Willy Wood, MA in English, is a highly sought-after speaker on how the human brain learns and effective teaching practices. He speaks regularly in school districts across the United States and at national and international brain and education conferences, with a focus on sharing and modeling practical classroom approaches extrapolated from current cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
Mr. Wood began his educational career as an English teacher, teaching high school and university level literature and writing classes for 14 years. He then served as the Communication Arts Consultant for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for five years. During his time at DESE, Mr. Wood wrote the state’s Curriculum Frameworks for Communication Arts, led the development of the state’s communication arts assessment, and started the state’s first intensive K-3 professional development model for improving reading instruction (the Missouri Reading Initiative). During his time as a teacher and state educational consultant, Mr. Wood became fascinated with exploring the biological underpinnings of effective teaching and learning. He left DESE in 2000 to become a full-time educational consultant and presenter so he could share his passion for brain-compatible teaching practices with educators around the world. He now serves as President of Open Mind Technologies, Inc., an educational consulting firm. The author lives in Missouri with his wife, Debbie, and has three sons. He can be reached at his email address:
wordmanw@yahoo.com.
