Praise from Teachers
“For the past two years, students have experienced the processes of creating, writing, editing and telling as the necessary tasks for story creation. When these were viewed as individual chores, they had previously been approached with drudgery. However, students reported overwhelmingly that, ‘This is fun!’
“Overall, for the past two years, students have performed much better on the writing prompt test, writing complete stories which included more details and conversation than 4th grade students have done in the two previous years that I have taught 4th grade.”
– Mrs. Sandra Kushner, 4th grade teacher at Donald F. Lockwood Elementary School.
“Miss Leah’s Artist in Residence program for the 2001-02 school year has paid extra dividends to the library. Students have come prepared to use their newly honed writing and keyboarding skills in order to initiate and complete our yearly research project.
“I no longer hear the complaints and confusion of previous years. I have been able to use our library time more efficiently, because students don’t need a huge amount of pre-instruction for our activities. They realize the importance of writing as a “process.” When I ask for details in their outlines, I get nods of understanding and excitement. Students are simply writing more and enjoying it. We so often see compartmentalized learning, so it is very exciting for me to see the transfer of knowledge from one subject and classroom to another. I fervently hope that this program will become a staple offering for our school.”
– Sandy Lawrence, Library Media Specialist, Letchworth Central School District
“They loved listening to your stories!! I enjoyed the stories, too – plus the connection you made with the kids. You’re a natural born teacher.”
– Elizabeth Kurtz 5th grade teacher, Livonia Intermediate School
“The students enjoyed learning techniques of storytelling, which was evident in their enthusiastic retelling of the tales to their classmates. You are very professional and your experience with children is very evident. Everything was age appropriate.”
– Fran Murphy, Enrichment Coordinator, Wayland-Cohocton Central Schools
“All students were able to participate in the story-dramas – even students with diverse educational and ethnic backgrounds – because the dramas relate to real life. Staff and students have enjoyed this visit and pervious visits.”
– Rhonda Snowden, Arts-in-Education Coordinator, #5 School, Rochester, NY
“The children talked about how much they enjoyed the experience and they acted out their favorite parts again. We’ve incorporated drama in subsequent stories to make them come alive. It was fun to learn a new way to tell a story!”
– Laura W. Moulton, Special Education Teacher, #5 School, Rochester, NY
“I would recommend this residency for other schools. A lot of creativity is encouraged. Students enjoy the “hands-on” approach. Leah is fun!”
– Ingrid Quinn, Cheryl DiStefano and Staci Antovino, BOCES #1