Laurie is a graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in both Spanish and Early Childhood/ Elementary Education, and a Master of Science in Education with a concentration in Reading and Curriculum Development. She has over 36 years of teaching experience in Spanish and English as a Second Language and has enjoyed working with students at many levels from preschool through university, adult education and professional development. She has twice received the President's Award by the New York State Foreign Language Teachers' Association for her contributions to the profession.'

Laurie has been a presenter, consultant and trainer on a local, state, national and international level. Her recent work in Australia, France and Canada has successfully  introduced the skills of Comprehensible Input-based teaching to teachers in other areas of the world.   In 2008, She and Michele Whaley of Anchorage, Alaska began to implement an approach to reading that they titled? ?Embedded Reading?.  It has been successfully and joyfully shared with and utilized by teachers internationally.   A long-time blogger and contributor to written publications on and off-line, her work can be found on her two websites (www.heartsforteaching.com and www.embeddedreading.com?).