LOL is not a co-op. We hire knowledgeable teachers who are passionate about their subjects, teach in a hands-on way, and love and respect our children. Our teacher credentials compare favorably with some of the most expensive private schools in the area: about 40% of our teachers have advanced degrees.
Additionally, LOL maintains a low student/teacher ratio. We recognize the importance of small class size in maintaining a quality learning environment, and keep an average of ten students per class.
Robyn Adair-Lewton
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Coming soon
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Shakira Adams
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Coming soon!
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Kristin Agee
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Kristin Agee has been studying music since she was 8 years old. She began playing drum set when she was ten years old, and started performing with her parents and brother at the age of 12. Since then, she has studied many styles of music, from classical to rock, and has performed all over the world.
Kristin holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts and a Masters of Music degree from The Ohio University, where she studied percussion performance. She has been awarded scholarships to study in Toronto, Canada with the percussion group Nexus, and to study in France at the Academie de Musicale Villecroze with Sandeep Das and Mark Suter of the Silk Road Ensemble. She has had lessons with Jim Rupp, Aurthur Lipner, Payton MacDonald, William Sallak, and Bill Albin, and has studied most intensively with Roger Braun and Guy Remonko at Ohio University.
Kristin has performed with artists such as the Ethos Percussion group, Bernard Woma (Ghanaian Gyil Master), and jazz drummer/composer Roland Vasquez. Currently Kristin performs as one half of the Agee/Van Hassel percussion Duo, who were invited to perform at the Percussive Art Society International Convention in 2007. She performs regularly with the Hamilton Fairfield Symphony Orchestra and the Ohio Valley Symphony Orchestra. She is also the drummer and backing vocalist for the rock group A Fragile Design.
Her eight years of teaching experience includes private lessons, master classes, music workshops, and marching band drum line and pit instruction. The McGuffey Music Camp, which she started in 2006 in Oxford, Ohio, is anticipating its biggest program yet in 2008.
Kristin teaches drum set, snare drum, vibraphone, and hand percussion at Loveland Music Academy. Kristin’s students are all taught to be percussionists who play and think musically and she emphasizes reading music in every lesson. Kristin teaches students as young as 6 years old and of all ability levels.
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Melissa Amrein
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Coming Soon!
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Krista Audax
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Krista Audax will offer Suzuki Piano lessons at L.O.L. beginning Fall '09. She has been involved in teaching Suzuki piano for nearly 25 years in various locations around the country as well as full time for several years in Bermuda, at the Bermuda Suzuki Academy. She is also a Montessori teacher and works at a local Montessori school with the 3-6 year old age group. She tries to incorporate the best from all the philosophies and methods of teaching she's observed: Montessori, Waldorf, Suzuki, Orff and Kindermusik into her studio, and would be delighted to work with your children.
Please call(677-8881) or email (chefmerveilleux@aol.com) to arrange lesson times. She is looking forward to meeting you and answering any questions that you may have.
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Matt Batista
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Matthew Batista has a B.A. in English and Linguistics from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. He previously worked as an attorney in public service – representing low-income clients and serving as a policy researcher. He has tutored high school-aged students in a variety of subjects, and for the last three years has homeschooled his two children, Eleanor and Calvin.
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Cathleen Beatty
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Ann Beyersdorff
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Ann has been teaching for over twenty years, has participated in NKU's Teaching Math in The Middle School program, and is especially talented in teaching to various learning styles. She has been at LOL since its second year of operation and loves introducing the joys of math to students of all ages. Ann has a B.A. in French with minors in Secondary Education and Bible/Theology and a M. Ed from Xavier University with a concentration in math.
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Marlene Boegli
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Marlene holds a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Mt. St. Joseph. She was line and lead cook at Cups and Corks in Blanchester, Ohio for two years, and currently caters and teaches cooking classes. A lifelong love of animals has lead to critter rescue, raising rare breeds of sheep, handling and training dogs and horses and writing about natural science. She is a fiber artist and can be seen as a living history demonstrator at the Cincinnati Appalachian Festival.
