Guest Speakers

Courtney Farrell is the Founding Director of and a Literacy Consultant with The Journey Project, an inclusion- and educational justice-focused organization supporting gender-expansive and transgender children, families, and educators. She began her career as a classroom teacher in Title 1 public elementary schools in Los Angeles in 2001. After working alongside young people and their families in her classroom for twelve years, she began working with educators in Southern and Northern California on efforts toward schoolwide literacy transformation as a Staff Developer. Inspired by the communities she has served for nearly two decades and by her own transgender child’s transition in 2016, she has been researching anti-oppressive critical literacy pathways that enable elementary and middle schools across the nation to transform into more inclusive, equitable spaces for all students. Courtney, her two young boys, and one barky Yorkie, live in Southern California. They enjoy trips to explore tide pools at the beach, hiking and skiing in the mountains, and visiting local art and book stores to collect treasures that inspire their creative spirits. Follow alongside their evolving journey at thejourneyproject.us/journey/ or on Twitter: @EduCourts.

Georgia Heard is an internationally recognized author, presenter and consultant. Thousands of educators and writers have listened to Georgia speak of her passion for literacy and writing. She has keynoted hundreds of conferences and given workshops throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. After receiving her MFA from Columbia University, she co-founded the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in New York City -- a research and staff development organization whose goal is to help young people become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers.

She is the author of 18 books including Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School which was cited by Instructor magazine as one of the 12 books every teacher should read. Her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and professional journals and she has been interviewed on National Public Radio’s “perspectives.” Georgia lives in South Florida with her husband and dog, and is a new “empty nester.” Follow Georgia Heard on Twitter:@georgiaheard1.

Jamila Lyiscott is currently a visiting assistant professor of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Coupled with this appointment, Jamila is a Cultivating New Voices fellow within NCTE’s research foundation and was recently named a Senior Research Fellow of Teachers College, Columbia University’s Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME).