A Regulated Classroom: Preparing Every Child to Learn, Read, and Thrive

About the Presenters

Kai-leé Berke is the CEO of Heggerty, a nationally known early childhood expert, and an author of numerous widely used classroom solutions, including all editions of The Creative Curriculum, the GOLD assessment system, and Noni for Teachers, a teacher coaching app and companion curriculum for teachers whose students have been impacted by trauma. Formerly the CEO and Chief Academic Officer at Teaching Strategies, Kai-leé is a lifelong educator with decades of experience as a teacher and an administrator in preschools and elementary schools. Her commitment to relationship-based, reflective teaching practice has remained a core area of focus throughout her career and in her writing, influencing the ability of thousands of educators across the country to build intentional, safe, and secure relationships with the children that they teach.

Heather Minter is the Resilient Learning and Wellbeing Consultant with Heggerty. Her work focuses on helping children and adults access regulation, connection, and readiness for learning through evidence-based practices that promote focus, emotional regulation, and resilience in learning environments. Heather has partnered with early childhood education organizations to integrate trauma-sensitive, regulation-centered practices into classrooms and educator professional development. She collaborated on developing Noni for Teachers and was a contributing author of The Power of Relationships: A Practitioner’s Guide to Trauma-Sensitive Teaching. At the heart of her work is a commitment to nurturing—of children, of educators, of families, and of the inner life we each carry. Heather believes this approach to education is not a luxury but an essential practice that ripples outward, strengthening relationships, communities, and, ultimately, the world we share.

Dr. Diane Davison King-Shaw is a licensed marriage and family therapist working primarily with traumatized children and their families. Dr. Davison King-Shaw received her undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology from Smith College and her master’s and doctorate in human development and family studies (marriage and family therapy) at the University of Connecticut. She has worked in residential treatment facilities in Connecticut and Massachusetts, helping children who exhibited physically aggressive and sexualized behaviors as a result of their traumatic experiences. Dr. Davison King-Shaw taught college classes at the University of Connecticut and Montgomery College. Since 2008, she has worked as the Clinical Director of the Lourie Center School, an attachment-focused, trauma-informed, equity-advancing, and team-based therapeutic special education elementary school for students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

Marjorie Bottari is the Vice President of Academic Content & Learning Design at Heggerty and an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University. An experienced teacher, reading specialist, reading coach, and elementary administrator, she has worked with students across grade levels from Pre-K through eight. Marjorie earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Elmhurst College, a master’s degree as a reading specialist from DePaul University, and a master’s in educational leadership and administration from Benedictine University. She had the opportunity to work with and learn from Dr. Michael Heggerty, who served as her mentor while she earned her administrative degree. Marjorie joined Heggerty in 2018 and is the co-author of Bridge the Gap and the Early Pre-Kindergarten curriculum.