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Susan Boshears
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Sue has been with LOL for 6 years as our office manager. She enjoys her job with it's many tasks, but looks forward to working with the children the most. Her husband and 2 daughters keep her busy, however she always finds time to knit and do some gardening. With an associates degree in photography she spends some of her summer doing portrait work.
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Lisa Boys
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Lisa Boys is our resident artist extraordinaire-sharing her enthusiasm and love of art with students of all ages. Lisa has a B.A. in Fine Arts and a minor in Art History from University of Cincinnati DAPP. Lisa has three girls, all who have been home schooled in the past. She has been teaching at LOL for nine years, and enjoys gardening, decorating, stamping and creative painting.
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Paul Breidenbach
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Paul learned Spanish as a child in Colombia and Ecuador. He has taught Spanish off and on since 1984, locally at The Schilling School and at Behtany. He likes to use games, songs and skits in his classses, and emphasizes speaking from the beginning. Since 1996 he has lived with his wife and two sons in Glendale, and notes that changing demographics in the area make it ever easier to learn and practice Spanish. He enjoys reading, sports, and guitar, and looks forward to working in the cooperative atmosphere of Leaves of Learning.
Paul has his Ph.D. in History and has taught American History and American Government for 4 years at The Edmond Preparatory School in Washington D.C as well for 4 years at The Schilling School. He taught a class on Modern World History at Raymond Walters in 2003.
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Terri Burch
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What Terri Burch (Russo) has enjoyed most in her fourteen years of teaching is the charged excitement that permeates a room as she and her students exchange enthusiasm for stories, information, concepts, and ideas—LEARNING! She has a master’s degree in gifted education from Wright State University and bachelor’s degrees in literature and elementary education from University of Cincinnati. For her seven years as the GATES teacher in the New Richmond School District, her focus was on differentiated instruction for all learners within the classroom. Then she spent 2 years as a Gifted Intervention Specialist in Milford. While most of her time teaching has been spent facilitating the needs of identified gifted children, she celebrates the special beauty, gifts, and talents that every child brings to the world and into a dynamic classroom. In 2005, Terri took time off of teaching to have a daughter, Merina McLane, who is absolutely amazing!
Terri enjoyed teaching 5th grade at the Schilling School for Gifted Children. Other teaching experiences include summer school instructor, Camp Invention director and teacher, and Super Saturday instructor. During her time as a stay at home mom, she was instrumental in creating Eco-babies, a naturalist group for young children and their parents. Currently she is designing summer enrichment programs and facilitating private and group instruction with children to nurture abilities and explore talents.
Terri is excited to be teaching at Leaves of Learning. The children and atmosphere at the school feel like coming home. Versatility, energy, and enthusiasm are three words that describe her teaching. Outside of the classroom, she gets her joy mainly from Merina, yoga, gardening, hiking, camping, singing, spending time with friends and family, and teaching herself how to play the guitar.
She can be reached at trflowers@fuse.net.
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Dan Carlson
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Dan Carlson graduated in 1998 from the University of Cincinnati with a BFA in Fine Art specializing in Oil Painting. It was during his junior and senior college years that Dan began to develop a keen interest in colonial American history, taking a series of graduate level courses which cemented his passion for the subject. From 1998-2000 he worked as a freelance illustrator with work appearing in Mcgraw-Hill Educational Supplements and the children's magazine 'Cricket'. In 2001, Dan began working through the federally funded 21st Century Learning grant in the Norwood school district. It was here that he began to experiment with combining history, literature, and various sorts of games as an after school program for elementary and junior high school students. Dan joined Leaves of Learning as a full-time teacher in 2006. His classes combine board games, roleplaying games, creative writing, model soldiers and often Lego toys. He is an avid dog lover, coffee drinker, lego collector, and taco eater. He lives in Loveland with his wife Kim and his almost-teenaged son, Griffin.
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Julie Doughty
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Julie Doughty graduated from James Madison University with a B.S. with honors in Early Childhood Education. After graduation she moved with her husband to Blacksburg, Virginia, where she took classes from a professional potter and participated in an annual art show and sale in Baltimore for several years. Although Julie started teaching at Leaves of Learning in 2008, she has been homeschooling since 1999 and involved with the program as a parent since 2001. Julie loves working with clay with her students and watching their projects evolve as they gain new skills.
