About the Faculty

A teacher since 1973, Nancie Atwell is the founder of CTL, chairman of its board, and grades 7-8 teacher of writing, reading, and history. She is the first classroom teacher to be the recipient of the major research awards in the language arts, the M.L.A. Mina P. Shaughnessy Prize and the N.C.T.E. David H. Russell Award. In 2003 she received the Edwin Hoey Award for Outstanding Middle School English Teacher. Nancie wrote the bestseller In the Middle and also Side by Side, Lessons That Change Writers, Naming the World: A Year of Poems and Lessons, and The Reading Zone; she also edited Coming to Know and the first three volumes of Heinemann's Workshop series.

Helene Coffin is CTL’s kindergarten teacher. She has a B.S. in elementary education from the University of Maine at Orono and a Masters in Education from the University of New England. She has twenty-two years of outstanding experience teaching kindergartners, as well as five years at the second grade level. In her previous position, at West Bath Elementary, Helene was legendary for her outreach to parents, former students, and the school community. Her book about teaching reading through poems will be published by Scholastic in 2008, and she will present at the National Council of Teachers of English Convention this November.

Ted DeMille teaches grades 1 and 2 at CTL. He began teaching in 1981 in Boston, after receiving his undergraduate degree from Wheelock College. He returned to Wheelock and earned a Masters in Reading, Teaching, and Consulting. He has twenty-six years’ experience teaching grades kindergarten, one, and two. He is also a professional musician, involved in The Good Rockin’ Daddies (children’s roots and rock) and North Star (traditional American bluegrass). Ted leads writing and reading workshops for teachers throughout the U.S, presents at the National Council of Teachers of English and International Reading Association annual conventions, and is working on a book for Heinemann about primary-grade writers and fiction.

Jill Cotta, CTL’s teacher of grades 3 and 4, is a 1997 graduate of Middlebury College. She earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Maine at Orono in 2000; prior to obtaining her Masters, she team-taught a combined third and fourth grade class for two years at Weybridge Elementary School in Vermont. She also taught third grade at the Great Salt Bay School in Damariscotta for two years. Jill conducts teacher workshops about writing and reading in the intermediate grades at seminars across the U.S.

Glenn Powers joined the CTL faculty in 2005 as our teacher of the grades 5-6 combination. He taught humanities, math, and technology for the last ten years in East Harlem, Brooklyn, and Queens, most recently at the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Astoria. He earned a Master of Arts in English Education from Columbia University Teachers College and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He will present at the National Council of Teachers of English Convention in November about assessment in the reading workshop.

Katie Rittershaus has been CTL’s teacher of grades 7 and 8 mathematics since 2004; before that she was a familiar presence at the school as a long-term sub, helping teacher, and advocate for kids. A passionate mathematician, Katie also holds a B.A. from the University of Southern Maine in women's studies and took several years of pre-med courses at Regis College and Colorado State University.

Sally Macleod, CTL’s teacher of grades 7 and 8 science since 2003, previously taught middle school science at Boothbay Elementary and Hebron Academy. She also consulted with the Boothbay schools, where she helped teachers incorporate the Investigations math curriculum. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island with degrees in botany and biology, and also took courses at Goucher College in Maryland, Portsmouth Polytechnic in England, and the University of New Hampshire.

Music is taught by Kaity Newell. Pam Brackett is our physical education and drama teacher. Chaké Higgison teaches art, and Roger Hinchliffe teaches Spanish. Maggie Limm, Pam Brackett, Donna Guenther, Renee Roy, and Sheryl MacDonald are our helping teachers.

Photography credit for the tree image: corwyn@midcoast.com