K-12 Literacy Conference

S2024, Opening Keynote

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Opening Remarks

Christopher Lehman, Founding Director of The Educator Collaborative.

He is an award-winning educator, international speaker, literacy consultant, and New York Times best-selling author. He holds degrees from UW-Madison, NYU, and Teachers College, Columbia University. Chris has been a middle-school teacher, high-school teacher, literacy coach, and staff developer. He sits on the Board of Directors of the National Center for Families Learning, is a past Chair of the NCTE Middle Level Section, and past member of the NCTE Executive Committee. He has served as column editor for NCTE’s peer-reviewed journal, Voices from the Middle, and his articles and interviews have appeared in many journals and publications including the International Literacy Association’s Reading Today, in EdWeek, and in Education SmartBrief. He has supported schools and districts across the United States and around the world in developing robust, research-based, effective literacy curricula and practices.

Opening Keynote

Samira Ahmed is the bestselling author of Love, Hate & Other FiltersInternmentMad, Bad & Dangerous to KnowHollow Fires, and the Amira & Hamza middle-grade duology, as well as a Ms. Marvel comic book mini-series.  Her poetry, essays, and short stories have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies including the New York TimesTake the MicColor Outside the LinesVampires Never Get Old and A Universe of Wishes.

She was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois, in a house that smelled like fried onions, spices, and potpourri. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Samira has taught high school English in both the suburbs of Chicago and New York City, worked in education non-profits, and spent time on the road for political campaigns.

Samira currently lives in the Midwest. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found on her lifelong quest for the perfect pastry.

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TheEdCollab Gathering is a free, no registration, streaming educator conference organized by The Educator Collaborative. Sessions are presented by guest educators and authors whose proposal titles and abstracts have been approved. Session content is presented and exclusively controlled by individual presenters. The Educator Collaborative is not responsible for session content. Sessions are streamed and archived on this website and on The Educator Collaborative’s YouTube page, which remain the only permissible sources for viewing Sessions. Beyond this, Sessions, in whole or in part, may not be rerecorded, remixed, reproduced, or disseminated in any other form without express written permission of both The Educator Collaborative and the respective presenter(s), any such reproduction or dissemination is unlawful and a violation of copyright.