Lisa Toppert
Fulton,IL
Summary
Enthusiastic, positive and motivated educator eager to contribute to team success through hard work, attention to detail and excellent organizational skills. Clear understanding of the food industry and training in culinary arts, at-risk/special education learners and leadership abilities. Motivated to learn professionally and improve practices to grow and excel in the higher education setting through a passionate approach with food and the industry.
Overview
35
35
years of professional experience
Work History
Clinton High School Culinary Arts Instructor
Clinton Community School District
Clinton, United States
08.2012 - Current
- Provide quality instruction to high school concurrent enrollment students via EICC culinary curriculum in these areas: Fundamentals of Baking and Food Fundamentals.
- Create, plan, implement engaging lessons with hands-on approach to reach diverse student audiences and address learning with high levels depth of knowledge approach.
- Provide students with real-world experiences and opportunities in culinary arts specifically: catering event opportunities, cost analysis, running business, marketing, planning, preparing and implementing various menus for various events and services.
- Supervise students in kitchen lab settings to maintain safety and efficiency targets and evaluate understanding in areas of culinary arts.
- Addresses specific needs for diverse groups of learners as means to build their confidence, interest and ability to understand components necessary for well prepared professionals.
- Foster positive learning environment and student rapport by developing curriculum and instructional support that targets and engages students.
- Kept updated with developments in subject area curriculum, technical and career trends and teaching resources and methods.
- Engage students in academic and practical conversations that elicit critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication.
- Provided instructional handouts, texts, audiovisual aids and other materials to facilitate learning and program successes/failures based on student assessments and course reviews.
- Collaborated with colleagues and improved teaching practices through professional learning communities and student retention meetings.
- Served as new teacher mentor.
- Serves as AEA 9 Regional Co-Chair of Culinary Arts
Clinton High School Special Education Instructor
Clinton Community School District
Clinton, IA
08.2012 - 05.2017
- Assisted struggling students to maintain progress levels by designing individualized lesson plans focused on areas for improvement.
- Mentored new teachers on student progress monitoring and legal document preparation.
- Provided professional development training to educate faculty and staff on laws and regulations governing special education.
- Improved behavior by modeling positive choices and teaching socially-acceptable options.
- Worked closely with parents and guardians to address students' issues on multiple fronts.
- Designed individual education plans to encourage student growth according to different learning abilities and needs.
- Improved graduation rate for at-risk learners by 5%
- Coordinated regular meetings to share and analyze student performance data and success plans with colleagues and parents.
- Served as Department Chair and led Alternative Education Department to make student improvements and to also increase student improvement data.
- Served as new teacher mentor.
Clinton High School Administrator
Clinton Community School District
Clinton, IA
07.2008 - 07.2012
- Supervised, assessed and mentored teachers and paraprofessionals.
- Supported teachers in learning and applying new skills through meaningful professional development.
- Set academic and behavior standards for students as well as handled disciplinary referrals with calm, logical approach to student behavior.
- Met with parents of prospective students to discuss student needs and school offerings.
- Recruited and hired amazing teachers and support staff to provide our students with most well-rounded positive educational experience.
- Established positive, stimulating learning environment for students and exciting education-focused setting for teachers.
- Improved Honor, AP and Concurrent student enrollment by 25%
- Maintained school focus on learning by enforcing rules related to academics, student discipline and class attendance.
- Communicated with parents to encourage active parental participation in education.
- Studied assessment information covering students, teachers and school operations to formulate improvement plans.
- Trained and evaluated teachers on effective teaching techniques, classroom management strategies and behavior modification.
- Led CTE(Career-Tech Education), Special Education, Guidance, Math and At-Risk Departments.
Clinton Middle School Special Education Instructor
Clinton Community School District
Clinton, IA
08.1999 - 06.2008
- Provided one-on-one attention to students, while maintaining overall focus on entire groups of students to implement required/recommended instructional information along with addressing individual student needs while maintaining efficient student data to meet each area of student learning goals as established by each annual IEP.
- Established positive rapport with all students and parents through home calls, emails and well-organized IEP meetings and family conferences focused on student understanding and improvement.
- Utilized group, hands-on learning experiences, administered and analyzed student assessment data to make future decision and set individual student goals based on data collected.
- Maintained a full roster of IEP students of 18
- Served as Special Education Department Co-Chair and new teacher mentor.
Middle School Family & Consumer Science Teacher
DeWitt Community School District
DeWitt, IA
08.1991 - 06.1999
- Led interesting and diverse group activities to engage students in course material along with preparing and implementing lessons covering FCS content curriculum established by district standards.
- Kept classroom environments consistent and focused on learning by establishing and enforcing clear objectives based on student performance and assessment data with both successful and struggling students.
- Cultivated relationships with parents for complete support network.
- Kept laboratory environment and classroom neat, organized, clean, safe and well-stocked for students and visitors.
- Worked with administrators on behavioral issues to support needs of students.
- Completed in-service and additional training to maintain professional growth.
- Increased student inclusion by 2% in FCS classroom.
- Built learning and citizenship skills to help with personal growth in addition to increasing academic knowledge as well as created hands-on activities to demonstrate importance of learning variety of skills appropriate for middle school learners to apply in their daily lives.
Education
Master of Science - Educational Leadership
Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL07.2007
Master of Science - Special Education
Western Illinois University
Macomb, IL07.2005
Bachelor of Science - Family And Consumer Sciences Education
Iowa State University
Ames, IA12.1990
Skills
- Culinary Arts Vocational Training for continuous and professional development basis
- Strong Communication Skills in areas of listening, verbal and written
- Leadership/Management Skills for productive and motivated climate to meet high performance standards
- Dependable Leader & Team player who excels at building strong positive relationships with students and professionals
- Results-Driven Achiever with planning/organizing activities & events
- Passionate about all aspects of food industry encompassing strong work ethic
Timeline
Clinton High School Culinary Arts Instructor
Clinton Community School District
08.2012 - Current
Clinton High School Special Education Instructor
Clinton Community School District
08.2012 - 05.2017
Clinton High School Administrator
Clinton Community School District
07.2008 - 07.2012
Clinton Middle School Special Education Instructor
Clinton Community School District
08.1999 - 06.2008
Middle School Family & Consumer Science Teacher
DeWitt Community School District
08.1991 - 06.1999
Master of Science - Educational Leadership
Western Illinois University
Master of Science - Special Education
Western Illinois University
Bachelor of Science - Family And Consumer Sciences Education
Iowa State University
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