Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay (PDF)

Kimberly Hill Campbell had a bit of a bumpy start as a beginning teacher. She taught language arts at Estacada Junior High School from 1979 until 1982. Then, she says, I became the statistic: a beginning teacher who left the profession. I was frustrated that I had no voice about the curriculum in my classroom. So she turned to law and received her J.D. from Willamette University College of Law and practiced law and taught in the legal assistant program at the community college level until 1986. She returned to teaching at Estacada High School in 1987. I found my voice as a teacher through teacher research of my own practice and the research and writing of language arts teachers such as Nancie Atwell and Tom Romano. Kimberly received her M.A.T. degree from Lewis & Clark College in secondary language arts and administration in 1994, and in 1995 she was the founding principal of Riverdale High School, a small high school based on the principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools. She is currently assistant professor in the M.A.T. program at Lewis & Clark College. Her primary focus is working with beginning teachers who want to be middle school and high school language arts teachers. She also teaches classes in teacher research and language arts methods for inservice teachers.