Lincoln Parish School district is excited to announce that four Lincoln Parish teachers have been chosen to be Louisiana Department of Education Teacher Leader Advisors for the 23-24 school year.
Teacher Leader Advisors play a critical role in creating tools and facilitating professional development for fellow Louisiana educators.
Teacher Leader Advisors:
- evaluate publisher-submitted curricular materials for quality;
- update the ELA Guidebooks content and analyze texts;
- score and annotate student work samples;
- develop and facilitate professional development sessions for fellow Louisiana educators;
- participate in focus groups related to LDOE’s academic strategy;
- review new course framework documents for updated social studies standards;
- develop high-quality instructional tasks and resources for math, science, social studies, and literacy; and
- raise awareness among Louisiana educators of the tools and resources available in the Louisiana Teacher Toolbox.
The four Lincoln Parish teachers chosen were Tammy Johnson, Jill Sutton, DeEtte Wick, and April Winstead. Below you will find more information about each teacher.
Tammy Johnson
Tammy Johnson holds a Master of Education in reading and educational leadership. Ms. Johnson has seventeen years of instructional experience and will be returning to the classroom as a first grade teacher for the fourth year. Prior to that, she was a reading interventionist for five years and taught third grade ELA, math, science, and social studies for nine years. Ms. Johnson will be a Mentor Teacher for the second year. Ms. Johnson has led several professional developments throughout her instructional career for both teachers and parents. She is a member of the Reading Recovery National Council and the International Literacy Association where she completed proposal reviews for the October 2019 conference. This is her third year as a Teacher Leader for her current district and her third year as a Teacher Leader Advisor.
Jill Sutton
Jill Sutton earned her Master of Arts in teaching from Louisiana Tech University. Mrs. Sutton has taught biology for fifteen years mostly in Lincoln Parish. Currently, she is the instructional science coach for Ruston High School where she teaches tenth grade Pre-AP and twelfth grade AP Biology. Mrs. Sutton received her Mentor Teacher Certification during the 2019-2020 school year and has hosted resident teachers over the past four years. Her work with pre-service teacher programs was extended this year as she was chosen to serve on the Louisiana Believe and Prepare Science Collaborative to develop a course with materials for incoming K-5 science teachers. In 2019, Mrs. Sutton served on the Biology Range finding Committee for the 2025 Louisiana Educational Assessment Program where she worked with standards and criteria to provide input in scoring extended response items for the state assessment. Mrs. Sutton also has created district-wide curriculum pacing guides and assessments over the past five years for Lincoln Parish. This is Mrs. Sutton’s first year as a Teacher Leader Advisor. She is excited to use her experiences listed above as well as her training with science curriculum to develop resources for secondary science.
DeEtte Wick
DeEtte Wick earned a Master of Education degree with a reading specialist certification from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana. Mrs. Wick has been a sixth through eighth grade middle school English teacher at A.E. Phillips Laboratory School for eleven years. Before teaching in Louisiana, she taught fourth and fifth grade in Roseville, Minnesota for four years. During her time in Minnesota, she worked for the district to embed standards-based assessments into classroom curriculum. She also provided professional development for fifth grade teachers on standard alignment in classroom assessments for fifth grade math and social studies. During her time at A.E. Phillips, Mrs. Wick has represented her school as a Teacher Leader for five years. As a Teacher Leader, she has redelivered material to teachers at her school as well as provided professional development for other parish schools. In the spring of 2020, she completed the certification process to become a Content Leader for middle school English language arts. As a Content Leader, she has led professional development days on how to use the Louisiana Guidebooks effectively. As a member of the Louisiana Reading Association, she recognized the need for more professional development for middle school teachers. In 2015 she became a presenter and delivered a session on engaging middle school students using the Louisiana Guidebooks. She was a member of the English Item Review Committee for state testing analyzing state testing questions and data for standard alignment.
April Winstead
April Winstead earned a Bachelor of Science in secondary science education with a concentration in general science and biology from Louisiana Tech University. Mrs. Winstead also received National Board Certification in Adolescence and Young Adulthood Science. She has her Science Content Leader Microcredential certification. Mrs. Winstead has taught in Louisiana for twenty-eight years. She began at Woodlawn Junior High in West Monroe, Louisiana, where she taught earth science and gifted physical science for six years. For the remaining twenty-two years, she has been at Ruston High School. There she has taught mainly biology and AP biology, as well as Dual Anatomy and Physiology as Louisiana Tech adjunct faculty. Currently and for the last two years, Mrs. Winstead spends half of the day in the classroom teaching biology and Dual Anatomy and Physiology, and then the other half of the day she serves as the Lincoln Parish Science Facilitator where she works with coaching and supporting science teachers and science learning in Lincoln Parish. Mrs. Winstead has served on The LEAP 2025 Biology Standard Setting Committee as well as the LEAP 2025 Biology Content and Bias Item Review Committee. Mrs. Winstead worked as a trainer for the National Math and Science Initiative for three years. Mrs. Winstead was a Finalist for the 2016 Louisiana Teacher of the Year.
