A classroom teacher for fifteen years,  Jeffrey D. Wilhelm is currently Professor of English Education at Boise State University. He works in local schools as part of a Virtual Professional Development Site Network sponsored by the Boise State Writing Project, and regularly teaches middle and high school students. Jeff is the founding director of the Maine Writing Project and the Boise State Writing Project. After 8 years as a classroom teacher,  Rachel Bear spent two years as co-director of the Idaho Core Coaches for the Idaho State Department of Education, supporting teachers in implementing the Next Generation Standards. She currently is a Senior Program Associate for the National Writing Project (NWP), supporting the College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP), which focuses on improving academic writing in rural school districts. Adam Fachler is a strategist, coach, and consultant for Pre-K-12 teachers and educational leaders throughout New York. He left the classroom in 2014 to co-found the School in the Square, a public charter school in Washington Heights. In addition to creating the EMPOWER framework, Adam is a leading expert in Thinking Maps®—a visual language for learning—and leads acclaimed regional certification workshops in the methodology.