Archives for 2018

Barbara Connery

A Compassionate Resource for Dyslexic Children and Their Families

In this illustrated chapter book for families, Barbara Connery has created a work of healing fiction. Eddie is a third-grade boy who loves his parents, his dog, and summer vacations at Cape Cod. Although he tries very hard, reading is difficult for him. He finds support and inspiration from artists, educators, and most importantly, his own father. Meeting his favorite artist, Wendell Minor, changes his perspective after Mr. Minor shares that he, too, has dyslexia, a learning difference.

From the Foreword by Education Specialist Mary Jo Terranova

There are many books published today that help educators, parents, and students themselves understand what dyslexia is and how to help those with the disorder. There are very few books that approach the topic from the perspective of the child. Barbara’s book, Just like Me does just that. It offers the reader the opportunity to see through the eyes of a third-grade boy the potential frustrations and misunderstandings of educators and parents alike. This book is a must-read for families navigating the beginning stages of understanding and supporting their child with dyslexia. Barbara’s book is a refreshing way to view a student with dyslexia, focusing on the positive aspects of being a bright, inquisitive child. She offers hope to the families that this is something that can be overcome, with love, patience and a touch of humor. Barbara invites us into her own classroom with specific examples of how she makes learning to read fun, encourages individual passions and makes all her students feel like that can do or be anything.

About the Author

Barbara Connery holds a Master of Science in Elementary Education from Western Connecticut University and a Master of Arts in Writing and Oral Tradition from The Graduate Institute in Bethany, Connecticut. It was during her writing program that she embarked on the most significant educational journey in her almost forty-year teaching career. During this time, she investigated the correlation between dyslexia, difficulty in reading, and artistic inclination. With filmmaker Harvey Hubbell V as her mentor, Barbara met remarkable educators, parent advocates and neuroscientists, who shed a glowing light on teaching practices that could ultimately ensure reading success for all children.

Additionally, Barbara is currently a Ford’s Theatre National Oratory Fellow and is passionate about promoting oratory for all. For her efforts, she was recently awarded the Lincoln Teacher Leadership Award during a recent oratory festival in Washington, D.C. She has presented on the subject of oratory integration in numerous conferences including the Connecticut Teacher of the Year Symposium, Literacy for All Conference in Providence, Rhode Island and CASL and CECA Conferences in Hartford, Connecticut.

How can Parents, Teachers and their Children Live a Healthier Life?

Cheryl Martinelli

The ABC’s of Health and Healing is designed for children and adults. This large-format picture book makes a wonderful read-aloud for classrooms, sharing with family members, and includes more than forty beautiful and meaningful photographs by the author. The easy-to-read format includes resources for families to make healthy choices. This book is a great addition for families at home, and for teachers in the classroom.

Cheryl Martinelli have been an educator for more than thirty-five years. Whether teaching in the classroom or coaching out on the field hockey field, working with children has been rewarding and important work.

Her love of photography began while growing up in Nebraska. Developing film and working with light grew into a passion. Cheryl moved to Connecticut and continued this passion with my students.

After earning a M.A. in Integrated Health and Healing from The Graduate Institute, she knew that the importance of good health practices needed to be shared with children. This book was a labor of love that includes her writing and photography.

Cheryl lives in Harwinton, Connecticut with my husband and our boys – two golden retrievers, Captain and Husker.

TGI Creative Writers

Outside the Lines: Let Our Voices Be Heard is a stunning amalgamation of stories, essays, and poetry by four women who came together to share their love of writing. This collection reflects their ability to find strength, hope, courage and humor through all stages of life.

In this heartfelt and honest book, these women pour their lives onto the pages because their words were not meant to be kept–they were meant to be shared. Do you always think, feel, and behave in a way that society would approve of? If truth be told, few could answer yes to that question. Yet from an early age, society pressures us to “fit in” and conform. When we don’t, people are often critical and choose not to listen to what we have to say. In Outside the Lines: Let Our Voices Be Heard, we choose to take the risk that all authors do; to speak out and share ourselves through our stories, essays, and poems. Whether they fall inside or outside the lines of society’s expectations, we are grateful that you do us the honor of hearing and listening to our voices. In October 2018, the authors met each other for the first time as they began the Writing and Oral Traditions Program at The Graduate Institute in Bethany, Connecticut. They started off as a cohort of students, intent to learn more about storytelling and writing, but evolved into a group of trusted friends who supported one another on a journey of self-exploration and growth. During this journey, a baby boy was born, a new marriage began, a dear elderly loved one became ill and passed away, and all four authors experienced the many joys and challenges that come with careers as public educators.

