| After graduating from DePaul University with a degree in Elementary Education, Roxanne Farwick Owens taught junior high students in Chicago. She completed a Ph.D. in Reading, Writing, and Literacy at the University of Illinois-Chicago and has been teaching Reading Methods courses and Children’s Literature courses at DePaul University since 1992. She has particular interests in the areas of Affective Domain, Children’s Literature, Family Literacy, School/University Partnerships, and Technology. Roxanne has been a member of the Illinois Reading Council since the late 1980s. She has served as an officer in ICARE (Illinois Council for Affective Reading Education) and CIRP (College Instructors of Reading Professionals). She has also served on the IRC journal editorial review board, the IRC Prairie State Author of the Year Committee, and she was the co-chair of the Illinois Author Luncheon at the 2005 IRC Conference. She has been the recipient of several IRC Literacy Support grants, and over a million dollars in federal and private foundation education grants. She was a 2005-2006 nominee for the International Reading Association Teacher Educator of the Year Award. She credits her involvement in the Illinois Reading Council with much of her development as a professional. Roxanne lives in Chicago with her husband John and daughter Ruthie.
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| An avowed “reading warrior,” Christine believes in teaching students to love to read-not just how to read. Because of her efforts to nurture the love of reading, she received the ICARE for Reading Award from the Illinois Council for Affective Reading Education in 2003 and the Illinois Reading Council’s Reading Educator of the Year award in 2005. In her 24 years in the classroom, Christine has taught in Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, and Illinois. She is the author of ten professional books for teachers and one children’s book. She has published in the IRC Journal and NCTE’s journal, Voices in the Middle. She is a regular contributor to ALA’s magazine, Book Links. She has presented at local, state, and national reading conferences and is a speaker-consultant with a nationally-known staff development organization. Christine has been a member of IRC since 1991—seven years longer than she’s actually lived and taught in the state of Illinois. She is an active member of ICARE (Illinois Council for Affective Reading Education), has served on the review board for the IRC Journal, has served on the IRC grants committee, and served on the review and nominating committee for the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award. She currently teaches 7th and 8th grade language arts in Dakota, Illinois, where she is also the grade 7-12 literacy mentor. She is an adjunct associate professor of education at Rockford College where she teaches a course in young adult literature. Most importantly, she is a wife to her husband Tom, mother to her children Ruth and Alex, mother-in-law to Morgan and a deliriously happy grandmother to Katelyn! You can visit Christine’s Web Site at www.chrismoen.com.
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| Susan Cisna received both her Bachelors and Masters Degrees at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. She currently teaches eighth grade language arts at Tuscola, Illinois, where she is also Student Council sponsor, Yearbook Advisor, and Cheerleading Sponsor. Over her 32 years of teaching, Susan has taught 1st, 4th, 5th, and 8th grades. Susan developed “Voices from the Prairie” which is a student/parent literacy program for junior high school students in Tuscola. For this program, she has received support from IRC through a Literacy Support Grant. She has served as the President of East Central/EIU Reading Council, Regional Director of Region 6, Corresponding Secretary for the Illinois Reading Council, and Chairperson of the Exemplary Reading Program Committee. Among her numerous teaching awards, Susan has been honored with the Illinois Teacher of the Year Award of Merit, the Illinois Education Association’s Advocate of Education Award, and the Illinois Reading Council’s Reading Teacher of the Year for 2004. Most recently Susan was honored by the State of Illinois House of Representative with House Resolution 1141 honoring her for her achievements in the field of reading education. One of her most important literacy goals is achieved by conducting workshops and presentations for teachers throughout the state and at national and international conferences. When she is not traveling, Susan enjoys reading, scrapbooking, and sewing. She resides in Villa Grove, Illinois with her husband, Dennis. |
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| Donna
Kay Monti is primarily a teacher of reading. Her first teaching
“position” was as a mother of 5 children. The wonderful experiences she
had while reading to and with her children led her to pursue a career
as an educator. After receiving a B.S. in Elementary Education, with a
focus in Language Arts from Northern Illinois University in 1990, she
began her teaching career at Goodwin Elementary School in North Aurora,
teaching first grade. She also taught several other grade levels during
the school year and in summer school before moving on to the middle
school level. S he received a M.A. from National-Louis University in
1995. Currently she is an eighth grade Language Arts teacher at Gary D.
Jewel Middle School in North Aurora. Also, Donna is the Literacy
Facilitator in her building. In this position, she provides
reading/literacy strategy training and resources for her fellow staff
members. In addition to her full-time teaching duties, Donna is an
adjunct faculty member at Aurora University where she teaches Education
majors in the MATC program. Each summer she serves as the high school
supervisor/principal at Waubonsee Community College. Donna also serves
as a Regional Director for IRC and as Vice President for Secondary
Reading League, a statewide council. |
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| Deborah Augsburger has
been a member of the Illinois Reading Council for over 10 years.
