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LeAnn Nickelsen, M.Ed. is a former teacher and currently provides staff development nationally on topics including brain research, reading and vocabulary strategies, how food affects learning, and differentiated instruction. She was a classroom teacher in three states and won a Teacher of the Year Award in Texas. LeAnn is known as “the teacher’s teacher” because of her practical, research-based examples that teachers can easily implement in their classrooms.

Dr. Lew Smith received his BA, MA and School Administration/Supervision Certificate from Brooklyn College and his EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University. He began his career as a social studies teacher in New York City high schools, where his interdisciplinary course in American History, titled The American Dream, became a textbook published by Scott Foresman and adopted nation-wide.

Kaia Tollefson’s career in education began in Kodiak, Alaska, in 1983. She was a middle school teacher there for nine years and worked in administration for the next five—first as a curriculum and staff development coordinator and then as an elementary school principal. She discovered a passion for teacher education while pursuing her doctoral degree in language, literacy, and sociocultural studies, awarded by the University of New Mexico in 2004.

Monica Osborn has been teaching at Puesta del Sol Elementary School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, since 1994. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in education from the University of New Mexico in 1994 and 1995, respectively, and an education specialist degree in educational leadership in 2007. She is a certified Reading Recovery teacher, currently teaching grades K–2 in a multiage inclusion classroom.

Holly Johnson is an Associate Professor in the Division of Teacher Education at the University of Cincinnati. where she teaches adolescent literacy courses for students interested in becoming middle school teachers. Her research focuses on adolescent literacy and literature, and issues of social justice. She taught middle school language arts and social studies in Kentucky and Arizona, and was an industrial arts teacher in Botswana, Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Lauren Freedman is a Professor of Literacy Studies at Western Michigan University. Her primary areas of expertise include the role of self efficacy in literacy development, the use of multiple materials within and across the curriculum, inquiry as a framework for instruction and literacy strategy development, and the role of student-led, small group discussion within learning-centered classroom communities.

Karen F. Thomas has been a classroom instructor and administrator in both elementary and middle/high school for 15 years teaching reading and English in urban, public, private and overseas settings before her current teaching at the college level for the 15 plus years. Currently, Thomas is a Professor of Literacy Education at Western Michigan University teaching undergraduate and graduate classes where she also serves as Director of the Dorothy J.

Vicki Brooks-McNamara received her Ph.D. in counselor education from the University of Wyoming. She taught all K-12 levels before becoming a school counselor and counselor educator. Under Vicki’s leadership, the school counseling program at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon transformed into a premier program preparing school counselors to be leaders and advocates who are guided by data to facilitate systemic change.

Danielle Torres earned a B.A. and M.A. from Pepperdine University, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon. She is currently a faculty member of the School Counseling Program at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Her teaching includes courses in action research, diversity issues in education, and the professional development of school counselors.

Felicia Lowden Kimmel grew up in Brooklyn, NY. She began her career in education as a high school ESOL and English teacher in San Francisco, before returning east to teach in the Washington DC area. She was selected to lead a Peer Mediation program at Annandale High School in Fairfax County, Virginia. Her program received a great deal of attention and national praise after the tragedy at Columbine.