Melissa's Background

I grew up in the 1950s in Gulfport, Florida situated on Tampa Bay, juxtaposed to St. Petersburg, where I spent an idyllic childhood on the Gulf Coast beaches. In 1970, I was graduated from the University of Florida. (Go Gators!) After teaching school for two years in north central Florida, I came to Blacksburg and fell in love with the mountains. I continued my teaching career here in the local schools. During this time I earned an M.S. from Radford University and went on to become Supervisor, Programs for the Gifted. In 1989, I returned to my first love and spent five more years in the classroom. Then, in 1994, I moved on to the position of Instructional Supervisor and concurrently entered a doctoral program at Virginia Tech. In May of 1999, I finished my doctoral work and, at long last, graduated. "Finished by fifty" was my mantra; I met that goal.

I am a regularly published author. At present I write and consult for Grolier Publishers. My latest projects for Grolier have been creating teaching guides for two series: America the Beautiful and From Sea to Shining Sea. I am the educational consultant for the series, From Sea to Shining Sea. I also correlated each book to the state's social studies standards.

I create instructional materials and provide staff development on a variety of topics. My areas of focus include helping teachers learn how to teach for long-term retention through the use of effective teaching strategies. While I prefer to work with teachers in grades 3-8, I feel confident presenting to any age group. My workshops are lively and fast-paced. Teachers come away with materials and strategies that they can implement immediately.

As a consultant for O'Brien & Associates of Richmond, Virginia, I conduct workshops and perform other duties. Each year I correlate current nonfiction to state academic standards creating a tight and detailed table that illustrates which books on the market are most closely correlated to the content contained in the standards.

As a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant, I provide women and men with the best selling skincare products in the USA—Mary Kay Cosmetics. I conduct free skin care classes. Visit my Mary Kay web site: http://www.marykay.com/mmatusevich. Buy products of the highest quality directly from my Mary Kay web page.

I have been a public school educator for over thirty years, working with learners from preschool through adult. Over time I developed strong beliefs about teaching and learning. My goal as an educator has been simple: Provide support to children as they begin the road to active life-long learning. I believe it is imperative for all teachers to model their own love of learning every single day, and, just as an ad agency is responsible when the product doesn't sell, educators are responsible when their students do not learn.