Contributors
Rick Anderson
http://www.InternetSafetyConsulting.net
Rick Anderson (Commander-retired) is a 25 year veteran of the St. Paul Police Department, St Paul, MN. He was the head of the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), which provided regional investigative and forensic assistance on cases of possession of child pornography and online exploitation of children. The task force is part of the national ICAC program with has similar task forces in every state and is funded by the Department of Justice. Since his retirement he continues his work in this area as a consultant for Fox Valley Technical College and is the training coordinator for the ICAC-Undercover Investigations course. He is also a team leader for the Quality Review Process the national ICAC program.
Rick and Pat Anderson began Internet Safety Consulting in 2005 to help the community understand the dangers the Internet can pose to their family and how to have a positive online experience. By providing training on what the dangers are, what tactics online predators use and more importantly what everyone can do to keep themselves safe while online.
Patsy Brown
Patsy Brown continues over forty years of advocacy for gifted children. She enjoys teaching and writing curricula for public and parochial school districts in urban, suburban and rural settings and has worked alongside students and educators from Kindergarten on up. Currently a university supervisor for teacher candidates at a nationally recognized institution, Patsy Brown is also a trainer for the Gifted Education Institute in her home state.
As a proud mother, Mrs. Brown has ensured that all four of her own children have received the advantage of accelerated learning opportunities.
Brian Creasman
Brian Creasman became the new principal at a failing school. Within six months the school met all 25 AYP targets and drastically increased student performance on state testing as well as classroom performance. He is the creator of Synergy™ School Improvement Program.
Mr. Creasman and his staff repeated this turnaround with a second school during Synergy’s second year. This school program increases student performance, especially on standardized tests. The Synergy™ program was designed specifically for middle and high schools and is proven to work. Click here for a Synergy™ case study. Mr. Creasman, as well as other PLB experienced instructors and subject matter experts, work with district and school level administration across the country to create sustainable school improvement programs that are student-centered, teacher-driven and parent-involved.
Cécile Doyen
Cécile Doyen has strong pedagogical expertise and an innovative approach to instructional technologies, Cécile offers her organizational skills and passion in delivering planning, consulting, and coaching to advance the professional and personal objectives of clients while targeting group and individual needs. Core Expertise:
- Pedagogy and Education
- Instruction and Training
- Technology Integration and Digital Literacy
- Professional Learning Communities
- Collaborative Planning
- Cross-cultural understanding and language programs
Bilingual services (English/French) and operating principles incorporate a cross-cultural approach to all our projects and a commitment to successful learning outcomes.
Brock Dubbels, M.A., Ph.D. (Candidate)
Brock Dubbels has worked since 1999 as a professional in education and instructional design, exploring new technologies for assessment, delivering content, creating engagement with learners, and investigating ways people approach learning.
Dubbels is a former Fulbright Scholar and has been a recipient of a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. In the past he has worked for Xerox PARC, Oracle, Americorps, and as a raft guide for the Yellowstone Raft Company. Dubbels currently teaches in the Minnesota State Colleges and University system.
Dr. Ken Gibson
http://LearningRx.com
Young Ken Gibson was so smart that his test scores allowed him to skip out of kindergarten and go straight into first grade. But, his learning difficulties landed him right in the lowest reading group. He struggled to read all through his school years. Back then, so little was known about the causes behind learning and reading struggles that he was essentially on his own.
Today, Dr. Ken Gibson would be labeled dyslexic. Many of his other cognitive skills were strong. He could (and often did) study 5 minutes before spelling tests and score 100%, but then would misspell those same words later on written assignments. He had an undiagnosed cognitive skill weakness that made it difficult for him to distinguish sounds and sound out words. These weaknesses made school far more difficult than it needed to be, but he compensated for his weaknesses, worked excessively hard, and persevered through to a professional graduate program.
When Dr. Gibson began his professional career he learned that he wasn’t unique in his reading struggles. Thousands of others struggled to learn and read. That motivated him to co-create the cognitive skills programs that form the foundation of LearningRx today.
