After
receiving a BA in English from Miami University of Ohio, Carol Elsen accepted a
four-year doctoral teaching fellowship in English from The Ohio State
University. While at OSU, she taught freshman composition as well as a variety
of literature classes and partnered in the creation of the now distinguished
creative writing publication, The Ohio Journal.
Carol
Elsen lives in Missoula, Montana and periodically teaches as an
adjunct instructor for the University
of Montana, but has primarily
taught high school English for over fifteen years. Ten years ago, her onsite
school created an online distance learning school and she became one of the
pioneer teachers for the program which has exponentially grown in students and
sophistication over the years of its existence.
In
addition to teaching onsite and online, she initiated and developed the AP*
English program in her high school and has enjoyed teaching AP* English Language
and Composition for the past ten years as well as AP* English Literature and
Composition for the last two years. In 2001, the College Board invited her to
be a reader of exams and the following August trained her to be a faculty
consultant for the Western Region of the College Board. In addition to teaching many College Board
institutes and workshops throughout the Western Region, she also teaches online
for UCLA and has been invited by the College Board to offer workshops at AP*
National Conferences. Since the inception of the SAT writing sample, she has
scored student essays online and currently works online as a content writer of
college level American Literature courses.
Locally
she has presented workshops on Portfolios and AP* Scoring at Montana State
Teachers’ Conventions as well as shared presentations at the University of Montana
and the NCTE conventions with Dr. Beverly
Chin. Serving as a trainer of trainers, as well as a scorer and table leader,
for the Montana Writing Assessment, she has a special interest in the
challenges and
rewards of helping teachers prepare high school students for college writing.
She has experienced a spectrum of teaching opportunities whether it is
directing high school students, preparing college students for the teaching
profession, or teaching teachers of AP* English.
Things
she loves to do besides read and teach are travel to visit family in Germany, New York and at their
family Lodge in northern Wisconsin,
as well as garden, swim, explore the mountains, and soak in the hot springs around her Montana home.
*College Board, AP, Advanced Placement
Program, Pre-AP, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College
Board. Used with permission.
AP* Emphasis:
Carol Elsen is a College Board* endorsed Consultant and will be the instructor forEnglish Language Compositionfor experienced AP*teachers.
