Featured Presenters

Amany Elgendy

Amany Elgendy is a kindergarten teacher in South West Florida, where she has been teaching for 7 years. She loves to utilize picture books in her classroom to ensure all of her students feel seen. In her roles, she advocates for students to be represented and heard; both inside and outside of the classroom. Amany is part of her local union, and participates heavily in her county, as she continues to amplify teacher voices and teacher rights. Amany is a frequently invited speaker at conferences to provide the unique perspective of being a Muslim teacher in public schools. Find her on Instagram @misselgendy.

Matt Halperin

Matt Halpern is a joyful educator who draws on almost two decades of experience as a classroom teacher and coach. He is passionate about making classrooms childcentered and putting the effort and work of students at the forefront. His love for teaching social-emotional skills and literacy often combines as he is always looking for new ways to help others become the best versions of themselves. Recently, Matt started his own educational consulting, presenting, and writing business. You can find more information about Matt at www. MattHalpernEducation.com

Kim Jordano

Kim has incorporated over 30 years of teaching experience into her kindergarten classroom. A teacher in the Los Alamitos School District in California, Kimberly holds a master’s degree in English as a Second Language (ESL). Kimberly is a national teacher presenter and you can find her posts on both Instagram, and her Facebook pages Kinderbykim. You can find all of her creative teacher resource materials on Teacherspayteachers.com/kinderbykim Kimberly’s goal is to keep the joy in kindergarten while teaching the standards in a meaningful child-centered way!

Weston Kieschnick

Weston Kieschnick is an award-winning educator, best-selling author, TEDx speaker, coach, husband, and father. He is the author of The Educator’s ATLAS, Bold School, Breaking Bold, co-author of The Learning Transformation: A Guide to Blended Learning for Administrators and the creator and host of the podcast Teaching Keating. Weston has worked in collaboration with innovative tech and publishing companies (Google, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Apple) to redefine teaching and learning in the digital age. As such, he’s

Featured Presenters

advised educators from every state in the US and more than 30 countries around the world. Districts where Mr. Kieschnick has designed content, implemented initiatives, and trained educational leaders have been recognized by the Learning Counsel as being among the top ten in the nation for their work in blended learning. You can find Weston’s work published in EdWeek, EdTech Magazine, The Spark, and featured on TED, the 10-Minute Teacher, Teaching Tales, Kids Deserve It, and LeadUp Teach.

Jackie Kops

Jackie is an enthusiastic preschool teacher with over fourteen years of classroom teaching experience in both fullday and half-day settings. She is from Missouri where she earned a Masters and Bachelors in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Maryville University. Her goal is to help you unleash your teaching superpowers! Jackie’s passion is to inspire you with play-based activities, themed centers, and supports that nurture and challenge little learners in a caring classroom community. In addition to teaching, she is the teacher-author and CEO behind Pocket of Preschool and loves to share her passion with other educators.

MARY PAT LAROCCA & CELINE HILL

Mary Pat and Celine have taught kindergarten for a combined total of more than 60 years. They work together on the kindergarten team in La Grange South School District #105. Mary Pat and Celine gave a presentation on “Teacher Agency” in 2018 at the national Learning Forward Conference in Orlando, FL. They are ardent advocates for developmentally appropriate practices for kindergartners and passionate about their profession. They continually adapt to the everchanging needs of today’s kindergartners even including meeting the needs of these young learners virtually. Mary Pat has presented at this conference for over 30 years.

Jennifer Larocque

Jennifer is a 12th year kindergarten teacher at LaGrange School District 102 and a national speaker. She is passionate about including diverse books in her classroom and providing a multicultural curriculum in her classroom. She started the social media movement #allarewelcomeinmyclassroom on June 20th, 2018. She is a presenter with Get Your Teach On and was honored to present the ISTE conference. She has spoken across the country about implementing culturally responsive teaching. You can follow her on Instagram @themulticulturalclassroom.