The ITL Team
My name is Lisa Backalenick, and I am one of the librarians.
This is my twelfth year at High Meadows. Before coming to High Meadows, I taught in San Francisco, upstate NY, and the Atlanta Public Schools, as an early childhood teacher and a reading specialist. When I discovered High Meadows, I felt like I had found my home. In addition to running the library with Kim Platnick, our other High Meadows librarian, I have a weekly storytime for Preschoolers, and provide direct instruction for K-3rd grade students, co-teaching with Amanda Korell, one of the Technology Integration Specialists. I also assist students and teachers in locating print and online resources for research, as well as striving to instill a love of reading in all of our library patrons.
I grew up in Connecticut, received a B.A. in Music from Colgate University, my teaching certification from San Francisco State University, an M.S. Ed. in Elementary Education (Early Childhood concentration) from SUNY New Paltz, and my Media Specialist certification from Georgia State University. I live in Sandy Springs with my husband and my daughter. We have several pets: our dog, Raspberry, and our guinea pig Ginger. I enjoy reading, playing music, dancing and travelling.
I hope to see you at the library soon. Stop in, say hello and find a good book!
This is my twelfth year at High Meadows. Before coming to High Meadows, I taught in San Francisco, upstate NY, and the Atlanta Public Schools, as an early childhood teacher and a reading specialist. When I discovered High Meadows, I felt like I had found my home. In addition to running the library with Kim Platnick, our other High Meadows librarian, I have a weekly storytime for Preschoolers, and provide direct instruction for K-3rd grade students, co-teaching with Amanda Korell, one of the Technology Integration Specialists. I also assist students and teachers in locating print and online resources for research, as well as striving to instill a love of reading in all of our library patrons.
I grew up in Connecticut, received a B.A. in Music from Colgate University, my teaching certification from San Francisco State University, an M.S. Ed. in Elementary Education (Early Childhood concentration) from SUNY New Paltz, and my Media Specialist certification from Georgia State University. I live in Sandy Springs with my husband and my daughter. We have several pets: our dog, Raspberry, and our guinea pig Ginger. I enjoy reading, playing music, dancing and travelling.
I hope to see you at the library soon. Stop in, say hello and find a good book!
Hi! I’m Amanda Korell, one of the Technology Integration Specialists at High Meadows.
This is my third year teaching technology, and I absolutely love it! I co-teach with our librarians to help K-5 students further develop their research and communication skills.
I grew up in Lawrenceville and attended Gwinnett County Public Schools. I have a B.S. in Science, Technology
and Culture from Georgia Tech and a M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from UGA. After completing my graduate degree, I served two years in Micronesia as a Peace Corps Volunteer, where I taught English to 7th and 8th graders. I met my husband during that time, and we spent another two years working in the Marshall Islands before returning home to Georgia. We currently live in Canton with our dog, Shelby, and cat, Theo. We love outdoor activities and traveling. This past year, we hiked Tallulah Gorge and camped out on Jekyll Island. Now that we’re back in the States, we hope to do more local travel and sightseeing.
I look forward to another great year at HMS!
Hello, I am Kim Platnick.
I am one of the two librarians here at High Meadows School. We manage the library program and teach classes about information literacy, readers’ advisory, and support student research. We also mentor book clubs, sponsor the book fair, and operate the occasional Middle Years bookmobile.
My family moved to Atlanta from Memphis when I was six, and I have lived in the metro Atlanta area ever since. I grew up in Gwinnett, and then I graduated from Agnes Scott College with a Biology degree and gifted education certification. I taught middle school and high school science before moving from the classroom into the library. With an M. Ed from the University of Georgia, I became a certified media specialist – otherwise known around here as a librarian. I have been at High Meadows working in the library with my co-librarian for six years and I have the best job in the world.
I am an avid reader, as you may have suspected. I enjoy bike rides, traveling, playing trivia games, and visiting local parks. My favorite thing to do is to spend time with my family. My wonderful husband and I have an amazing son in high school and an amazing daughter in middle school. Our dog Pepper is very good at sleeping and licking people’s faces and our dog Scruffy is very good at chasing tennis balls.