Luftmensch Designs

I'm a she/her Jewish-Montessori-artist-mama-educator. I believe every child deserves to grow in a beautiful environment, and so Luftmensch Designs donates printables to BIPOC teachers and parents who wish to use them, but are concerned about the costs. Please contact me at Lori@luftmenschdesigns.com for material requests, or to sponsor material donations for others. I'm a professor of English at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Illinois, where I've taught developmental English and education courses since 2010. I also teach classes on literacy instruction to graduate students who plan to become reading specialists. Prior to that, I taught at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois for six years. I'm a former high school English teacher and reading specialist. I also spent six years teaching gifted courses for K through 8th graders in Northwestern University's Saturday Enrichment Program, and four years teaching religious school in my family's synagogue.

My approach is to be as inclusive as possible. My academic work focuses on fostering a *culture of membership* at my institution that welcomes *all* students to our college, regardless of their prior experiences, opportunities, and background. This means I spend a lot of time examining curricula, materials, policies, procedures, and communications to determine how well they make explicit the demands and expectations being made of them. My goal is to help every student who walks though our doors to become and insider at the College.

I was awarded a full sabbatical for the Spring of 2020 to continue my work on developing a culture of. membership at my institution. Of course, this sabbatical was interrupted by a global pandemic, so I am still currently finishing this research. My 2012 research report ("Social Media and Student Engagement in First-Year Developmental Reading Courses") has been added to the National Center for Developmental Education's (NCDE) research library, housed in the Kellogg Institute at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. I conducted this research and submitted the report as the final practicum project for my certification as a Developmental Education Specialist. NCDE identifies exemplary reports to become a part of the permanent library collection. I'm honored that my research will live among that of so many of my wonderful colleagues in the field of developmental education.

Certified Developmental Education specialist through the Kellogg Institute at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Go Apps! Continuing graduate coursework in: Teaching Writing at Johns Hopkins University Postsecondary developmental literacy and language instruction at Northern Illinois University MEd in Reading and Literacy from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois 19 hours of graduate coursework in secondary English education at National-Louis University in Chicago, Illinois BA in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Majors: English and American literature & technical theatre, costume design and makeup) Illinois Type 10 Certified Reading Specialist Illinois Type 09 Certified Secondary Educator, English and Theater

Follow me on Instagram for sneak peeks into my design process! @luftmenschdesigns I share lots of free printables on my website www.luftmenschdesigns.com. Please join me and other readers on Goodreads! http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1857799-lori