Courageous Conversations in the Classroom: Using Children’s Literature to Support Social and Emotional Growth, Positive Identity, and Mental Health

Lauren Aimonette Liang, PhD, is Associate Professor in Literacy in the Department of Educational Psychology and Director of the QUEST Program for first-year student success at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on the selection and educational use of children’s literature, particularly as related to student response and comprehension. Dr. Liang is the author or coauthor of many articles, chapters, and books, and has held leadership roles in international literacy and children’s literature organizations. She has served as a committee member or chair for several prestigious children’s literature awards.

Karen W. Tao, PhD, is Associate Professor in Counseling Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah. She is a community-engaged scholar who teaches, conducts research, and facilitates workshops with a commitment to reduce disparities in access, service provision, and quality of mental health and education for historically marginalized groups. Dr. Tao collaborated with PBS Utah to produce an award-winning digital series, “Let's Talk.” As the host of this seven-episode series, she met with parents to discuss how to talk with kids about race, racism, and cultural differences. 

Michelle K. Hosp, PhD, is Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Senior Director of Assessment and Innovation at Renaissance. A nationally known trainer and speaker on problem solving and the use of progress monitoring data, she has served as Director of the Iowa Reading Research Center and as a trainer with the National Center on Progress Monitoring and the National Center on Response to Intervention, and is currently on the technical review committee for the National Center on Intensive Intervention. Dr. Hosp’s research focuses on reading and on multi-tiered systems of support/response to intervention in relation to curriculum-based measurement and curriculum-based evaluation. She has published numerous articles, book chapters, and books.