Katherine Perez, a professor of education at Saint Mary's College of California, has over three decades of teaching experience from the preschool level through graduate school. A frequent presenter and enthusiastic "teacher cheerleader," she offers guidance to both novice and experienced educators. Perez is an international educational consultant, author, and motivational speaker, specializing in instructional strategies and creative approaches to literacy and professional development. She integrates state-of-the-art methods and research with passion and practical insights from her own classroom experiences. Perez has taught in many diverse environments, including in Richmond and Oakland, as a general educator, special educator, reading specialist, and curriculum and staff development coordinator. In order to "keep it real," she balances her college courses and her work as a coordinator for the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment program by serving as a literacy coach in a San Francisco Bay Area middle school, engaging even the most reluctant learners with brain-friendly techniques. Perez works with teachers, administrators and parents throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean, New Zealand, and Australia. For the past three years, she has conducted extensive training in Singapore and Hong Kong for the Ministry of Education.
