Ken Scheel is the founder and Chief Education Officer of KEVA Planks. He is an internationally sought-after trainer and thought leader in hands-on informal education. As a professional toy inventor and education consultant, Ken has a unique combination of skills to create compelling interactive experiences for people of all ages and all skill levels. His groundbreaking teaching methods caused him to be ranked the #1 presenter at SFN Nationwide professional development events. His training is always playful, practical and easy to implement.  Educational toys by Ken have earned over ten of the most prestigious awards in the industry including the Disney Family Fun Toy of the Year. He has provided creative KEVA experiences for Dreamworks Animation and LinkedIn.  His popular KEVA planks museum exhibits are displayed at over twenty leading science centers and children’s museums where he also provides staff training. As a leading expert in block play, his mission is to help educators make teaching more enjoyable and effective.

Learn more about the versatility of KEVA Planks and Dr. Scheel’s story at https://www.kevaplanks.com/
Dr. Sally Reis recently completed a six-year term as the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Connecticut. She is a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor and a Teaching Fellow in Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut. She currently holds the Letitia Neag Chair in Educational Psychology. She was a public school teacher and administrator for 15 years, prior to her work at UConn. She has authored more than 250 articles, books, book chapters, monographs, and technical reports. She has traveled extensively across the country conducting workshops and providing professional development for school districts on enrichment programs, differentiation, and talent development programs. Sally serves on the editorial board of the Gifted Child Quarterly and is a past-president of The National Association for Gifted Children. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and was named a Distinguished Scholar of the National Association for Gifted Children. She has expertise in the areas of enrichment, differentiation, talented readers, gifted girls and women, and twice-exceptional students.

PAGE thanks Dr. Reis and the University of Connecticut’s Confratute for the Thursday lunchtime keynote.  Confratute will be held virtually on July 12th-14th.  Learn More
Colin Seale was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, where struggles in his upbringing gave birth to his passion for educational equity. Tracked early into gifted and talented programs, Colin was afforded opportunities his neighborhood peers were not. Using lessons from his experience as a math teacher, later as an attorney, and now as a keynote speaker, contributor to Forbes, The 74, and Education Post and author of Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students (Prufrock Press, 2020), Colin founded thinkLaw, a multi-award-winning organization to help educators leverage inquiry-based instructional strategies to close the critical thinking gap and ensure they teach and REACH all students, regardless of race, zip code or what side of the poverty line they are born into. When he’s not serving as the world’s most fervent critical thinking advocate, Colin proudly serves as the world’s greatest entertainer to his two young children.