4th International Storyline Conference

Steve Bell is an educational consultant and director of Storyline Scotland. He is also the chairman of the European Association for Educational Design, an organization formed to promote the use of Storyline internationally in a critical and innovative way by sharing ongoing research, resources, curriculum development, and applications of the method. As a member of the staff tutor team at Jordanhill College of Education, now Strathclyde University, Glasgow, from 1967 until 1997 he was one of the originators of this approach. He has travelled widely as a keynote speaker and course tutor, working in many European countries, in the Middle and Far East, and in America. In November 2006, he was chairman of the Third International Storyline Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, which attracted 350 delegates from 16 countries. Visit his website at: www.storyline-scotland.com.

Sallie Harkness is a Froebel trained teacher of young children who later took an extra qualification in art. She joined the Jordanhill staff tutor team in 1970 and took part in the early development of Storyline. She is a colleague and friend of Steve Bell and has taught Storyline courses in many countries including Denmark, Iceland, and the USA. She recently partnered him on a tour of Thailand providing courses for faculty of education students, experienced teachers, and lecturers. Ms. Harkness has hosted many different teacher groups while visiting Glasgow. Her special interest in art as a means of expression establishes strong links with Storyline work. She also uses it with adults through creative embroidery. An active member of the Renfre wshire branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild, she has exhibited her work in exhibitions in Glasgow and west Scotland.

As an enthusiastic reader, Ms. Harkness has a particular interest in book-based Storylines and has collaborated with colleagues to publish numerous guides for teachers. She is a coauthor of Reading 2000, a reading-based language program that includes book studies. This program has been widely used in Scottish primary schools.

Learn more about her work by visiting the Storyline Website at www.storyline-scotland.com or by contacting her by e-mail sallie@storyline-scotland.com

Marie Jeanne McNaughton is a senior lecturer and BEd curricular studies coordinator in the Department of Childhood and Primary Studies at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Her main teaching, writing, and research work is in the fields of education for sustainable development and educational drama. She is extremely enthusiastic about the use of drama and story to help young people to learn more about the world in which they live. She has worked with a number of environmental groups, and has developed courses for teachers with both drama and sustainable development themes. She is the editor of Drama Journal, the publication for those working in the field of drama education.

In 1999, Michael Hoeye began an email to his wife who was on an extended business trip in Southeast Asia. In an effort to entertain her while she traveled, he made up a story about an ordinary watchmaker/mouse named Hermux Tantamoq who stumbles into romance and mystery when he meets a daring aviatrix named Linka Perflinger. Over the course of the next two months he dutifully wrote and sent off a chapter nearly every day. By the time his wife returned to their home in Portland, Oregon, Hermux’s story had grown into a book.

Four months later he had edited, designed, and printed his first edition of Time Stops for No Mouse. Two years later, the adventures of Hermux Tantamoq was translated into 25 different languages.

Sharon Ahlquist has taught English as a second language for more than 20 years, in the UK, Germany, Portugal and, Sweden. She works as a teacher trainer at University College, Kristianstad, and introduced the Storyline approach into primary, secondary and inservice courses after attending the first international conference in Denmark. She is currently working towards a doctor of education degree in which her research focuses on the impact of Storyline on the young language learner classroom. She has just finished a study with a mixed age class of 32 11-13 year olds, in which they worked with a Storyline, Our Sustainable Street, in English.

Susan Beaird is a 4th/5th grade teacher at the Metropolitan Learning Center in Portland. She has 20 years of experience teaching in public schools in the Portland metropolitan area. In her free time, she enjoys time in the outdoors, reading and travel.

Mary Boutton teaches fourth grade at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Hathaway Brown School is an all-girls independent school offering classes for preschool through grade 12. Ms. Boutton has taught Kindergarten for two years and fourth grade for four years at Hathaway Brown. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1976 from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, a juris doctor (law) degree in 1979 from the National Law Center at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a master’s degree in education in 2003 from Ursuline College in Cleveland, Ohio. Ms. Boutton has been using the Storyline method since 2006 to teach Ohio history, particularly the time period from 1720 to 1830 when the historic Native American tribes settled the Ohio territory. She trained with Storyline Design in Portland, Oregon, and attended the International Storyline Conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2006.

