Our Authors

Teachers Teaching Teachers

PD Pro authors are current educators who hope to enhance, inform, and equip teachers through their unique and varied experiences, knowledge, and perspectives; experts honoring one another through learning and sharing.

Meet The Team

Kristen Orlando

With over 24 years of teaching experience, I’m thrilled to be a faculty member at Northwest Educational Development. As a field supervisor, I love guiding teacher candidates through their certification journey and supporting their professional growth. In my role as Director of Curriculum, I get to share my passion for curriculum development and instructional writing, making sure our programs meet all the important standards such as Common Core, inTASC, STI, CCDEI, and SEL.

I’ve taught in many types of settings, from urban public high schools to project-based STEM schools, and even community college classes in a women’s prison. This diverse experience has honed my skills in differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all students in full-inclusion classrooms. My career has always been about empathy, cultural responsiveness, and community engagement. I believe in the power of high-quality lesson plans, meaningful feedback, and authentic data analysis to boost student outcomes.

I’ve built strong, cooperative relationships with students, parents, staff, and supervisors, and I’m known for my positive, collaborative spirit and approachable leadership style. My love of research and technology along with my desire to stay up to date in education keeps me connected to the latest trends and challenges in education.

On a personal note, I enjoy road trips with my husband, sunny days on our boat, a stack of books waiting to be read, a dog sleeping next to me, and laughing with my grandchildren. Curiosity about the world and a deep love of learning something new has always been my motivation and I am lucky that my children and grandchildren share that same passion.

Dana Swenson

Dana Swenson is from the Pacific Northwest, but a college exchange program took her to Spain where she eventually stayed for 18 years. There, she started a family and gained professional experience teaching English and working as an Art Director for an English magazine. Now back in the US, she has continued her teaching career in public schools with a focus on language. She is professionally and personally enthusiastic about language acquisition, whether it be maintaining home languages, or learning new ones.

Dana wrote PD 810, Dual Language Education.

Rachel Scheer

PD 800, The Science of Reading, was created by Rachel Scheer, a National Board-Certified teacher with 13 years of experience in elementary education. She currently serves as a primary classroom teacher and teacher-leader at Seattle Public Schools.
Rachel is passionate about reading instruction, project-based learning, and publishing student writing in the early grades.

Kathlyn Mickel

Kathlyn Mickel founded Northwest Educational Development in 2016 with her colleague Briana Van Horn after spending 15 years in higher education. Her passion for education began as a middle level English and social teacher, but evolved quickly into advocacy for all teachers at the university, district, and classroom level. At her core, she believes in educators, their passion, knowledge, and skills. She believes that teachers need support and affirmation of their work, and collectively the educational landscape can be changed through shared experiences and knowledge.

Alissa Brazil

I started my career in 2004 in Florida. I worked at a charter school my first three years as a 6th/7th grade Math and English teacher. I then moved to a public middle school and taught drop-out prevention for a year. I moved to another public school where I taught 7th grade Math, Intervention Math, and 7th grade Algebra Honors. I was the department head while I was there. I served on serval committees- AVID, RtI, and Building Leadership. I worked with the district on writing the online courses for 7th and 8th grade Math. I worked several times with the state on writing student and perspective teacher assessments. In 2012, I moved to Washington state. I worked for eight years at a public middle school as a 7th grade Math and Science teacher and served as department head for a few years before moving to a public high school to teach Special Education Resource. I now work with students with Autism, as well as many other disabilities and teach them social skills. I have worked with the state on writing student assessments and evaluate open educational resources. I am currently working on my doctorate in Administration and Supervision, and aspire to become an executive director at some point.

Alissa wrote PD 815, Working with Paraprofessionals.

