Ellen Cantrell
Ellen Cantrell has been teaching third through fifth grade students in New York City since 2009. Since 2012, she has worked in co-taught classrooms at Community Roots Charter School in Brooklyn, New York, a Roots ConnectED learning site. Ellen has been a member of the Inclusive Practices Group (IPG) at Community Roots since its inception, facilitating professional development on inclusive co-teaching practices and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Since 2017, she has been an educational coach and workshop facilitator for Roots ConnectED, where she has facilitated workshops on inclusive practices focussed on high-impact co-teaching models and the theory and practice of UDL. She has also worked with school leadership teams to construct a shared vision for professional growth at their schools and plan for staff development that furthers that vision. Ellen believes that inclusive environments are powerful for all students, and that a commitment to thoughtful instruction through UDL has the power to transform and empower learners and educators to create more equitable classroom communities.