About TeachersFirst

About TeachersFirst's Contributors

Candace Hackett Shively, M.A.
Director of K-12 Initiatives, NITV

Candy is a veteran of 27 years of teaching and holds certifications in English, Business, Computer and Information Technology, Gifted Program Specialist, and Instructional Technology Specialist. She has taught Instructional Technology as an adjunct faculty member for two colleges. She is also a Fellow of Penn State’s Capital Area Writers Project. Candy has been contributing to TeachersFirst since its inception in 1998 and has been full time since 2006.

Content Reviewers and Contributors

TeachersFirst’s site-review and writing staff includes teachers and veteran educators with a broad range of backgrounds. Some of our major current and past contributors include:

Elaine R. Bergstresser, M.S.
Elaine is a teaching veteran of over 13 years and holds certifications in German, English, Business, Computer and Information Technology, and Instructional Technology Specialist. Elaine has written many site reviews for TeachersFirst.

Michele Casey, M.A.
Michele has been a teacher for 33 years, and she holds certification in Secondary Education/ Communication. She has also been a professional actor/stage manager for 26 years. She is a National Writing Fellow and professional speech writer. Michele is a site reviewer for TeachersFirst.

Peggy Jennings, Ed.D.
Peggy has been an educator for 27 years in both K-12 and college settings. She holds certification in secondary social studies and secondary school counseling. Peggy writes both site reviews and content for history and college planning for TeachersFirst and TeachersandFamilies.com. Peggy is also a historical re-enactor, so her love of history shows in much of her work for TeachersFirst.

Melissa Rivers, M. Ed.
Melissa has been teaching for 11 years. She holds certification in elementary education.
Melissa is a site reviewer for TeachersFirst and writes content for TeachersandFamilies.com.

Marsha Rohrbaugh, B.S.
Marsha has been an educator for 13 years; she holds certifications in Elementary Education and Business, Computer, and Information Technology. Marsha is a site reviewer for TeachersFirst.

Linda Ryan, M.S., M.A.
Linda has been an educator for 25 years. She is certified to teach ESL and career skills. She is also a web columnist for ESL and is both a site reviewer and ESL content expert for TeachersFirst. She also contributes to TeachersandFamilies.com.

Erin B. Shively, B.A.
Erin is a graduate student at Duke University School of Law and The Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. She is a teaching assistant for an Appellate Practice course in the law school and Senior Note Editor for the Duke Law Journal. Erin is the author of TeachersFirst “Defining Middle Eastern Borders” resource, and she has created several of our “instantly available” Harry Potter study guides.

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