Four emerging writers present a stunning collection of thirty-four written pieces in a variety of genres. In October 2018, the authors met for the first time as they began the Writing and Oral Traditions Program at The Graduate Institute in Bethany, Connecticut. They started off as a cohort of students, intent to learn more about storytelling and writing, but evolved into a group of trusted friends who supported one another on a journey of self-exploration and growth. During this journey, a baby boy was born, a new marriage began, a dear elderly loved one became ill and passed away, and all four authors experienced the many joys and challenges that come with careers as public educators. They formed their own publishing company, gathered their best fiction, essays and poetry and published this anthology in print and digital form before a world-wide readership.

From the introduction

Do you always think, feel, and behave in a way that society would approve of? If truth be told, few could answer yes to that question. Yet from an early age, society pressures us to “fit in” and conform. When we don’t, people are often critical and choose not to listen to what we have to say. In Outside the Lines: Let Our Voices Be Heard, we choose to take the risk that all authors do; to speak out and share ourselves through our stories, essays, and poems. Whether they fall inside or outside the lines of society’s expectations, we are grateful that you do us the honor of hearing and listening to our voices.

This book is Volume II in The Graduate Institute Creative Writers Series.

About the Authors

Meghann England

Meghann’s love of writing was given shape at Southern Connecticut State University, where she became a writer, open-mic-coffeehouse-regular, and winner of the Leslie Leeds Poetry Prize (Spring 2001). She was assistant editor (2000) and editor of Folio, the SCSU art and literary magazine (2001) during her undergraduate career. She has taught grades 9-12 in Stratford Public Schools since 2008, and served as director of STAGE, the Bunnell High School drama club, for two years. She presently teaches at ALPHA, the alternative program she prefers to call home and enjoys being a mother to Jace, Jude, and Mackenzie.

Michelle Martin

Michelle has been an elementary school music teacher for 20 years and currently teaches in Bridgeport, CT. After many years of watching teaching artists come into schools to perform for and provide workshops for her students, Michelle decided to train as a Storyteller. She is working with a mentor from the CT Storytelling Center and is excited to share her passion for storytelling, music, and writing with children. Michelle would like to thank her husband Jason, her children Sean and Liam, and her stepson Aidan, for their love and support while she pursues her dream to become a writer and storyteller.

Jelenne Parker

Jelenne is a resident of Windsor, CT. She is a former elementary teacher currently working as a paraprofessional. After homeschooling her first daughter, she realized how much she still loves the process of teaching and all those wonderful students she proudly taught. Once her second daughter made her appearance and life became more interesting, she decided to attain her master’s degree and return to the classroom. While acquiring a degree in Writing and Oral Traditions, she rediscovered her love of writing poetry and fiction. She looks forward to writing for children and young adults.

Maria Dawn Puziello

Raised by a family of readers, in a household filled to the brim with books of all kinds, Maria’s love for the written word began at an early age. As an elementary school teacher for more than two decades, she shares her passion for reading and writing with her young students daily. Maria also enjoys singing (especially jazz standards), quilting, crafting, gardening, and spending time with her three beloved sisters, her nephew, her three nieces, and all their wonderful families. She resides in East Haven, CT with her two cats Noella and Küpfel.

Enhancing Writing Fluency, Reading Readiness, and Cognitive Development Through Cursive Writing Instruction

Celia M. Batan

Why should we care about teaching cursive handwriting to our children?

“Once upon a time, becoming proficient in penmanship, as well as learning to write sentences in cursive, was an important and mandated skill developed by every elementary student. Writing in cursive was not only perceived as an art form, but also as demonstrative of a proper education.” (Foreword, Dr. James Trifone)

Today, unless you are a K-9 teacher, you probably are not aware that cursive instruction is no longer part of the child’s day in the classroom.

Does it really matter? In this exhaustively-researched study, Celia M. Batan pursued this question and reveals what could be lost to children– and what is harnessed by the ‘cognitive workout’ that joining letters triggers—by returning to cursive instruction in the elementary grades and continuing the use of joined letters throughout high school.

Cursive handwriting shapes the executive functions of the brain for successful academic performance while enhancing creative and critical thinking practices required for meaningful interpretations of what we see. Even more compelling is how handwriting instruction influences neuroplasticity of the brain and contributes to character development and psychological healing.

Ms. Batan demonstrates convincingly that cursive is about much more than beautiful penmanship.

Drawing on studies from the diverse fields of neuroscience, physiology, and education, she reveals how cursive makes significant contributions to reading, writing, language and overall cognitive development in early childhood.

Kinetic melody. Embodied cognition. Persistence. Self-restraint. Writing fluency. Joining letters to form a word. Academic success. She asks: are you ready to initiate your own Two-Digit Revolution?

Includes Supportive Resources:

• Teacher Survey Results
• Extensive Resource List

​

About the Author

Celia M. Batan, BA MA CPC

Celia M. Batan believes that each classroom is an integral part of her role as educator who assists students in carving out the story of a course syllabus, knowing that the story is theirs, not the teacher’s.