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Darian Fischer
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Becky Flanagan
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Rebecca Flanagan is a sign language interpreter who has worked in both Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Her experience as an interpreter ranges from working with deaf children in mainstream classes in a traditional school setting to interpreting for Deaf university, graduate and doctorial students in a variety of studies. Rebecca also has interpreted outside the educational community, working with business professionals, government agencies and arts programs. In addition, she interpreted for President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the White House. Since teaming up with Signing Safari in Loveland, she has been teaching hearing babies, toddlers and preschoolers sign language to support their spoken language development. Most recently, she developed a curriculum for hearing students using sign language as a study tool. Rebecca is the mother of three children. She has been using sign language to increase language access and to reduce frustration for all parties since her children were infants. Rebecca holds a B.A. in Deaf Studies from California State University, Northridge and has studied linguistics at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.
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Lindsay Greiwe
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Lindsay Greiwe graduated from Northern Kentucky University where she studied Drama and Dance Education. She has been actively involved in the performing arts since she was six years old. She has been directing for the past five years. She is thankful for being given the opportunity to educate children about the arts and giving them the doorways needed to create their own worlds.
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Leslie Hamilton
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This is Leslie's seventh year at LOL; her teaching style and philosophy mesh perfectly with our program! She's taught swimming for 12 years at the YMCA and Spanish at Colerain Middle School. Leslie grew up in San Antonio, where she was constantly exposed to Spanish, and frequently travels to Mexico. Geography and history are both loves of Leslie, who's thrilled at being able to teach these classes for us next year. Leslie is working on a Middle Childhood Education/History major at U.C.
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Ron Hoffman
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Ron earned a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Dayton and a degree in the Education of Mathematics from West Chester University. He was a senior engineer with Honda Research and Development for six years. He has taught k through 8 science at Villa Maria Academy and tutored learning disabled students in college level mathematics. As a stay-at-home dad, he home schools his oldest daughter. This will be Ron’s first year at LOL. Ron lives with his wife and two daughters in West Chester.
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Cathleen Hollenkamp
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Cathleen Beatty-Hollenkamp bio
Cathleen is an energetic, charismatic teacher who infuses creativity, culture and hands-on participation in her teaching style. She has cultivated a variety of skills that allow her to offer a multitude of class offerings. She currently offers a wide breadth of class offerings at LOL, operates her own business and performs marketing consulting out of her home. She is passionate about her students and learning, which shows in her creative approach to teaching.
Cathleen developed her French fluency and basic German through years of studies in the US coupled with her studies and life abroad. Cathleen majored in French language with her BA at DePauw University. She lived with a French family in the Alsace region and attended the University of Strasbourg, France where she earned the deuxième degré. She has also had the good fortune to return to France on numerous occasions to enhance and build upon her language skills. She currently is a member of l’Alliance Française and offers individual French tutoring.
She earned her MBA in Marketing at the University of Cincinnati with a full scholarship and graduate fellowship. It is through this educational background and years of work in the marketing and communications fields that she acquired her computer and business acumen. Cathleen is proficient in a multitude of computer programs and applications including keyboarding, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and more. She has worked for over 17 years in the business world, achieving the title of title of Marketing Director at Paxar Corporation in Dayton Ohio. She stopped working full time out of the home to raise her three children Karina (7), Sean (6) and Tommy (5).
Cathleen has founded and runs her own business – a sole proprietorship -CiCi Bebe - that features hand-crafted children’s’ items and custom embroidery. She learned the sewing skills from her mother and grandmother. Her MBA education allowed her to formulate the business plan to move forward and be successful.
Cathleen’s daughter suffers from life-threatening food allergies which has forced her to explore new approaches in the kitchen. This has resulted in her explorations of kitchen magic – how things work and why. This is a terrific background to share her knowledge of science in the kitchen - experiments you can eat. The more we understand why things work, the more we can substitute and create our own formula for cooking.
