Speaking Topics
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Writers ARE Readers: Flipping Reading Instruction into Writing Opportunities
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Reclaiming read-aloud: Mastering the art of read-aloud in an age of accountability and standards
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Building a community of kindness through read-aloud and guided conversations: Bullying hurts
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Exploring writing instruction with a writer
Speaker Profile
Lester L. Laminack is Professor Emeritus in the department of Birth-Kindergarten, Elementary and Middle Grades Education at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina where he received two awards for excellence in teaching (the Botner Superior Teaching Award and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award). Lester is now a full-time writer and consultant working with schools throughout the United States. He is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English and served three years as co-editor of the NCTE journal Primary Voices and as editor of the Children’s Book Review Department of the NCTE journal Language Arts. He also served as a teaching editor for the magazine Teaching K-8 and wrote the "Parent Connection" column. He is a former member of the Whole Language Umbrella Governing Board, a former member of the Governing Board and Secretary of the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children, and a former member of the Board of Directors for the Center for the Expansion of Language and Thinking. He served as the Basic Reading Consultant to Literacy Volunteers of America from 1987 through 2001. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Our Children’s Place.
Lester has coauthored a number of professional books including Heinemann titles Writers ARE Readers: Flipping Reading Instruction into Writing Opportunities; Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature; Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum; and Bullying Hurts. In addition he has several articles published in journals such as The Reading Teacher; Science and Children; Language Arts; Primary Voices; and Young Children. Lester is also the author of six children’s books: The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins; Trevor’s Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth; Saturdays and Tea Cakes; Jake’s 100th Day of School; Snow Day! and Three Hens and a Peacock (2012 Children’s Choice K-2 Book of the Year Award), all from Peachtree Publishers.
Grades: K–6