Ms. Batan’s undergraduate degree is in Social Sciences, majoring in Psychology, from the University of the Philippines. Her graduate degree is in Learning and Thinking from The Graduate Institute in Bethany, CT. She also holds a Certificate in Training and Development from New York University. Ms. Batan is certified to teach adult programs in the State of Connecticut and holds TESOL certifications to teach ESL and TESOL Business English.

Every year Ms. Batan enjoys several teaching positions in counties of Fairfield and New Haven, Connecticut. She considers herself fortunate in carrying yearly course loads in a variety of fields: Instructor, YALE English Language Institute Summer University Preparation Program; Adjunct Instructor, Extended Studies and Workforce Education, Norwalk Community College; ESL Advisor and Instructor, Building1Community (immigrant center) Stamford; Assistant Instructor, Aikido Martial Arts (Aikido of Fairfield County), University of Connecticut Stamford; Music Instructor, Gregorian Chants and Liturgy, Convent for an order of nuns.

Ms. Batan’s professional background is in instructional design of communication skills training programs. She enjoys martial arts practice of Aikido, Iaido, Arnis/Escrima, as well as the art of Ikebana floral arrangement.

Ms. Batan’s community service includes volunteering for various programs in the City of Stamford: assisting Stamford Public School’s Board of Education on reinstatement of cursive writing in the primary grades, teaching ESL at Building1Community immigrant center in Stamford, presenting Philippine culture at Dolan Middle School’s annual diversity program, welcoming patrons for Palace Theatre shows, and High Mass choir singing at the Basilica in Stamford.

Each year it is with pleasure that Ms. Batan looks forward to evolving teaching methods for each of her course assignments, integrating study skills of note-taking with basic brain-mapping techniques in the mode of cursive writing.

How can Parents, Teachers and their Children Live a Healthier Life?

TGI’s Creative Writers

What does it mean to “Live the Writer’s Life”?

To find out, ten strangers formed a writing cohort, came up with an audacious plan to write a book together, and began a life-changing journey into the world of the writer.

In this first-ever collection of writings by graduates from TGI’s Writing and Oral Traditions Program, ten authors gather their best fiction and non-fiction pieces, add insights and musings about the writer’s craft, and formed Ten Scribblers Press, an independent publishing company, to distribute their work before a world-wide readership. This book is Volume One in The Graduate Institute Creative Writer’s Series.

What’s it all about?

Consider these words from the Introduction:

The structure of Where the Words Await… might remind you of a multi-author, modern version of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: a bunch of ragtag folks meet at the beginning of their spiritual pilgrimage and decide to have a storytelling contest on the way. In the space of the story, each pilgrim shares not only the best story they’ve got, but a little about what drives and challenges them on their writing journey. There may be some conversation between the storytellers and the stories; but, for the most part, each story stands on its own and carries its own significance. In order to allow for this kind of conversation, the book is divided into sections by author. Each chapter features a piece of poetry, fiction, memoir, or essay alongside a small offering from its author that contemplates what unsettles or inspires them in regard to writing. The authors’ voices mix with those of their pieces, and all of these weave together to create a larger narrative about the creative process.

We intend that Where the Words Await… will engage future generations of continuing or aspiring writers in seeing that, though the writing process is messy and difficult, it is ultimately rewarding and accessible to all willing to grapple with its darker parts. This collection invites readers to find and successfully live their version of a writer’s life: not by telling them what to do, but by letting them live the experiences of other writers trying to find a “way into” writing. Your path will not look exactly like any of those presented in these pages—nor should it. Even so, we have found in our own writing community that it can be helpful to hear many opinions and ideas about what the best avenue is to writing and becoming an author. This book could be a small part of you discovering what works for you: or, even better, what doesn’t. Either way, we hope this book wakes you up to your own truth. We invite you to dip into the Quick Start Guide we have included at the end of this book as a way of jump-starting your own writing process. We have come to believe, in co-creating this book, that the writing process is a series of small awakenings. Like walking a labyrinth, our paths lead us deep into the center of own writing practices and beliefs, only to send us back to the outer rings again. It is easy for us to lose our confidence during those times, but equally possible to gain insights that enable us to break through barriers and conquer self-doubt.

This book is proof that having an encouraging community of creators behind us is key to unlocking powerful narratives and writing through resistance. After all, the writers featured in this volume had enormous help and support from one another, as provided by the structure of our M.A. Program at The Graduate Institute.

About the Authors

This book was created by members of the Writing and Oral Traditions Cohort 19-01:

Paul David Adkins, Pamela Briddle, Kyla DeRisi, Larry DiBernardo, Caren Goodhue, Sarah Gretzky, Cheryl Riello, Ann Sullivan, Tess Torrey, Rick Hribko.