Elizabeth Winkler has taught and coached at Plain Local Schools for 26 years and will retire at the end of the school year.
Winkler has taught 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 12th grade English, Exploratory French and French I, and currently teaches Foundations of Teaching and Teacher Pathways I and II.
In addition to teaching, Winkler has coached track and cross country. She is also a former student council adviser and a former member of the NHS faculty committee.
“[Working with her] was a tremendous experience,” freshmen science teacher Scott Ferrell said. “We taught together for six years in a community setting. She was the English teacher with me and Mr. Krosse and we coached together for 25 years. She has the best people skills of anyone I’ve ever met.”
Prior to teaching at GlenOak, Winkler spent eight years teaching in the Mentor School District.
“I went to GlenOak, so leaving Mentor and coming back was important to me,” Winkler said. “The community of Plain Local is very important to me. It’s grown so much, and it’s become much more of a community than when I was a student here, so that makes me happy.”
Winkler’s students expressed that they enjoyed her class and say that she taught them many of the skills they would need to succeed when they became teachers themselves.
“I went to GlenOak, so leaving Mentor and coming back was important to me. The community of Plain Local is very important to me. It’s grown so much, and it’s become much more of a community than when I was a student here, so that makes me happy.” — Elizabeth Winkler
“I think Mrs. Winkler is a great teacher,” Teacher Pathways senior Novaleigh Plotts said. “She explains stuff in-depth to us. She made sure we understood each topic we’re going over. For example, say we were going to Taft to do a finger painting project. She would explain to us how we could make it an actual lesson for the students and how we could teach them from that moment, even with just finger painting.”
While she will no longer be teaching, Winkler still plans to coach cross-country and track. She is also looking forward to traveling and seeing new parts of the world.
“I’ve enjoyed being here,” Winkler said. “I will miss it very much. It’s time for me to leave because there are other things that I want to do, but I’m not unhappy here, and I’ve been very happy with my career choice. I loved teaching 9th-grade English in the community setting. I loved teaching at the career center. And I especially enjoyed teaching with Mr. Krosse and Mr. Ferrel. I like the partnerships in career tech. And most importantly, I have valued every single relationship with students, whether it’s been through the classroom or coaching.”