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Evan Holzman
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Evan has been making films and videos for forty years - the best of them at Leaves. The video class documents most of the events at L.O.L. and does creative projects that are as varied as day and night. The students will see work created by professional filmmakers, artists and documentary filmmakers. The improvisation class is based on the actor as a impulse creator and controller. Evan studied acting with a number of different teachers and continues to learn. Home schooling is a way for life for his family. Two daughters attended Leaves and are now in University and his son graduated from college and is working for CBS Sports in NYC. Productions made by the Leaves of Learning students have received three nominations for Blue Chip video awards. Evan is the producer of Entertainers in the Tristate, a variety show that appears on most of the cable access systems in the Cincinnati area. Entertainers has won or been nominated for many Blue Chip awards. The videos produced by Leaves' students also appear regularly on these stations.
Evan has a B.S. in Accounting from Ohio University.
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Julie Klettke
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Julie has over 9 years experience teaching in both public and private schools. She has an Associate Degree in Nursing and spent 4 years working in healthcare before taking time to stay home with her children. Julie received a BA in Biology and a BS in Elementary Education from UC. She has completed 12 hours of graduate work in gifted education at XU. While teaching in a public school, Julie attended a series of seminars for “Assessment For Learning” (Rick Stiggins) with a team of teachers from her building. The approaches used in “Assessment For Learning” exemplify her methods of teaching. She encourages children to take part in their learning by sharing ideas and insights, using creative methods to solve problems, and reflecting on their progress and feelings about their work. Julie uses hands on activities and critical thinking problem sets to encourage children to learn in different ways.
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Jim Lawson
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After a career in public administration, Jim Lawson now records and produces music in his own recording studio, and will teach guitar at LOL beginning in the fall of 2006. Jim has played guitar for more than 35 years, and is proficient in many styles of music. A multi-instrumentalist, Jim has participated in many studio sessions, both locally and nationally, and can currently be found performing with well-known musicians at many local venues. He and his wife, who also performs locally, live in Anderson Township with their two children, one of whom attends LOL.
For more information, contact Jim at fcstudios@fuse.net, or 513-231-0615.
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Diana Mattson
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This is Diana's fifth year of spreading her enthusiasm for science to her LOL students. Her creative projects and experiments are well known throughout the program. Diana earned her degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University and worked in the Plastics Industry for eight years. She discovered the joy of sharing her enthusiasm for science with children when she started teaching an after-school science outreach program. Diana lives in Loveland and has three children.
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Elana O'Connor
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Elana is a Cincinnati native and lives in West Chester with her husband and twin sons. She has been teaching for 25 years and has loved every moment of it! She currently teaches Adult Education evening classes at the University of Cincinnati as well as Industry Training for Fortune 500 companies such as Fifth Third Bank. She has also taught in the Princeton School District in the Instructional Television Department.
Elana holds Bachelors and Masters of Arts degrees from the University of Cincinnati in Speech and Communication Arts.
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Diana Osborn
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Diana is the founder of Leaves of Learning and has been the director for the past 11 years. She loves working with children of all ages and has a passion and commitment to individualize education. She feels that while an education certainly provides skills and opportunities for a child's future, it is also an important part of the journey, and as such, should be enjoyed. She believes that education should meet children where they are and take them where they want to go, through caring guidance, enthusiasm and support. Her favorite moments at LOL are when students discover their talents and passions for learning. She has three children in college -all former L.O.L. students. Diana has taught Hands-on Science classes for NSF and L.O.L. She was a chemist for DuBois Chemical and a pharmaceutical representative for Whitehall Robbins. She holds a BS in Chemistry.
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Tracie Owens
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Tracie Owens graduated from Miami University with a Bachelor of Science in Education, specializing in speech/language pathology and audiology. She also completed a Prospective Administrators Course through Miami University. Tracie continued her education at the University of Dayton, earning a Master of Science in Education, specializing in Special Education: Developmental Handicaps.
Tracie worked as a speech and language pathologist for the Middletown City Schools and continued her work with the students of Middletown when she began teaching special education. She especially enjoyed her role as a member of an Intervention Assistance Team, striving to better serve students struggling in a traditional school setting.
