Joanna Simpson and Kelly Bragg
Dr. Joanna Simpson is an Assistant Professor of English Education and Literacy at Kennesaw State University, in Georgia. Previously, she was an educator in an inner-city secondary classroom for 10 years. She was the Gifted Facilitator on her campus and taught Language Arts courses from the remedial to the advanced level. She holds endorsements in P-12 Gifted Education and Structured English Immersion in the state of Arizona and spent five years as an adjunct at the university level, facilitating courses in gifted education, literacy, and writing before coming to KSU. She holds memberships with the National Council of Teachers of English, the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents, and the National Association for Gifted Children. Her current research involves how to meet the socioemotional needs of gifted adolescents and adults. She is also involved in projects on differentiated methods to promote literacy in middle/secondary classrooms focusing on gifted and ELL populations. Recently, she was the recipient of the 2013 Arizona School Administrators Outstanding Research Award for her dissertation: A Case Study on Enrichment Seminar and the Socioemotional Needs of Gifted Students.
Kelly Bragg spent more than 15 years teaching Language Arts, Creative Writing, and Yearbook at an inner-city school in the southwestern United States. She worked with grades 9-12 and has significant experience working with in-service teachers. Mrs. Bragg led Professional Learning Communities and wrote curriculum both at the school and the district level to align with the state standards. Working for students, Mrs. Bragg also helped create and implement a school-wide Advisory program as part of the school improvement plan. Currently, Mrs. Bragg resides in Spokane, Washington and is a doctoral candidate at Grand Canyon University with an expected dissertation completion date of May, 2014. Her Ed.D. is in Organizational Leadership, contributing to the research of Transformational Leadership and the implementation of an Advisory Program.
