ReLeah
Cossett Lent
ReLeah Lent spent over twenty years as a secondary teacher of
English, social studies, debate and journalism. During this time,
the Florida school district in which ReLeah taught banned over
60 YA novels and openly violated student press rights, actions
that led to two separate Federal lawsuits. As a result of ReLeah's
work to defend freedom of expression in the classroom, she won
the prestigious Newman's Own First Amendment Award in New York
City in 1999. She and co-author Gloria Pipkin wrote about their
struggles with censorship in their first book, At the Schoolhouse
Gate: Lessons in Intellectual Freedom. They then edited a
second book, Silent No More: Voices of Courage in American
Schools, a collection of narratives by educators across the
county who took courageous stands in defense of students' rights
to read, write and think freely. The books' success contributed
to Lent and Pipkin winning the American Library Association's
Intellectual Freedom Award and the National Council of Teachers
of English Intellectual Freedom Award, both in 2003.
In 2001,
ReLeah left the classroom to work with a literacy initiative at
the University of Central Florida, the Florida Literacy and Reading
Excellence Project (FLaRE), which provides professional development
to teachers and administrators throughout the state. Her increasing
awareness of students' disengagement and disinterest in school
led her to write her third book, Engaging Adolescent Learners:
A Guide for Content Area Teachers, published in 2006. She
is currently a national educational consultant.
Enrique
Puig
Enrique A. Puig is the director of the Florida Literacy and Reading
Excellence (FLaRE) Center. He has taught 25 years in Orange County
Public Schools (OCPS) with experiences varying from classroom
teacher to district resource teacher and has co-authored the OCPS
Comprehensive Academic Achievement Plan for literacy instruction.
He has a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree
in educational leadership. Enrique has also worked as an education
consultant for numerous school districts across the country and
has presented on various aspects of literacy instruction at state,
regional, national and international conferences such as the International
Reading Association (IRA), the Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development (ASCD), the Florida Reading Association
(FRA) and the National Reading Recovery and K-6 Literacy Conference.
In addition, he has worked at the Ohio State University, Texas
Tech University and Purdue University on a comprehensive school
reform project incorporating an immediate, intensive one on one
intervention. He is the president (elect) of the Orange County
Reading Council and a board member of the American Reading Forum.
His current professional interests are the concepts of pedagogy
and andragogy from a Vygotskian perspective involving literacy
coaching to increase student learning. Enrique's new book titled
The Literacy Coach (Allyn & Bacon) will be published
in June 2006.