Deborah currently serves on the Will County Reading Board of Directors
as Vice President and has been the Autographing Chair at the IRC
Conference for the last three years. She has also served as a board
member for CIRP (College Instructors of Reading Professionals) and
Northern Illinois Reading Council. As an International Reading
Association member, Deborah served as a conference proposal reviewer
from 2004-2007. Deborah began her career in education as an early
childhood teacher, and then became a children’s book specialist
preparing custom-selected book fairs and making book recommendations to
teachers, parents, and children. After earning a Masters degree in
Reading, she taught college-level developmental reading for
under-prepared freshmen. Intrigued by research in the field of Literacy
Education, Deborah immediately began her doctoral studies upon
completion of her master’s degree. While completing her Ed.D. degree
specializing in Reading, Deborah was provided opportunities to present
and publish her work and gain experience working in partnership with
urban and suburban school districts, as well as with individual
students at K-12 levels. Deborah’s time within elementary school
classrooms and in training sessions for mentor teachers has given her
great respect for K-12 teacher expertise. As Department Chair and
Associate Professor in the Department of Reading & Literacy at the
Lewis University College of Education, Deborah serves on various
University committees and in school partnerships. She is currently
teaching graduate reading courses to help prepare future reading
specialists and reading teachers. Her specializations in the field of
literacy are children’s literature, storytelling, technology, and
social studies. |
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| Lou Ferroli began his career as a fifth-grade teacher in Plainfield, Illinois. Intending to go into school administration, Lou was so painfully lost when it came to teaching reading that he put administration aspirations on hold while he took a much-needed graduate course in reading at Northern Illinois University. That decision shaped the rest of his career. Lou became a Reading Clinician working with third through fifth grade students in Joliet, Illinois. Competing his master’s, he took a job as a Reading Consultant in Mannheim School District in the western suburbs of Chicago. Doctoral studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago were completed in 1991, and after 17 years in public schools, Lou joined the faculty at Rockford College where he teaches methods courses to preservice teachers and, as director of the reading clinic, trains practicing teachers in their work as they become reading specialists. He has received teaching awards from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the National Association of Bilingual Education, Rockford College, and even the U.S. Army. His research includes developmental spelling in both English and Spanish (a pretty good trick from someone who speaks only English), surveys of teaching practices in graduate reading education, and norming of the ISEL. Current research projects involve informal reading inventories. In the spring of 1976, while visiting relatives in Normal, Illinois, Lou saw a sign about the Illinois Reading Council. He dropped in that day at the annual conference, and the IRC has not been able to get rid of him since. In the IRC, Lou has been President of both a local council and a special interest council. He has served on the Board of Directors in several capacities. Several years ago, when he was editor of the IRC Communicator, it was discovered that there was a quarter page to be filled before it could be sent to the printer. Lou penned a column about a really “cool study” he had just read. Six years and some 25 columns later, “Cool Studies” still runs in the Communicator, and he says, “The IRC hasn’t sent me a single rejection letter.”
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| Cindy Wilson was born and raised on a farm in northern Illinois where she spent most summers reading in the hayloft and on the back of a slow old horse, and most nights reading under the bedcovers with a flashlight. In fourth grade she was chastised by her teacher for including a reference to a beer-drinking horse in a poem she wrote, and in seventh grade for reading a novel inside her history text during class. She eventually straightened out enough to receive three degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and taught various levels of 5 – 12 band, library skills, social studies, and detention in addition to the bulk of her teaching: reading, literature, and language arts. She lives north of Springfield on six acres with her husband and cat, and spends her summers gardening, reading, freezing vegetables, reading, canning, reading, fishing, reading, mowing, and reading in her hammock. The rest of the year she teaches literacy and seminar classes for preservice teachers K-12 at the University of Illinois at Springfield and supervises student teachers, making sure they all know about the benefits of belonging to the Illinois Reading Council and the International Reading Association.
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| Roberta Sejnost, who received her Doctorate of Education in Curriculum
and Instruction from Loyola University, Chicago, has been a high school
teacher and a university professor and is currently literacy consultant
to the Kane County Regional Office of Education. Roberta has been a
member of the board of directors for the International Reading
Association’s Secondary Reading Special Interest Group, as well as a
member of the Executive Board of the Illinois Reading Council, and has
served as an officer in several of the Illinois Reading Council’
special interest groups. A nationally recognized staff developer and
presenter, Roberta is a certified trainer in Authentic Assessment,
Brain-Based Learning, Portfolio Assessment, Multiple Intelligences, and
Reading and Writing Across Content Areas. She has won numerous awards
including IRC’s Reading Educator of the Year and the International
Reading Association’s Contribution to Literacy Award for the State of
Illinois. Her published book includes Reading and Writing Across Content Areas is in its second edition. Two additional books, Teaching Adolescents in an Extended Time Period : Strategies to Entice, Enlighten, Engage and Extend, and Promoting Literacy: Strategies for the Adolescent Learner will be published soon.
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