After school and through the summer months, Tracie worked with students unable to attend their regular classes due to health or behavior issues. She also tutored four Japanese families stationed in Ohio as they worked to acclimate themselves to their new language and environment.
Tracie is excited to be entering her tenth year of homeschooling and her first year of teaching the students of LOL. Her children, Olivia and Ethan, are happy students at LOL.
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Charity Paddock
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Charity Paddock enjoys teaching! Her professional background includes a Bachelor's degree in English Education from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana and a Master's in English Education from Miami University. Her Master's thesis focused on "The Pedagogy of Poetry," a survey of language arts teachers' views on teaching poetry. As both a student and teacher, Charity's first focus has always been on knowing more about reading and writing.
She taught 7th and 8th grade Language Arts at Milford Junior High for three years, where she was also the founding coach of Power of the Pen, a creative writing team that competes with other writers all around Ohio. She also taught freshmen English for three years at Turpin High School summer school before staying home with her four children for ten years. During the time she was at home with her children, she was a writing judge for the Ohio Writing Project, Miami University and the writing portion of the SAT exam.
Charity loves the creativity and curiosity in learning language arts. She also believes in lifelong learning outside of the classroom; she took a group of 30 Milford students to London and Paris for ten days through EF Educational Tours in 1999. This coming June, Charity is planning a trip to Italy and Switzerland with Leaves of Learning students!
Charity lives in Loveland with her husband, son, three daughters and two cats. She enjoys volunteering in Loveland with the Community Care Network through her church, Loveland Northstar Vineyard. She also teaches gardening on Wednesdays at Granny's Garden School on the campus of Loveland Elementary and Primary schools. As the secretary of the Loveland Gardening Club, she writes the Club newsletter each month.
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Jeannie Phillips
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"Every child is gifted. It is our responsibility to recognize those talents as special to each individual." This is the core of Jeanne Phillips teaching philosophy. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Xavier University and a Reading Specialist Endorsement from the Graduate Program at Xavier University. Jeanne has taught in both the private and public schools systems: St. Michael’s in Sharonville and Pleasant Hill Academy. She was a nominee of the Teacher of the Year Award and has tutored several students in cross-curriculum areas from Fairview German Bilingual School, College Hill Fundamental academy, and St. Clare School. Jeanne’s three children: Billy, Brandon, and Brittany presently attend Leaves of Learning. She strongly supports the hands on learning and small student to teacher ration that creates a community atmosphere which is present at LOL.
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Katie Reilly
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Katie graduated from Miami University with a BS in marketing and finance. After a few years in corporate America, she decided that teaching was her ultimate goal so she earned a M. Ed from DePaul University in Chicago. She taught in the Chicago Public Schools for a couple years before moving back home to Cincinnati. Katie teaches with a hands-on approach and makes each lesson memorable. She lives in Montgomery with her husband and three children.
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Laura Samuels
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Laura has been teaching for over twenty years in a variety of venues, with a wide age range of students, and many different subjects. Her youngest students were seven and her oldest was ninety-four. She has an undergraduate degree from Indiana University in Religious Studies. She has a master’s degree from Brandeis University in Jewish Education and Communal Service. She has an Ed.D. from The University of Cincinnati in Educational Foundations with a concentration in educational anthropology. Laura’s teaching experiences range from teaching graduate students about cultural differences, qualitative research methodology, and curriculum development, to teaching second graders Hebrew reading and writing. She was the Principal of a supplementary Jewish high school for seven years in one school and four years in another school. She taught in junior high schools for seven years. She was an adviser and researcher for a national program of educational change. She has worked with principals for many years facilitating study sessions about the philosophy of education and leadership. She was the recipient of a Wexner Graduate Fellowship from 1989 – 1993. She has been homeschooling her two children, both of whom attend LOL off and on for the past six years. She is looking forward to working in a caring educational environment like LOL where each child’s uniqueness is truly valued and allowed to grow.
