of the Hope Street Group Kentucky State Teacher Fellowship of 2015-2017. She has her own organization, KYREADS, that advocates for students with dyslexia by providing professional learning to teachers and was a member of the KDE Dyslexia Task Force. Recently, Allison created a social media space called, “Kentucky Teachers in The Know,” which has 19k members. The growth of teacher leadership and engagement, as well as impacting education policy and the outcomes for children with special needs, is Allison’s passion and life goal.
Leah Turner
2016-2017 KY Teacher Fellow
Leah Turner has taught for 25 years in the Wayne County School District in Monticello, Kentucky. She holds a Bachelor’s in Middle Grade Education, a Master’s as a Middle Grade Specialist, and a Rank 1 in P-12 Educational Leadership. Ms. Turner is an active teacher leader in her school and district. Her primary focus, the last few years, has been on adolescent literacy strategies and making learning come alive and be meaningful to her students. Ms. Turner’s life outside of school includes being a mother to a wonderful college aged daughter and a teenage son and working a second job as a pharmacy tech.
North Carolina Design Team
Justin Parmenter
2016-2018 NC Teacher Fellow
Justin Parmenter teaches Language Arts at Waddell Language Academy in Charlotte. He began teaching as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania in 1995, later teaching on the White Mountain Apache Reservation as a Northern Arizona University Peace Corps Fellow. He has taught 16 years in Charlotte. Justin was a finalist for Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ Teacher of the Year in 2016. A graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Justin holds a Master of Education from Northern Arizona University and a National Board Certificate.
Amanda Wallace
2016-2017 NC Teacher Fellow
Amanda Wallace teaches English at Watauga High School in Boone, NC. She is certified in Middle Grades Education, High School Language Arts, and she has a Master’s Degree in Reading Education from Appalachian State. She is also Nationally Board Certified in Language Arts. Amanda has been a cooperating teacher with the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program since 2011. She participated in the Watauga Pakistan Exchange Program in 2014, and she was awarded a fellowship with Teachers for Global Classrooms in 2015, a yearlong program which culminated with a field experience in the Philippines.
Tennessee Design Team
Meagan England
2016-2018 TN Teacher Fellow
Meagan England is an Accountability Instructional Supervisor and previously served as an Instructional Coach, K-8 Reading Interventionist and a 5th and 6th grade ELA teacher. She graduated from East Tennessee State University with a BS in elementary education and earned an MS in educational administration and supervision and an EdS in curriculum and instruction from Lincoln Memorial University. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Lincoln Memorial University. Meagan also serves as a Hope Street Group Fellow, an Instructional Partners Curriculum Collaborative Facilitator, and an educational blogger. She co-founded Empowering Tri-State Teacher Advisory Group to provide educators with professional development and leadership opportunities to improve instruction for all students. She is also an alumni teacher fellow for SCORE and America Achieves.
Karen Vogelsang
2016-2017 TN Teacher Fellow
Karen Vogelsang taught elementary school for fifteen years in Memphis, Tennessee. She currently serves as the Executive Director of ARISE2Read, a non-profit that supports early childhood literacy. Karen has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education. She is the 2015 Tennessee Teacher of the Year. Karen was also recognized as a semi-finalist for the Fishman Prize. Karen serves on Governor Haslam’s Teacher Cabinet. She has received fellowships with Hope Street Group and Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom. Karen is a National Board Certified Teacher in Early Childhood. She served on the Gates Teacher Advisory Council.