July 20th, 2022

Holly Sheppard Riesco is currently a doctoral student at the University of Arkansas in the Curriculum and Instruction program in English Education. Prior to entering the doctoral program, she taught secondary ELA for 15 years. Her research interest is in how contemporary children and YA literature can be integrated with students’ lived literacies in the ELA classroom. She co-authored Adolescent Realities: Engaging Students in SEL through Young Adult Literature (Rowman & Littlefield) that will be out later in 2021. She can be contacted at hriesco@uark.edu.
 
Christian Z. Goering is professor and co-coordinator of English education at the University of Arkansas, where he leads the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project. His scholarship explores how English teachers take up music in their teaching, especially student songwriting. Literacy education policy, as it affects our abilities to engage innovative practice, is a secondary interest. He’s currently past chair of the English Language Arts Teacher Educators.

Padma Venkatraman is the author of BORN BEHIND BARS, THE BRIDGE HOME, A TIME TO DANCE, ISLAND"S END and CLIMBING THE STAIRS. Her novels have, in total, garnered numerous honors, received over twenty-two starred reviews, and won several awards such as a WNDB Walter Dean Myers Award, SCBWI Golden Kite Award, Crystal Kite Award, Nerdy Book Award, Julia Ward Howe Boston Authors Club Award, Malka Penn Honor, ASTAL RI Book of the Year Award, two South Asia Book Awards, two Paterson Prizes, and more. Visit her at www.padmavenkatraman.com and follow her on twitter (@padmatv) or ig/fb (@venkatraman.padma), and learn more about her latest novel, BORN BEHIND BARS, at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/647196/born-behind-bars-by-padma-venkatraman/. ​

​Jenny Cameron Paulsen, a twenty-seven year teaching veteran, educates middle schoolers in American History, World Studies, and English in Cedar Falls, Iowa. A lifelong reader, historian, and storyteller, she loves podcasts, reading aloud, design thinking, genealogy, knitting, and geeking out about early America. She wants to take every dance and art class she can find. She has served as the conference chair and president of the Iowa Council of Teachers of English, as well as a reader for the Amelia Walden Award committee. She is currently trying to figure out how to teach online.

Dr. Paul E. Binford is an associate professor of secondary social studies teacher education at Mississippi State University. He is also the co-director of Teaching with Primary Sources: Mississippi. His scholarly work on the history of the social studies and cross-curricular connections has appeared in journals, such as Theory and Research in Social Education, Curriculum History, and the ALAN Review. He is currently working on a book project about the Pacific Mission and the Rescue Reunion.