Angela K. Salmon is the co-founder of Story Spaces. She has a well-earned reputation for building learning communities of practice and empowering teachers to gain ownership. Her research interest on the interplay between cognition, language and literacy development led to focus on children’s theory of mind, habits of mind, executive functions, metacognition, language and literacy development, teacher’s discourse in the classroom and learning communities of practice. Her research draws from coaching teachers in the implementation of cutting-edge research ideas in the classroom using children’s literature. Her current research is on collective stories for influence, an initiative that uses children’s books to cognitively and emotionally engage children in writing their stories to influence others.

She has a long-standing partnership with Harvard Project Zero and the Institute Habits of Mind from which she has developed numerous research initiatives, national and international lectures, and publications. As Associate Professor and former Director of the Early Childhood Program in the Teaching and Learning Department at Florida International University (FIU), Angela draws upon these progressive ideas that lead to authentic and meaningful learning with emphasis in global learning. She has also contributed with keynote presentations, lectures and workshops through the USA, Canada, South American Countries, Spain, New Zealand and Australia. In 2014 she collaborated with the Independent Schools of Victoria in Melbourne Australia as “Thinker in Residence.”

Angela is the founder leader of the Visible Thinking South Florida (VTS) initiative, Co-founder leader of the Faculty Learning Community on Habits of Mind at FIU. Her Leadership was highlighted with a Worlds Ahead Faculty recognition at FIU. Her global perspective about education has evolved in her leadership of various international conferences including six editions of the International Visible Thinking Conference and the 18th edition of the International Conference on Thinking (ICOT18).
She hold a BS in School Psychology by Catholic University in Ecuador, a Masters and Doctoral Degree in Education at University of Cincinnati, and is certified in Habits of Mind. Angela holds practical experience as a former kindergarten teacher; founder of The Joy of Learning, a Reggio-inspired preschool in Miami; Director of the School of Education at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and a founding member of USFQ lab school in Ecuador.