Kiersten Barr

Kiersten Barr is an esteemed educator with over 26 years of experience in the field. She holds both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Western Washington University. Throughout her career, Kiersten has taught a wide range of students from preschool through grade 8. Additionally, she has contributed to the education of preservice teachers at the post-secondary level, offering instruction to student teaching interns earning their reading and ELL endorsements.
For several years, Kiersten served as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA), providing professional development and training for literacy intervention teachers in the Bellingham School District. Her expertise extends to working as an independent literacy consultant for neighboring school districts. Currently, she serves as a Literacy Intervention Specialist at the middle school level, where she supports students through the LAP program.
Her professional passions include advocating for neurodiverse students and fostering a sense of belonging and acceptance for all learners. Kiersten is dedicated to using trauma-informed practices to create an emotionally safe environment for her students. She believes the recipe for accelerating student growth is forming strong relationships with students, meeting students where they are, and implementing a diverse menu of research-based interventions.
Outside of her teaching duties, she enjoys hiking, taking naps with her rescue pit-bull Gracie, and spending time with her emotional support dog (ESA), a Frenchton named Arnie, who accompanies her to school daily, providing comfort to students. Kiersten also loves traveling and staying at quirky places. She takes delight in thrifting adventures with her three teenagers at the Goodwill "bins."

Kiersten wrote PD 820, Supporting Striving Readers, Differentiated Literacy Instruction.

Bonnie McGuire

Bonnie McGuire is a lifelong public school educator-teacher, principal, central office administrator. Since retiring from Tacoma Public Schools, she continues to support public education as a consultant (investigations, discipline hearing officer, administrative/classroom teacher coach, trainer, outside evaluator, and more.) She and her husband love to laugh, dance, play golf, read, spoil their grandchildren, and laugh some more. She loves public education and continues to answer its call.

Barbara Ritter

Barbara Ritter has been a career educator in traditional and non-traditional ways. As a teacher, she served elementary, high school, and college students. As an administrator, she was a Career and Technical Education Director and Curriculum Director. After retiring, Barbara was a consultant training hospital medical staff in on-line charting. She also volunteered as a teacher and curriculum developer in Nigeria for a year. In addition to teaching in several states, she taught for several universities in Canada, Alaska, Guam, Oregon, and Washington.

Barbara was once an avid runner, now a walker. She enjoys her family and friends, travel, reading and writing, and her cat, Miss Kitty.

Paula Bond

Paula Crews Bond obtained her undergraduate degree (Early Childhood Education) through Bowling Green State University, her MA (Gifted Education) through the University of Northern Colorado, and her administrative credentials through the University of Puget Sound. She holds a Montessori credential from the Association Montessori International (AMI). She has had advanced training in Cognitive Coaching.

She spent 26 years leading schools in the Bethel, Tacoma and Dieringer School Districts. She was the founding principal of the two public Montessori schools in Tacoma. She has been coaching teachers through Northwest Educational Development (NWED) since 2016.

Prior to being a principal, Paula served as the Director of Highly Capable Programs for Tacoma Schools and OSPI, and taught in several school districts in Montana and Colorado, including on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and a migrant community in Colorado.

Paula is a fierce advocate for children, and works tirelessly to ensure that all school based decisions put the needs of students before all else. She believes that all children learn better when they're intellectually and physically engaged in learning. Her days are always brighter when she's spent time in a classroom.

Paula loves learning, travel, music, reading, gardening, and political organizing around social justice issues. Her grandchildren are her favorite humans on the planet.

Merideth Hansen

Merideth Hansen is an accomplished K-8 educator with over 30 years of dedicated experience in diverse classroom settings across Whatcom and Skagit Counties. Throughout her career, Merideth has focused on serving students in Title 1 schools, enriching the educational experiences of children from a wide array of backgrounds and cultures.Her extensive expertise spans multiple roles, including general education elementary classroom teacher, Title 1/LAP reading and math specialist at both the elementary and middle school levels, and a Pre-K to 6th grade art instructor. Merideth has also been trained as a high-capable cluster classroom teacher and has served as an autism specialist for her grade level, highlighting her commitment to meeting the varied needs of her students.As an active member of her previous district’s math committee, Merideth played a pivotal role in developing a transitional CCSS math curriculum for elementary grades that was used for three years prior to the next math text adoption. She has also been instrumental in providing district-wide professional development and math coaching, ensuring that her colleagues are equipped with the tools and strategies necessary to support student success.In addition to her contributions within the classroom, Merideth has passionately mentored future educators, hosting 23 student teaching interns from Western Washington University (WWU) and Northwest Educational Development (NWED). She has also guided over 15 science and literacy practicum students from WWU over her career, sharing her knowledge and fostering the next generation of teachers. In addition, Merideth has been a NWED supervisor for retooling candidates and interns. Outside of the classroom, you may find Merideth playing trivia with friends, traveling with her family, gardening, going for a long walk or hike, or getting lost in a good book.

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