Keynote Speakers

 

Dr. Dianna Townsend

Dr. Townsend's research centers on the academic language development of adolescent students, with specific attention to vocabulary, comprehension and disciplinary literacy. She examines both the unique academic language demands of the disciplines and effective instructional strategies to help students understand and use academic language in and across academic disciplines. Recent research, funded by the Spencer Foundation, was an intervention comparing how different types of background knowledge and academic language scaffolding impact the reading comprehension of multilingual adolescents. Dr. Townsend's work has been published in Reading Research Quarterly, The Elementary School Journal, The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, and Topics in Language Disorders, as well as in other journals and multiple books. Dr. Townsend is a Tibbetts Distinguished Teacher Award Winner. She created the innovative Virtual Reading Clinic in the online M.Ed. Program in Reading Curriculum & Instruction to support remote and rural teachers in a graduate-level practicum experience. Learn more about her experience.

Keynote Title: Coming Soon!

Abstract: Coming Soon!

 

Dr. Doris Baker

Doris Luft Baker is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Baker is engaged in developing and evaluating instructional tools and assessments in English and in Spanish designed to improve and monitor the academic performance of English learners with and without learning difficulties in reading, science, and social studies. Her research has been funded by agencies such as the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the National Science Foundation (NSF), Southern Methodist University, the Oregon Child Development Coalition, and the Knight Foundation among others. In addition, through partnerships with community organizations such as the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, the Dallas Morning News, and Avance, Dr. Baker has explored the ways that Latinx families can develop the language proficiency of their children in Spanish and in English.

Currently, Dr. Baker is the principal investigator (PI) on an IES grant designed to develop a formative assessment to measure the vocabulary in science of second- and third-grade Latinx students using a speech recognition system and automated scoring (Project MELVA, 2020-2024). She is also a Co-Pi on a grant to replicate the effects of the Read Well program in first grade (Project IR2RW, 2020-2025). This was the only reading replication grant awarded by IES in 2020. Learn more about her research and accolades.

Keynote Title: Coming Soon!

Abstract: Coming Soon!

 

Gary Soto

Born and raised in Fresno, California, is the author of thirteen poetry collections for adults, most notably NEW AND SELECTED POEMS, a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Award and the National Book Award. He has received the Discovery-The Nation Prize and the California Library Association’s John and Patricia Award [twice], in addition to fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts [twice], and the Guggenheim Foundation. For ITVS, he produced the film “The Pool Party,” which received the 1993 Andrew Carnegie Medal. In 1995, for his work with young people, he was selected NBC Person of the Week. In 1999 he was honored with the Human and Civil Rights Award from the American Education Association, the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, and the PEN Center West Book Award for his young-adult short story collection PETTY CRIMES. For the Los Angeles Opera, he wrote the libretto to the opera “Nerdlandia.” In all, his books have sold five million copies, with eight titles translated into French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. He lives in Berkeley, California. He encourages teachers to have their students write him letters, but asks that they arrive in one large envelope, not individually. Sadly, he cannot answer letters regarding school projects on his work. Learn more on his website.

Keynote Title: Coming Soon!

Abstract: Coming Soon!

 

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Invited Session Presenters

 Information about 2023 invited speakers to be added at a later date.