Speakers

 =USM READS - October 11, 2010 Speakers = == **S ****ue Beers **: Our keynote speaker is a 35 year career classroom teacher, program coordinator and school administrator. She is the founder and current Director of the Mid-Iowa School Improvement Consortium and works with over 160 school districts in guiding the alignment of curriculum, instruction and assessment in order to improve student learning. As a consultant, speaker and ASCD Faculty Member, Sue shares her expertise and experience with school districts and educational organizations to improve student learning in many areas of education. She is the co-author of __Reading Strategies for the Content Areas: An ASCD Action Tool, Volumes I and II, and Using Writing to learn Across the Content Areas: An ASCD Action Tool.__  **

Deborah Appleman **: Deborah Appleman is the Hollis l. Caswell professor and chair of educational studies and director of the Summer Writing Program at Carleton College. She taught high school English for nine years before receiving her doctorate degree. Her latest book, __Adolescent Literacy and the Teaching of Reading: Lessons for Teachers of Literature__, focuses on ways to incorporate reading instruction into mainstream high school literature classes. She is also author of __Reading for Themselves: How to Transform Adolescents into Lifelong Readers Through Out of Class Book Clubs__, __Teaching Literature to Adolescents__, __Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents,__ and __Braided Lives: An Anthology of Multicultural American Writing.__

**Roger Essley **: Roger is an award-winning author and illustrator who offers tools that engage reluctant writers, increase reading comprehension, and make differentiated instruction a practical reality. His classroom research resulted in the publishing of __Visual Tools for Differentiating Reading and Writing Instruction__. This book and his workshops provide practical tools and strategies that tap student’s visual/verbal learning skills. Roger has a MA from Goddard College and a seat of the pants degree in “different learning”, successfully working with students left behind by conventional curriculum K-12.

**Casey O’Keefe **: Casey O’Keefe is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Early Childhood Completion Program at Cardinal Stritch University School of Urban Initiatives. She has an MS degree and is a certified speech and language pathologist. Casey teaches both undergraduate and graduate students about early childhood literacy. Her interests are in creating models of early childhood professional development to support teachers' efficacy in facilitating language and literacy development for young children.

<span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3;">**<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Cristy Jefson **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">: Cristy has been a Health Education professional for 16 years. She began her teaching career in MPS. Since earning her PH.D she has taught at several colleges and is currently an associate professor of Health Education Pedagogy at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. In 2007, she was the recipient of the national HEDIR Award for her work in the field of Health Education and Technology. She has published in the Journal of School Health as well as produced a nationally distributed Health Education curricular resource called “Chatterbox”.

<span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3;">**<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Abby Schaber **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">: Abby attended Cardinal Stritch University for both her undergraduate (Elementary Education) and graduate work (Language and Literacy Development). Currently, Abby is in her sixth year as a kindergarten teacher in Milwaukee Public Schools. She also serves as a school based mentor for new teachers.

<span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 3;">**<span style="color: red; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Kate Tayloe **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">: Kate has B.A.in Middle Grades Education with a concentration in Language Arts and math. She earned an M.Ed. in Language and Literacy. She has taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade for nine years as well as teaching Content Area Reading and Language Art courses at UNC-Wilmington. This past June Kate became the director of Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences, a private school in Wilmington that serves gifted and highly motivated learns. She has a passion for working with MS students and teachers in integrating content area literacy and technology integration.

<span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Boswell Books on Downer: