Alternative Teacher Certification

About Our Staff

Lidia G. Zatopek, Director of Alternative Certification Division

Ms. Anderson has an M.S. in Educational Psychology and over 30 years experience in public school education. She is a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist and holds TEA certifications as an Administrator, a Special Education Supervisor, and Educational Diagnostician and in the special education teaching fields of Learning Disabilities and Mental Retardation. She served as a Director of Special Education for a total of ten years in both the La Porte and Sante Fe Independent School Districts. She has also had administrative responsibility for gifted/talented, early childhood programs, bilingual/ESL and dyslexia programs.

Lisa Felske, Science Specialist

Ms. Felske's career in education spans more than twenty years and includes curriculum writing and teaching science in grades 6-8 and secondary science courses in IPC, Biology, AP Biology, and Chemistry. She holds an undergraduate degree in Biology from Rice University as well as a Master of Arts in Teaching , also from Rice University. She has designed and delivered science professional development to K-12 teachers via local, state, and national conferences. These experiences have enabled her to work closely with children, parents, teachers, administrators and community members to improve science literacy.

Melba Kent, Ed.D., English Language Arts and Gifted and Talented Specialist

In more than 30 years as an educator, Dr. Melba Kent has taught a variety of grade levels and has worked with teachers and students in grades pre-K through high school. She has been a classroom teacher, a reading specialist, an assistant principal, a Reading Recovery teacher leader, a language arts coordinator, an ESL consultant, a primary Literacy Collaborative trainer and coach, an intermediate Literacy Collaborative trainer and coach, and a university professor. Melba has worked extensively with schools and districts on long-range planning and development of literacy programs. She has also presented on a variety of topics at international, national, state, and local conferences. Her research and training interests include literacy coaching, language and literacy learning, and systematic teaching methods.

Mary Lynn Johnson, Social Studies Specialist

Ms. Johnson has over 35 years experience in education including teaching social studies, serving as an assistant principal, social studies director, and teaching as an adjunct professor at University of Houston Clear Lake. Mary Lynn began her teaching career in Louisiana before moving to Texas and teaching in Spring Branch ISD. She served as an assistant principal in both Spring Branch and Spring ISDs before assuming the role of Director of Art, Foreign Languages and Social Studies in Spring ISD. For almost 20 years, Mary Lynn was responsible for the planning and implementation of the three programs in Spring.

Patricia Morales, Ed.D., Bilingual/ESL Specialist

Dr. Morales has been in the educational field for over 20 years. At the university level, she has taught courses in first and second language acquisition, literacy and biliteracy, assessment, instructional strategies and program development, coordinated the development of international student/faculty exchange programs for English Language Learners, organized and conducted seminars for teachers in different schools districts, and supervised student teaching programs. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English as a Second/Foreign Language, a Master of Arts in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, and a Doctorate in Bilingual Education.
She develops and presents workshops and presentations on first and second language acquisition; assessment for English language learners; and instructional techniques in the bilingual and ESOL classrooms. Her presentations also include linguistic and cultural diversity, and language arts and reading in Spanish at regional, state and national conferences.

Nicole Shanahan, Mathematics Specialist

Nicole Shanahan began her career as an educator in Houston ISD, teaching algebra II, geometry, MMA, pre-calculus and AP calculus. Later she became a math specialist for Pearson Prentice Hall, providing professional development training for textbook adoption. A natural progression led her to a leadership role in Spring Branch ISD where she became School Improvement Specialist, writing curriculum and coaching teachers. Accomplishments throughour her career include the following: HISD District Teacher of the Year, ACTIVtrainer, trainer for writing interctive whiteboard lessons, writing for TEA's On-Track, and writing the first TxVSN-approved MMA course. Above all, Shanahan believes that a zeal for math education is her greatest asset. Her ultimate professional goal is to continue to grow future generations of math eduators and professionals.

Judy Lucas, Technology Specialist

Judy Lucas has over 34 years experience in education, including teaching all subjects in high school social studies, serving as social studies department head, and teaching as an adjunct professor at University of Houston Clear Lake and College of the Mainland. Judy began her teaching career in New Mexico before moving to Greenville, Texas and then to the Clear Lake area. There she taught at Clear Lake and Clear Brook High Schools, and served as social studies department head for 18 years. She has her own business, Houston Education Space Team, Inc. and has done several national institutes for teachers in Nebraska and Oklahoma on how to use earth looking space photos in the classroom. In addition, she has done 10 workshops of the "Portrait of the World" series with the World Affaris Council of houston. She is also a senior teaching consultant for the Texas Alliance for Geographic Education and has provided training in several areas of geography and leadership for teachers. She continues to be involved with students by teaching elementary GT students at UHCL one morning a week for the Clear Creek ISD's Alpha II program.