Hannah Baker, retired educator, began teaching in 1974 at Springdale Elementary in West Columbia, SC where she taught Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade. In 1983, as a member of the first Midlands Writing Project she received training from the National Writing Project.Hannah worked with other members of the South Carolina Writing Project and the South Carolina legislature in 1988 to establish the Writing Improvement Network (WIN). WIN, housed at the University of South Carolina as a part of the Center for Educational Partnerships, assists districts, schools, and teachers across the state with professional development in all grades with English Language Art, addressing the rigor and intent of state standards, the use of ELA strategies across the content literacies, and to prepare students for all state testing.Hannah left the classroom to work with WIN as a teacher-in-residence in 1990, was promoted to the position of Director of WIN in 1994, and retired in 2021. In addition to providing professional development to schools across the state, Hannah conducted workshops at local, state, and national level conferences.Retirement has not slowed down her professional work -- she continues to serve on the WIN Advisory Committee, develops micro-credentials in the area of writing instruction for the University of South Carolina, and writes teacher guides to accompany the EdOutreach performances of Columbia City Ballet.Hannah has two children, two grandchildren, and one large goofy furbaby. When not pursuing writing tasks, she loves to read, pretends to cook, and continues her hobby as a storyteller.
