Page 84 - 2017 Reading Summit Guidebook

JILLIAN HEISE, NBCT, is the national literacy consultant for BALB Literacy Consulting, Building a Love of Books & Bringing a Literacy Balance. She taught seventh- and eighth- grade language arts in the Milwaukee area for 11 years before leaving the classroom to broaden her impact through working with teachers. Jillian is passionate about providing student choice in reading, consulting with educators in selecting the right books for their curriculum needs, and providing professional development to support district literacy initiatives. She started #classroombookaday, inspired by Donalyn Miller’s #bookaday, reading
aloud a picture book every day of the school year with her middle school students. Jillian wholeheartedly believes picture books have value for students and classrooms of any age. She also brings her literacy expertise and passion for books to her role as chair of WSRA’s Children’s Literature Committee. You can nd Jillian at her Lit Perks blog and on Twitter @CustomeduLit.
Workshop: Picture Books for All Ages (Chicago PM)
ZIPPORAH HIGHTOWER is a powerhouse of the Chicago school system. With 20 years of experience as an educator, including ve as a principal, Zipporah is the executive director of principal quality at Chicago Public Schools, with the mission to identify, develop, support, and retain strong school leaders who are dedicated to student success. Prior to this role, she was executive director for program management with New Leaders Organization. Students in New Leader schools are closing the achievement gap through consistently higher performance than their peers and higher graduation rates. In her previous role as principal of Chicago’s Bethune
School of Excellence, Zipporah developed a culture in which fth graders doubled their math scores, keeping pace with the number of third graders whose reading scores met or exceeded standards in state testing. Workshop: Independent Reading: Where We’ve Been. Where We’re Going. (Chicago PM – Panelist)
ROBIN HOFFMAN founded the Children’s Book Connection in 1981 with a curated collection of books for preschool to eighth-grade students. She joined Scholastic Book Fairs in 1992 and leads the booktalk and podcast programs, helping educators and families share books with children of all ages.
Workshop: Booktalking: Transforming Dormant to Passionate Readers (Chicago PM)
ELIZABETH HOSTIN has spent 33 years in education teaching junior high school, high school, and elementary school. She began her administrative career as an assistant principal at a Title 1 elementary school where she held the position for three years. She opened two new elementary campuses over a 10-year span and has spent the last ve years as a middle school principal. Hostin served as an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University for 10 years and served on the Scholastic Book Fairs® Principal Advisory Board. She retired from Texas public education in 2016 and is currently working as an educational consultant in Maryville, Tennessee, where she
lives.
Hostin considers her greatest accomplishments to be her 36-year marriage to her husband Lonnie, their
two sons, and a beautiful daughter-in-love who has given them their rst grandchild, Nora.
She wants to help children learn to enjoy life — her everyday motto — and believes everyone can make
a difference in the future, one student at a time.
Workshop: Independent Reading: Where We’ve Been. Where We’re Going. (Raleigh PM – Panelist)
SUSAN B. KATZ is an award-winning, bilingual author, National Board Certi ed Teacher, freelance editor, and keynote speaker/professional development presenter. Her rst book, ABC, Baby Me! (Random House) debuted to rave reviews, and her second book, My Mama Earth (Barefoot Books), won the Moonbeam Gold Award. Her third book was ABC School’s For Me (Scholastic, 2015) and most recently, Susan translated the book All Year Round (Scholastic, 2016) into Spanish. It was then published by Scholastic Clubs and Scholastic Book Fairs® as Un Año Redondo in September 2016 and named a “Best New Book of 2016”
by The Children’s Book Review. Susan is also the executive director of Connecting Authors, a national non-pro t bringing children’s book authors into schools as role models of literacy and the arts. She served as the strategic partner manager for authors at Facebook. Her website is susankatzbooks.com.
Workshop: Raising Readers: The Positive Power of Family Involvement (Seattle AM)
Workshop: Booktalking: Transforming Dormant to Passionate Readers (Seattle PM)
Workshop: Raising the Student Achievement Bar with Independent Reading (Houston AM & PM)
82 WORKSHOP PRESENTERS GALLERY