Dea Paoletta Auray
Founder of Empowering Writers, LLC, and author Dea Paoletta Auray is, first and foremost, an educator. She began her career in the classroom at Mill Hill School in Fairfield, Connecticut where, responding to the issues faced by teachers every day, she and her then partner, developed their highly innovative writing program.
Over a five-year period of teaching together, they fine-tuned their methodology to meet the many challenges of writing instruction – such as consistency, assured experiences, and manageability in classrooms with students who are working at different levels. As they put their philosophy into practice, they continued an active interchange with colleagues incorporating their input. A 45-point increase in the Connecticut Mastery Test scores of students who had been using the program provided the solid basis to formalize their method for distribution, launching Empowering Writers, LLC in 1997. Today, Empowering Writers is used in over 1,000 schools to develop enthusiastic, confident writers.
Ms. Auray’s role as an educator reaches far beyond the elementary school classroom! She has served as adjunct professor at Sacred Heart University’s Graduate School of Education teaching Children’s Literature and Process Writing. As a creator and presenter at professional workshops, Ms. Auray has trained thousands of teachers across North America. She has also presented at numerous conferences.
Always fully engaged in the current teaching environment, she has co-authored over 40 titles and continues to develop resource materials on narrative, informational, and opinion writing as well as response to text. Ms. Auray has also co-authored two professional books on writing for Scholastic: Super Story Writing Strategies and Easy Art Activities that Spark Super Writing.