Lora grew up in Kansas but came to WNC to study English/Theatre at Warren Wilson College. She subsequently went on to earn a Master’s Degree in teaching at Brown University, and finally a PhD in English Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She has been been a full-time ELA teacher for around a decade but has also served as a literacy coach, a learning coordinator for an interdisciplinary, project-based Small Learning Community, and as the Director of Innovation and Communication. Innovation is at the heart of her classroom practice, which, for Lora, is a concept deeply rooted in applied learning, one in which students work with each other and the community to celebrate ideas through meaningful action. When she’s not thinking, reading, and writing about learning, Lora enjoys traveling and is on a quest to eat ice cream on all seven continents. (Six down, one to go.) She is elated to be a part of the FSI, and is humbled to be part of such a heart-centered community.
Lora Hawkins
