Karen DuBois-Garofalo holds an M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education and has been working in the field for over 30 years. In her current role she Coordinates the UNH Early Childhood Education Coaching Initiative (funded by NH’s Preschool Development Grant) and is the Lead Early Learning Coach. For most of her career, she taught Kindergarten at the University’s laboratory school. In this role, in addition to teaching and spending her days with young learners, she mentored hundreds of college students at various levels within their pre-service practicum experiences over her tenure. She has presented workshops at the national, state, and regional levels on a variety of topics including child-directed and inquiry-based teaching, play-based learning, engaging students in storytelling, planning and embracing authentic literacy opportunities, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the kindergarten classroom. Karen transfers her extensive knowledge and expertise as an educator to her role as an early learning instructional coach where she serves as a passionate advocate for the importance of play-based learning in early childhood classrooms, supporting teachers throughout the state as they strive to integrate true best practices through the implementation of principles and practices of guided-play into their classrooms.