• Katherine Bomer is an author and teacher, currently teaching in Austin, Texas. Ms. Bomer was teaching at Pleasant Hill Elementary when she participated in the workshop. More than 80% of the 510 students there are of Latin American or  Mexican decent. About 70% of the students are classified by Texas as "economically  disadvantaged," and more than 83% of the student body qualifies for free lunches.

• Jonathan Holden teaches fourth grade in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The urban school where Mr. Holden currently teaches, Nathan Hale Elementary, has 199 students, most of who are African American, Hispanic, and   Asian.

• Barry Hoonan works with the 5/6 cluster at Odyssey School on Bainbridge Island, Washington, teaching all subjects, but especially concerned with literature and writing, his two passions. Odyssey, with 121 students, is an alternative public   school where families promise to volunteer between five and ten hours a month at   the school.

Barry Hoonan's "Must-Reads" Favorite Professional Books: Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers by Kathy Gnagey Short, Jerome C. Harste, Carolyn L. Burke. Heinemann. "You Gotta BE the Book" Teaching Engaged and Reflective Reading With Adolescents by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Teachers College Press. Literature Circles and Response by Bonnie Campbell Hill (Editor), Nancy J. Johnson (Editor), Katherine l Noe, Katherine L. Schlick Noe (Editor). Christopher-Gordon Publishers Favorite Picture Books: Crow and Hawk: A Traditional Pueblo Indian Story retold by Michael Rosen, illustrated by John Clementson Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki, illustrated by Dom Lee Encounter by Jane Yolen, illustrated by David Shannon Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Ronald Himler Smoky Night by Eve Bunting, illustrated by David Diaz John Henry by Julius Lester, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco Favorite Read-Alouds: Skellig by David Almond Thunder Cave by Roland Smith Crash by Jerry Spinelli The Last Book in the Universe by Rodman Philbrick Cages by Peg Kehret

• BJ Namba teaches third grade students at Honolulu's prestigious Punahou School. The 3,700 students there reflect Hawai`i's rainbow of ethnicities and cultural and socio-economic diversities.

BJ Namba's "Must-Reads" Favorite Read-Aloud Books: Crow Boy by Taro Yashima Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester The Table Where Rich People Sit by Byrd Baylor Amos and Boris by William Steig The Bracelet by Yoshiko Uchida Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting Heroes by Ken Mochiguchi Westlandia by Paul Fleishman Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes Favorite Books for Literature Circles: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson The Pinballs by Betsy Byars Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson Because of Winn-Dixie by Katie DiCamillo The War With Grandpa by Robert Kimmel Smith Just Juice by Karen Hesse Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry Sun and Spoon by Kevin Henkes Professional Books for Literature Circles Information: Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers by Kathy G. Short and Jerome Harste Getting Started with Literature Circles by Katherine L. Schlick Noe and Nancy J. Johnson Grand Conversations: Literature Groups in Action by Ralph Peterson and Maryann Eeds Conversations: Strategies for Teaching, Learning, and Evaluating by Regie Routman Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups by Harvey Daniels

• Tim O'Keefe is a teacher of the 2/3 cluster at the Center for Inquiry in Columbia, South Carolina - a school he helped co-found. The Center for Inquiry's 132 students are drawn from the Columbia area and enter the school through an   application and lottery process.

• Latosha Rowley, in her second career, taught the fourth-fifth cluster at the Indianapolis Center for Inquiry during our video visit. The Center for Inquiry, founded by Jerry Harste, is a language arts magnet school. It draws its nearly 300   students from throughout the city.

• Bileni Teklu teaches fifth grade at Fair Oaks Elementary in Marietta, Georgia. Almost 78% of the 582 students who attend Fair Oaks are eligible for the free lunch program. The school population is highly transient: typically, nearly 60% of   the student population change schools or classes in any given year.

• Rich Thompson teaches Grade 4 at Canyon Elementary School in Hungry Horse, Montana. The school serves a remote valley community about 10 miles from Glacier National Park, from which it draws 150+ students each year.
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