Author Biographies

Jennifer Allen

Jennifer Allen

Jennifer Allen is a literacy specialist in grades 3-5 for the Waterville, Maine, school district, where she works as a reading coach and leads professional development programs for teachers. Jennifer has presented her work to regional and national audiences through state literacy organizations, the International Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. She is a frequent contributor to Choice Literacy and Lead Literacy. Jennifer is the author of Becoming a Literacy Leader: Supporting Learning and Change and A Sense of Belonging: Sustaining and Retaining New Teachers.

Jeff Anderson

Jeff Anderson

For over thirty years, Jeff has inspired writers and teachers of grades K-8 with the power and joy of the writing process. He has written eight books and five kits for Stenhouse Publishers: Mechanically Inclined, Everyday Editing, 10 Things Every Writer Needs to Know, Revision Decisions (coauthored with Dr. Deborah Dean of BYU), Patterns of Power: Inviting Young Writers into the Conventions of Language, grades 1-5 (with Whitney La Rocca), Patterns of Power: en espanol (with his former 4th grade student, Caroline Sweet, and Whitney La Rocca), Patterns of Power PLUS Grade 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Patterns of Power: Inviting Adolescent Writers into the Conventions of language, grades 6-8 (with Travis Leech and Melinda Clark), and his latest, co-authored with Whitney La Rocca, Patterns of Wonder: Inviting Emergent Writers to Play with the Conventions of Language (Summer 2021). He also writes middle-grade novels, including Sterling’s Zack Delacruz series: Me and My Big Mouth, Just My Luck, and Upstaged.

Andrea Hartwig

Andrea Hartwig

Andrea Hartwig earned her undergraduate teaching degree from St. Norbert College and her master’s degree in reading from Alverno College. She has spent ten years teaching first and second grade in southeastern Wisconsin. She currently lives in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, with her husband, Brian, who is also an educator, and their two young daughters.

Angela Kohnen

Angela Kohnen

Angela M. Kohnen is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Florida. Prior to earning her doctorate at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she taught English Language Arts in the St. Louis area. She loves working with students at all levels to explore questions of genuine curiosity.

Ruth Ayres

Ruth Ayres

As a full-time writing coach for Wawasee School District in northern Indiana, Ruth spends her days helping students find meaning in their stories, and encouraging teachers to reflect and refine the art of teaching. "I love documenting ordinary stories from everyday life," Ruth says.

Myra Barrs

Myra Barrs

Jane Baskwill

Jane Baskwill

Jane Baskwill is an associate professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Nova Scotia. A former classroom teacher and school principal, Jane is the author of many professional books and articles for teachers, as well as several children's picture books.

Patricia Bearden

Patricia Bearden

Patricia Bearden is the president of the International Society of Sons and Daughters of Slave Ancestry. She has brought over twenty years of teaching experience to her work as a teacher consultant for the Center for City Schools.

Teri Beaver

Teri Beaver

Teri Beaver is an elementary-level teacher at the University of Northern Colorado Laboratory School, one of the few K-12 schools housed on a university campus. While researching writing assessments for the Tointon Institute of Educational Change, she found none specific enough to inform instruction and began developing the Author's Profile.

Allison Behne

Allison Behne

An innovative teacher, writer, and speaker, Allison Behne empowers educators to think outside the box and critically examine their instructional practices by asking, “What is best for my students?” She is the co-author of the expanded second edition of The CAFE Book, Expanded Second Edition: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment

Chris Berberich

Chris Berberich

Chris Berberich is a literacy tutor and special education teacher who works with teachers to develop inclusive classrooms. She has a particular interest in language and cooperative learning and teaching strategies.

Ranu Bhattacharyya

Ranu Bhattacharyya

Ranu Bhattacharyya has taught at The American International School in Japan, Dhaka, and Delhi, the International School in Beijing, and at The Brussels English Primary School.

Jenna Bilmes

Jenna Bilmes

Marilyn Bizar

Marilyn Bizar

Marilyn Bizar teaches at the Center for City Schools of National-Louis University in Chicago. A former public school teacher, Marilyn and Harvey Daniels now collaborate with a network of twenty-five schools seeking to implement progressive teaching methods.

Faye Bolton

Faye Bolton

Faye is a native of Melbourne, Australia and she currently conducts onsite, ongoing professional development in schools in New York City and Australia. She has worked as an elementary school teacher and literacy consultant in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.

Jean Boreen

Jean Boreen

Jean Boreen is a professor of English education at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she regularly teaches secondary methods courses on young adult literature and teaching literature in secondary schools.

Paula Bourque

Paula Bourque

Paula Bourque is a National Board-Certified Teacher of literacy and a K-6 instructional coach in Augusta, Maine. She considers herself a lifelong learner and has worn many hats in her thirty-plus years in education: classroom teacher, Reading Recovery teacher, literacy specialist, consultant, adjunct instructor, presenter, and mom. Follow her on Twitter @LitCoachLady or at paulabourque.com

Max Brand

Max Brand

Max became a teacher because he loves to learn and teaching gives him the chance to learn a ton every day.

"Each day is a new experience. No matter what you plan for, the kids take ownership and extend thinking/understanding to fantastic heights."

Rusty Bresser

Rusty Bresser

Rusty Bresser first became interested in teaching while doing anthropological research on children and families in a rural farming community in French Polynesia. His interest in applied anthropology led him to the Teacher Education Program at the University of California, San Diego.