Rita Janes has spent a lifetime as a teacher. She taught at all levels of schooling, including the teaching of mathematics and mathematics education for pre-service teachers. She served as mathematics professional development consultant at the district level with responsibilities from kindergarten to grade 12. In recent years she has been facilitating workshops on mathematics instruction with teachers and school districts across Canada and the United States. She has a special interest in supporting teachers as they strive to integrate the NCTM Process Standards and the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice into the content of elementary mathematics programs, helping to make these programs come alive in the classroom.
Rita promotes the use of rich problem solving tasks, mathematical discourse and the posing of good questions to ensure inquiry-oriented classroom environments for all children. Observing how young children are more successful learners of mathematics when it is presented in a familiar context, she finds great success in using children’s literature as this context.
Rita has served on the Board of Directors of National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM); the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM); Chair of the NCTM Professional Development Services Committee; Chair of NCTM Affiliate Services Committee; Member of NCTM Educational Services Committee; President of Newfoundland and Labrador (NLTA) Mathematics Council; President of the NLTA Elementary Teachers Council; and Editor of Teaching Mathematics (an NLTA publication).
Elizabeth Strong is first and foremost a teacher. Her career began as a primary/elementary teacher, then elementary school administer, school district primary education coordinator and university professor. Elizabeth’s professional journey has focused mainly on literacy, language arts, and children’s literature. She has been and continues to be an International, National, Provincial, and Regional professional development presenter and facilitator of topics related to these areas. However, of late, her main focus is effectively using children's literature in the classroom to encourage young children to discover and explore the delights in books of all genres and to support, extend, and enrich all areas of the curriculum.
Elizabeth has served on the International Board On Books for Young Children; the Canadian Children’s Book Centre: Our Choice Committee; the Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence in Science, Technology, and Mathematics Committee; and Canadian Association for Young Children. She has been a member of the Journal of the Early Childhood Education Council, the College of the North Atlantic Early Childhood Education Committee, International Reading Association and a member of and reviewer for the Journal of the National Council of Teachers of English, as well as the President of the Newfoundland Teachers Association Reading Council.