Gail Hanevold
http://Wrist-O-Pic.com
Gail Hanevold teaches Developmental Cognitively Disabled special education students of transitional ages (18- 21 years old) in inner city Minneapolis, MN. She holds a Bachelors Degree in Elementary and Special Education, a Masters Degree in the area of Emotional Behavioral Disorders, and an Educational Specialist Degree in Elementary and Secondary Administration.
She started her own business and is CEO of Creative Behavior Interventions, LLC were she strictly hires young adults with disabilities to assemble and package the Wrist-O-Pic.
Gail’s strong belief when it comes to challenges? “It is not that we can’t do it, but rather, how can we do it?”
Sue Klund
Sue Klund graciously gave me permission to write the introduction to this section. As a high school teacher and parent of two five-year-olds I knew nothing about children learning to read until I began working with Sue as the instructional designer aligning technology for this course. So, why am I telling you this?
Reading Easy Books has been the most difficult concept for me to understand thus I have put Sue through lengthy Q&A sessions. It is from this extensive (and I’m sure exhaustive for her) learning that I’ve benefited.
When I asked Sue if wordless books really had any benefit (After all, “How can children read if there are zero words?” I wondered.), she insisted that it’s absolutely beneficial. Furthermore she told me, it is most difficult to find easy books for kindergarten-age children because EVERYTHING is hard for them. This I understood.
Sue has told me and I’m now convinced, “There’s no such thing as a book that’s too easy!”
It’s all about words formulating pictures that move across our brains. This was easier for me to understand when I considered audio books. When someone tells me a story I’m able to use my imagination to picture the tale. When I am reading words the actual text enters my brain in a different area and as such “competes” with the picture processing area for my attention. A book that is at my “easy” or independent reading level creates less of a barrier and thus I am more able to formulate a picture of the story.
Consider taking a closer look (uh, er, listen) for yourself here . . . click here by selecting any book that you are NOT familiar with.
Janet Oliver
http://www.planforlearning.com
Janet Oliver has always been interested in how people think and learn. In the early 80’s as a Montessori Preschool teacher, she honed her observational skills and started asking the question, “Why this behavior?” That question dovetailed with the explosive brain research that was being discovered at that time. Janet trained in many cutting-edge brain-body approaches throughout the next three decades.
After receiving her Master’s Degree in Human Development in 1997, Janet founded Plan for Learning in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. She earned the practitioner level from The HANDLE(R) Institute in 1998. With over a decade of clinical experience, Janet started training nationally and internationally in 2005 to spread the profound and amazing approach of neurodevelopment.
Fusion Training extended Janet’s training from the Introductory HANDLE(R) Course in all areas of reflex integration. She has trained all over the United States and Great Britain. She regularly teaches and sees clients in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Atlanta,and New Jersey.
Janet’s dream is sharing with others the wonder of human development from the seed senses and reflex movements of infancy to the mature sensory-motor-reflex system within all ages. In her experiences, the knowledge and techniques involved change many people lives. Through her clinic she offers evaluations, family trainings and home programs for those with sensory-motor-reflex issues including those with labels such as ADHD, ADD, PDD, ASD, OCD, dyslexia,dysgraphia, Tourette’s Syndrome and other perplexing behaviors.
Charles Profitt
Charles Profitt is a senior network technician for Pittsford Central Schools with eleven years of experience as an IT professional. He is responsible for the design and maintenance of a Microsoft Active Directory environment with fifteen servers, 1600 client computers and roughly 6400 users. He is also responsible for several other servers including database servers, web servers and various application servers including all backup operations for Windows based servers.
Jim Wright, M.S
http://InterventionCentral.org
Jim Wright is a certified school psychologist and school administrator in central New York State. He is the creator of Intervention Central (www.interventioncentral.org), a popular website featuring free student intervention ideas.
Jim has over 17 years experience working in public schools. He is now a full-time trainer and consultant to schools and organizations on issues relating to Response to Intervention. He trains throughout New York and nationally on RTI topics, including curriculum-base measurement, team-based problem-solving, and academic and behavioral interventions.
Contributors are independent of and not employed by Professional Learning Board.
