Joan Krater earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Webster University in 1963. She began teaching at a Webster Groves junior high school. She remained there for thirteen years, when she moved to Hixson. She earned her master’s degree in secondary education with a major in social studies at Indiana University in 1971. She subsequently taught English. For three different years, Joan wrote and directed federal grant programs under Title VII, then Title VI aimed at lessening the effects of segregation. She also wrote a grant to establish the Gateway Writing Project. Joan was a consultant for the Shawnee Mission School district (in Kansas) during the summers of 1981 through 1983. Joan spearheaded her district’s holistic assessment of writing in 1985. She led the project until her sabbatical in 1989-90. During her sabbatical, Joan was an intern at the Regional consortium for Educational Technology. Later Joan took on a dual role of teaching gifted students and serving as the technology resource for Hixson. She has authored and co-authored several articles on the teaching of writing previously under the name Joan Krater Tomas. She retired from classroom teaching in the spring of 1993.