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Christie Sawyer
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Christie is the Assistant Director. Her positive attitude, commitment and caring attitude make her stand out as an effective teacher and administrator. She has been working at Leaves of Learning since 2003. She taught in Cabrini Green housing projects in Chicago, IL, for five years before moving to Cincinnati. She has a Masters Degree from Xavier University in Educational Administration and her Bachelors in Elementary Education from Ohio University. She believes that experiencing the excitement and joy that a child expresses when he/she learns something new is one of the greatest benefits in the business of education. Christie loves to read, run, bike, travel and experience new and exciting things. She is looking forward to watching your children grow in their knowledge and enthusiasm during the upcoming year.
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Susie Schickel
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Susan Schickel has been a professional musician and music instructor for over 30 years. She holds a degree in voice and music education from the University of Dayton.
Her teaching experiences include both classroom and private students, grades k-12. She is currently the music/choir director at St. Veronica Church. She has been active in musical theater as both a performer and director, playing such roles as Lucy in YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL and Princess Winifred in ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.
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Jennifer Showalter
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Jenny graduated from Miami University in 2000 with a BA in Mathematics and Statistics and a BS in Secondary Mathematics Education. She taught everything from Algebra to Calculus at Middletown High School for 4 years before becoming a stay-at-home-mom. She has since been teaching part time at Miami University Middletown. This is her second year at Leaves. She lives in a historic Franklin home with her husband and two children.
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New Teacher
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coming soon
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Elizabeth Tillis-Gilland
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Elizabeth loves the hands-on philosophy LOL embraces, the passion with which children are encouraged to learn, and the opportunities for success LOL provides. She is excited to meet her students and delve into learning with them! Elizabeth has a B.A. in International Affairs and a M.Ed. in Elementary Education from the University of Cincinnati and is a certified teacher. She taught sixth grade at Freedom Elementary in the Lakota school district for 5 years. She has also tutored children in math, reading, and writing. Elizabeth believes strongly in creating a nurturing learning environment in which children are supported in their individual learning styles. As the workshop facilitator for the Bullies and Victims program, she worked with students, parents, and educators throughout the Greater Cincinnati area to teach strategies to eliminate bullying. Additionally she has been a teacher at Camp Invention. You will often find her at the Reading Branch library where she works part-time. Her son, Evan, attends Leaves of Learning and is an enthusiastic learner with many, many interests! She enjoys reading, cross-stitch, playing board and card games with her son and husband and attending cultural events.coming soon
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R.J. Trusty
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R.J. has been studying Martial Arts for over 15 years, 12 of those years have been under Grandmaster Randolph Smith Senior. He currently
studies Tae Kwon Do Moo Duk Kwon, Kobajitsu, Hapkido, Tai Chi Chuan, and Yoga. In the past R.J. has also studied Kung Fu, & Sho Rhin Ryu for a
brief time. His purpose for studying Martial Arts is for personal
growth & the joy of being able to share what he has learned with others.
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Tammy Weiss
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Robyn Williams
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Robyn Williams, BPE
Robyn has been teaching at Leaves for since 2005 and has loved every minute of it! She moved to Cincinnati in 1998, with her two sons and husband, who transferred here with Procter and Gamble. Prior to her move here, she owned her own business, Proactive Fitness, where she designed personal fitness programs, ran a variety of workshops as well as taught a variety of children’s fitness classes. She has over 25 years in the fitness industry and currently teaches spinning classes at the YMCA. Robyn received her Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and after 7 years working in the Recreation field, went back to school for her Business Diploma, majoring in Marketing. Being a “mature” student was a new, but very valuable experience! Her teaching background includes: teaching physical education for a gifted school, substitute teaching at Loveland Elementary, coaching the Loveland High School diving team, leading programs at a family summer camp and creating leisure/ cultural programs. She is an avid outdoor enthusiast, an athlete who pursues the sport of triathlons; an active volunteer in a variety of community roles and when she does sit down, her quiet time involves a good book!!
“I can honestly say that my teaching experience here at Leaves has been truly rewarding. The children, teachers and staff are all very talented, highly creative, imaginative, energetic and innovative. “
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Mark Woods
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Coming soon!
Mark has extensive experience directing plays and mucicals. He recently directed the Loveland Stage Company prodcution of "The King & I". He is known for his creativity and kindness.
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