Promote Reading Gains with Differentiated Instruction

Laura Robb, M.S.Ed., is an author, teacher, coach, and speaker who has taught grades 4 to 8 for more than 40 years. In addition to speaking and consulting, she coaches K-8 teachers. Robb is a featured speaker at conferences and leads workshops in the United States and internationally. In 2016, Robb was NCTE’s recipient of the Richard W. Halle Award for Outstanding Middle Level Educator.
David Harrison, Litt. D, is a nationally acclaimed author and poet. He has written more than seventy-five books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers and has been anthologized in countless others. His work has been translated into twelve languages and has been aired on television, radio, podcast, and video stream. David has authored many professional and classroom resources for teachers, including Partner Poems for Building Fluency: 40 Engaging Poems for Two Voices with Motivating Activities That Help Students Improve Their Fluency and Comprehension with Timothy Rasinski and Gay Fawcett. He has even created a video series, Let's Write This Week with David Harrison, that brings writing tips into the elementary classroom and offers graduate college credit for teachers. David holds degrees from Drury University and Emory University and holds honorary doctorates of letters from Missouri State University and Drury University where he is the current poet laureate. David Harrison Elementary School is named in his honor.

Dr. Timothy Rasinski is a professor emeritus of literary education at Kent State University and was previously director of its award-winning reading clinic. Dr. Rasinski is the author of numerous best-selling books, articles, and curriculum programs on literacy education and has co-authored many resources for Shell Education including, but not limited to, Greek & Latin Roots: Keys to Building Vocabulary, Starting with Prefixes and Suffixes, Practice with Prefixes, Vocabulary Ladders: Understanding Word Nuances series, Getting to the Roots of Content-Area Vocabulary series, Idioms and Other English Expressions series, Close Reading with Paired Texts series, Rhymes for the Times: Literacy Strategies through Social Studies, as well as TCM’s curriculum resource Building Vocabulary series.

Dr. Rasinski is a frequent, well-known presenter nationwide and in 2021, 2023, and 2026 was named one of the top 2% most-citied scientists in the world. His scholarly interests include reading fluency, word study, reading in the elementary and middle grades, and readers who struggle. Dr. Rasinski served a three-year term 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. Dr. Rasinski is a former president of the College Reading Association and has won the A. B. Herr and Laureate Awards from the College Reading Association for his scholarly contributions to literacy education. In 2010, Dr. Rasinski was elected to the International Reading Hall of Fame, and in 2019 Dr. Rasinski was recipient of the International Literacy Association’s highest honor—the William S. Gray Citation of Merit—for his contributions to the field of literacy.