Sydney Snyder, Ph D, is a principal associate at Support Ed. In this role, Dr. Snyder coaches ML educators and develops and facilitates interactive professional development for teachers of MLs. She also works with the Support Ed team to offer technical assistance to school districts and educational organizations. Dr. Snyder has extensive instructional experience and has worked in the field of English language development (ELD) for over 25 years. She started her teaching career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea, West Africa. This experience ignited her passion for language teaching, culturally responsive instruction, and ML advocacy. Dr. Snyder is co-author of
Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners: Tools for Equity and contributing author to
Breaking Down the Monolingual Wall. She served as an English Teaching Fellow at Gadja Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She earned her Ph.D. in Multilingual/Multicultural Education at George Mason University and her M.A.T in TESOL at the School for International Training. You can connect with her by email at Sydney@Support Ed.com or on Twitter at @Sydney Support Ed.
Diane Staehr Fenner, Ph D, is the president of Support Ed (Support Ed.com), a woman-owned small business located in the Washington, DC metro area that she founded in 2011. Dr. Staehr Fenner and Support Ed are dedicated to empowering multilingual learners (MLs) and their educators. Dr. Staehr Fenner leads her team to provide ML professional development, coaching, technical assistance, and curriculum and assessment support to school districts, states, organizations, and the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to forming Support Ed, Dr. Staehr Fenner was an English language development (ELD) teacher, dual language assessment teacher, and ELD assessment specialist in Fairfax County Public Schools, VA. She speaks German and Spanish and has taught in Berlin, Germany and Veracruz, Mexico. She grew up on a dairy farm in central New York State and is a proud first-generation college graduate. This is the eighth book she has written on ML education (and counting), with other titles including Unlocking Multicultural Learners’ Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible, Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners: Tools for Equity, and Advocating for English Learners: A Guide for Educators. She is a frequent keynote speaker on ML education at conferences across North America. She earned her Ph D in Multilingual/Multicultural Education at George Mason University and her MAT in TESOL at the School for International Training. You can connect with her by email at Diane@Support Ed.com or on Twitter/X and Linked In at @DStaehr Fenner.