Meet the Authors

Valentina Gonzalez’s passion and love for education is widely known and shines through in her presentations and her writing. Her personal experience as an immigrant from Yugoslavia and language learner fuels her desire to advocate for English learners and support teachers with the best research-based teaching methods. 

In her 21 years with public education, Valentina served as a classroom teacher, an ESL co-teacher and pull-out teacher, a district ESL facilitator, and a district professional development specialist for teachers of English learners. Through these roles she supported students and educators and coached teachers on sheltered instruction and ESL strategies. 

Valentina has been asked to present at the state and national levels. She earned her Bachelor’s in Education from the University of Houston and her Master’s in Leadership and Administration from Lamar University.

Melinda Miller

Dr. Melinda Miller, a full-time professor, has been teaching literacy at Sam Houston State University since 2001. She currently teaches at the undergraduate, masters, and doctoral levels. She previously taught public school in the classroom and as a Reading Specialist for 11 years. After completing an undergraduate degree in Education at the University of Texas, she received her Master’s degree in Reading from Sam Houston State University and her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M University. She has published over 40 articles and presented internationally. She has been an Educational Consultant with Seidlitz since January of 2015.