Ellery, Valerie: -

Valerie Ellery has dedicated 30 years to the field of education in various roles as a National Board Certified Teacher, curriculum specialist, mentor, reading coach, international educational consultant, and best-selling author. Her books Creating Strategic Readers and Sustaining Strategic Readers have been used internationally in classrooms and universities to inspire educators to motivate and engage today's learners. She authored 10 student readers for Saint Mary's Press with guiding questions, vocabulary, and retell it cards. In addition, she coauthored two secondary curriculums in the areas of self-worth and human trafficking, Bodies Are Not Commodities and Shine Hope, which will be used to influence young adults in 37 nations. Using innovative, interactive, and informative methods, Valerie models best practices in classrooms and motivates staffs globally to create strategic thinkers and readers. She lives in Florida with her husband Gregg and has four adult children and two beautiful grandchildren.

Oczkus, Lori: - Lori Oczkus is a literacy coach, best-selling author, and popular international speaker. Tens of thousands of teachers have attended her motivating, fast-paced workshops and read her practical, research-based professional books and articles. Lori has experience working as a bilingual elementary teacher, intervention specialist, staff developer, and literacy coach. She works with students in classrooms every week and knows the challenges that teachers face in teaching students to read. Lori has been inducted into the California Reading Association Hall of Fame for her many contributions to the field of reading. Lori is the author of seven best-selling books, including Just the Facts: Close Reading and Comprehension of Informational Text and Close Reading with Paired Texts, coauthored with Tim Rasinski. Lori's Reciprocal Teaching at Work: Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension is a best seller. She also is coauthor of several reading programs.

Rasinski, Timothy V.: - Timothy V. Rasinski is a professor of literacy education at Kent State University. He has written more than 200 articles and has authored, coauthored, or edited more than 50 books or curriculum programs on reading education. His best-selling book on reading fluency, The Fluent Reader, is now in its second edition. His scholarly interests include reading fluency and word study and readers who struggle. His research on reading has been cited by the National Reading Panel and has been published in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, and the Journal of Educational Research. Tim is the first author of the fluency chapter for the Handbook of Reading Research. Tim has served on the board of directors of the International Reading Association and was co-editor of The Reading Teacher, the world's most widely read journal of literacy education. He has also served as co-editor of the Journal of Literacy Research. Tim is past president of the College Reading Association. was inducted into the International Reading Hall of Fame in 2010. Prior to coming to Kent State, Tim taught literacy education at the University of Georgia. He taught for several years as an elementary and middle school classroom and Title I teacher in Nebraska.