ABOUT ME
My name is Barbara (Gatewood) McLain. I am an educator with nearly 20 years of experience teaching English on both the high school and college level, in public and private schools.
I have a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in writing, and two master’s degrees—one in teaching and one in English, with a specialty in rhetoric and composition.
I began my career teaching English at Thomas Wootton High School in Montgomery County, MD, where I taught English 9, English 9 Honors, English 10 Honors, English 11 Honors, and AP English Language and Composition. During my tenure with MCPS, I also worked for the department of curriculum and instruction writing sample lessons, classroom resources, and practice test questions.
After I relocated to Florida, I accepted a position at the University of South Florida teaching college composition. While at USF, I served on the task force creating the framework for teaching composition online, personally piloted the course, and went on to train other instructors to teach composition both in person and online.
I eventually transitioned back to high school teaching, my first love, to a job teaching English at Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota, FL. At Mooney, I served as English department chair, and taught English 9, English 9 Honors, English 12, and AP English Literature and Composition. During the 2019-2020 school year, I taught AP Seminar for the first time, and 100% of my students passed the Seminar exam.
Over the course of my career, I have helped over a thousand students find their written voices and write college essays that are beautiful, memorable, and authentic.
I have a bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in writing, and two master’s degrees—one in teaching and one in English, with a specialty in rhetoric and composition.
I began my career teaching English at Thomas Wootton High School in Montgomery County, MD, where I taught English 9, English 9 Honors, English 10 Honors, English 11 Honors, and AP English Language and Composition. During my tenure with MCPS, I also worked for the department of curriculum and instruction writing sample lessons, classroom resources, and practice test questions.
After I relocated to Florida, I accepted a position at the University of South Florida teaching college composition. While at USF, I served on the task force creating the framework for teaching composition online, personally piloted the course, and went on to train other instructors to teach composition both in person and online.
I eventually transitioned back to high school teaching, my first love, to a job teaching English at Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota, FL. At Mooney, I served as English department chair, and taught English 9, English 9 Honors, English 12, and AP English Literature and Composition. During the 2019-2020 school year, I taught AP Seminar for the first time, and 100% of my students passed the Seminar exam.
Over the course of my career, I have helped over a thousand students find their written voices and write college essays that are beautiful, memorable, and authentic.