Master Trainers
Barbara Mariconda & Dea Auray
Co-Founders of Empowering Writers, LLC, and prolific authors Barbara Mariconda and Dea Paoletta Auray are, first and foremost, educators. Their partnership began in the classroom at Mill Hill School in Fairfield, Connecticut where, responding to colleagues’ frustrations of teaching writing and the lack of success of their young authors, they developed their highly innovative writing program.
While teaching together, Ms. Mariconda and Ms. Auray created a methodology to meet the challenges of teaching writing. Consistency across and between grade levels, assured experiences, and a common language are critical characteristics of their approach. Over a five-year period they put their philosophy into practice. The results were astounding - the 4th grade students went from 45% of the students meeting goal to 92% of them at or exceeding goal on the Connecticut Mastery Test. These results provided the solid database for launching Empowering Writers, LLC in 1997. Today, Empowering Writers is used in schools across the country and beyond to develop enthusiastic, confident writers.
Among their many credits, Ms. Mariconda and Ms. Auray have each served as an adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University’s Graduate School of Education teaching Children’s Literature and Process Writing. They offer numerous workshops for professional development in a lively manner sprinkled with humor and “been there” experience. They spark conversation and interest as guest speakers for organizations such as Connecticut, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, texas and California Reading Associations, The Connecticut Early Education Council and the NCTE National Conference.
They have co-authored over 20 books and continue to develop resource materials on narrative writing, expository writing, and persuasive writing. They have also co-authored two professional books on writing for Scholastic: Super Story Writing Strategies and Easy Art Activities that Spark Super Writing.
Collaborating on the development of materials and workshops, Ms. Mariconda and Ms. Auray also bring distinct and complementary skills to Empowering Writers. Barbara Mariconda is the author of more than a dozen children’s books and has won a nomination for the prestigious Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children’s Mystery. Her contribution to Scholastic publications include The Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever, Step by Step Strategies for Teaching Expository Writing and Effective Ways to Communicate with Parents. As a certified teacher, Dea Auray is up to date and well aware of the concerns of today’s educators. With a degree in business, she brings a level of expertise and discipline to the organization.
Barbara Mariconda and Sylvan Dell Publishing
Northeast:
Diane Lazar
Diane Lazar has been a classroom teacher in many grade levels from kindergarten through eighth grade for 15 years in Fairfield County, Connecticut. As a teacher of writing she had experienced tremendous frustration and found that Empowering Writers materials were both teacher and student friendly. Using the materials with great success in the classroom she now shares her knowledge of the writing process with teachers across the country.
A dynamic speaker for Empowering Writers, Diane relates to teachers as a colleague and is able to understand the pressures of the classroom in terms of writing curriculum. She responds to the needs of both teachers and students through direct instruction in the writing process, as well as test preparation, and the challenges associated with nurturing both proficient and struggling writers.
Diane currently presents professional development workshops in all writing genres for Empowering Writers and is a contributor to a number of their curriculum resources. In addition, she is the Writing Specialist in a Fairfield County, CT elementary school where she serves as both coach and teacher for staff and students. She has also been an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Education at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.
Texas:
Martha Hammett
Martha Hammett, an engaging speaker with twenty years of teaching experience for Ector County Independent School District, captures the hearts of Texas teachers! Having used the Empowering Writers materials in her classroom with great success, she is able to share her knowledge of writing strategies that will empower both students and teachers.
Discovering the Empowering Writers approach was a turning point in her teaching career. For the first time she felt prepared to actually teach writing. That “elusive four” was finally within the grasp of her students. As their scores surpassed her expectations, Martha felt compelled to let other Texas teachers know about the Empowering Writers methodology. Rave reviews from across the state have made this training a must for anyone responsible for teaching writing.
Martha has received numerous grants from the Education Foundation and currently serves on the Campus Improvement Team for Gonzales Elementary School. Coming directly from the classroom, she is able to relate to the needs of both teachers and students. Her expertise regarding the TAKS test and her belief that writing is a life skill make her an excellent choice as a presenter for your next workshop.
Martha has been a featured speaker at the Texas State Reading Association, the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented and the Sixteenth Annual Bilingual/ESL Multicultural Parent-Teacher Conference, among others.
North Carolina/South Carolina/Virginia:
Cheryl Welton
An educator for over 15 years, Cheryl Welton was introduced to Empowering Writers in 1999. While teaching fourth grade at Wilson’s Mills Elementary School in Wilson’s Mills, North Carolina, Cheryl began using Empowering Writers’ materials and strategies with her students. They quickly caught on and developed into confident, successful writers. The writing scores began to improve, increasing year to year, ultimately reaching 91% proficiency! Cheryl’s students were not the only confident writers – Cheryl became a successful writer herself. For the first time she knew exactly what to teach and had the materials and lesson plans to make it happen. In 2001 Cheryl began presenting workshops, training teachers and administrators how to use the Empowering Writers’ strategies with their own students. Today she is a master teacher of narrative, expository and argumentative writing, sharing her first-hand experiences and developing strong partnerships with districts across North Carolina and beyond.
Thousands of teachers and 1/3 of the counties in North Carolina are experiencing success using the Empowering Writers’ strategies and materials thanks to Cheryl’s passion for teachers, students, and a program she knows delivers success!
Vickie Taylor
Vickie Taylor, a National Board Certified Teacher with 30 plus years of experience in teaching grade levels Kindergarten through Eighth Grade, is a devoted educator. She has co-authored an educational book entitled, “Integrating Science and Literacy Instruction”. Her experiences in the classroom as a teacher, as well as her experience as an Instructional Specialist, Literacy Facilitator and Literacy Consultant provided the educational foundation that enabled her to quickly validate the success of Empowering Writers. Upon applying the strategies and skills in the Empowering Writers Program with her classes, she experienced phenomenal growth the first year of implementation. Realizing the empowerment that Empowering Writers brought to both teachers and students, she felt compelled to share this success with other teachers.
Vickie is passionate about sharing the Empowering Writers techniques she has used with her students with other teachers that suffer the same frustrations that she once did. Her personal success with the program motivates her to share her knowledge and expertise of these successful writing techniques that are practical and easily accomplished.
Aubrey Whisler
As a teacher, Duke graduate Aubrey Whisler was always on the lookout for best-practices and would critically examine curricular programs from a number of vantage points related to her background and experience. With a love of writing, she struggled to find highly effective ways to get good writing strategies across to her students. Committed to using a holistic approach to teaching, she wanted the students in her classes to understand and experience the real ways authors work. Neither her undergraduate or graduate teaching courses, nor the many writing workshops she had attended over the years had really put all the pieces of teaching writing in a succinct, well-organized format.
After being trained in and using writing structures such as writers workshop and six traits, Aubrey was introduced to Empowering Writers. Empowering Writers was exactly what she had been looking for. She found it to be the most well-structured writing curriculum that allowed all her students to develop the skills and strategies that real authors use. Using Empowering Writers, her students became confident in their abilities as writers and were excited to write. Novice teachers were also able to effectively implement the curriculum and Aubrey was able to extend it in a myriad of ways. Through the use of the Empowering Writers Program, she too found herself becoming a better writer.
Aubrey is excited to have the opportunity to share Empowering Writers methods and strategies with fellow teachers as an Empowering Writers workshop trainer and has presented to hundreds of teachers across North Carolina and beyond. Aubrey brings a high level of expertise in educational research and state standards to her work, making her presentations relevant on multiple levels.
