Gerrit Jones-Rooy is a Literacy Specialist & Senior Project Developer having previously served as a Staff Developer & Instructional Coach with the Reading and Writing Project of Columbia University. Other relevant experience includes working as a Teach for America Corps member in rural Louisiana and as a Reading and Writing Teacher and curriculum creator at KIPP New Orleans. Videos of his teaching have been featured on Leading Educators as instructional materials for new teachers. He later received his MA from Teachers College in Curriculum and Teaching and his professional writings include co- authoring the Middle School Units of Study in Writing and authoring Units such as Turning Every Kid into a Reader: Really- a curriculum used across the country to build enthusiasm in reluctant readers; Changing the World With Words, a unit on speech writing through analyzing rhetorical devices in famous texts; and All About Books, a nonfiction curriculum designed to help students investigate and write about topics of interest. Gerrit is currently working with Teachers College on the Enjoy Science initiative in Thailand, helping with the creation of a new Teachers College in Warsaw, and various other projects around the globe.