Meet ASCD President Debra Hill
Post submitted by whole child blogger Willona M. Sloan
In her career as an educator, Debra Hill has worked at just about every level of education, from classroom teacher to superintendent to university professor.
She discovered her calling during her sophomore year at Northwestern University, when she designed cultural activities for young children. "I spent a summer with 25 5- to 7-year-olds—and 1 assistant—and decided, 'This is fun!'" Hill says.
As a student teacher, Hill taught a multiage class (grades K–2) and was the first full-time African American teacher in the Oak Park (Ill.) school system. Next, Hill says, she was teaching elementary school in Evanston, Ill., when the superintendent tapped her to fill an open position as curriculum coordinator in the central office.
"When I asked him why he had selected me," Hill says, "he said that he had observed me in my interactions as a part of various committees—particularly the curriculum advisory council and some of the professional