Tara Branham, a middle school teacher at Sunnyside Environmental School in Portland, Oregon, became enamored with the Storyline method while student teaching nine years ago. Since becoming a teacher, she has used Storyline to teach forest ecology, urban planning, ancient cultures, and more. She has enjoyed collaborating with her team on keeping the Storylines exciting and up-to-date. Her favorite Storyline has been creating a museum in her classroom while studying ancient cultures. Her dog Kaya has even become part of a Storyline!

Ken Brown is a first grade teacher at Woodriver Elementary School in Fairbanks, Alaska. Along with his wife, Amy, he began his teaching career on St. Lawrence Island, in a Siberian Yupik village in Gambell, Alaska. He then taught in southwest Alaska in a Cup’ik village, for seven years, and then moved to Fairbanks. He has used the Storyline method as a kindergarten teacher, third grade teacher, fifth grade teacher, and as a 5/6 combination teacher and in secondary English. Some of his students experienced Storyline with him at three different grade levels.  He was named the local Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club Teacher of the Year in 2007, due mostly to his use of the Storyline Method. He has also been nominated as a BP Teacher of Excellence three years in a row. He has a master’s degree in elementary education.

Laima Burbienė is an English teacher at Kaunas Ugnės Karvelis Gymnasium (Lithuania). In 1993, she was invited to be the interpreter for Steve Bell (on his very first visit) to give courses to teachers in Ugnės Karvelis Gymnasium. This was a good introduction to the Storyline approach. Since then she has kept in touch with the Storyline movement. In 2006, she participated in the Third International Storyline Conference in Glasgow and found it inspiring. With the help of Ona Leonavičienė, an experienced Storyline teacher, she has been introducing Storyline into her teaching at Ugnės Karvelis Gymnasium. She draws upon this rich background to present at Portland State University in August 2009.

Carol Burnes, MA, is an internationally published poet, performer, and workshop leader. She has performed extensively, and taught for over 25 years using her acclaimed ‘Discoveries’™ method in the United States, England and Europe. She is the author of An Episode of Buttons (UK), Fine Lines (UK), and Roots and Wings (US). Her one-woman show, "Suddenly Single", has been very well received in both England and the United States. She now works with advanced trial law students at Boston University Law School, and has held a lectureship at B.U. School of Education. She also works with individual writers on both technical and creative projects, consults with businesses, and coaches a variety of performers and storytellers.

Claire Cofsky is a teacher at Metropolitan Learning Center. She began using Storyline nine years ago when Jeff Creswell moved to MLC. She appreciates how Storyline weaves interdisciplinary studies and authentic learning into meaningful, real-world contexts. When not teaching she enjoys gardening, hiking and camping in the northwest, reading and travel.

Helen Crandell is an educator with 28 years experience. Her bachelor’s degree is in elementary education from Oregon State University and her master’s degree is in educational administration from Portland State University. Ms. Crandell is a Storyline trainer with 15 years’ experience, and has shared the Scottish Storyline Method with teachers in Oregon, Washington and Ohio. She has also facilitated staff development workshops in Portland and Woodburn. Ms. Crandell was a presenter at the 2000 and 2003 International Storyline Conferences in Denmark, and the 2008 Nordic Storyline Conference in Sweden. Ms. Crandell currently teaches sixth grade language arts and social studies at Laurelhurst School in Portland, Oregon.

Jeff Creswell is an experienced classroom teacher and staff developer who has been working with the Storyline method since it was first brought to the United States. He is the author of Creating Worlds, Constructing Meaning: The Scottish Storyline Method, published by Heinemann Books. He has trained teachers throughout the United States and Europe and is also a member of the Golden Circle. Mr. Creswell recently retired from classroom teaching after 32 years. In addition to his work with Storyline Design, he is a facilitator for the Center for Courage and Renewal working with educators and other people in the helping professions.

Lesley Dunlop is the Creative Links Officer (CLO) for Glasgow City Council. She is based in the Education Improvement Service in Education Services in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. The city has 29 secondary and 165 primary schools. She works across the whole city from pre-5 to secondary 6 and with all departments of the council and with Culture and Sport Glasgow in particular. This department is responsible for all the libraries, sports facilities and museums in the city. Prior to taking up this post she served for many years as the head teacher of a primary school in Glasgow. She has had experience as a staff tutor with responsibility for the expressive arts. In 1990, when Glasgow was the European City of Culture, she managed the Strathclyde Regional Team for Education. The post of CLO was created for Scotland by the Scottish Executive and is administered by the Scottish Arts Council. The network meets and communicates regularly. Her work allows her to engage regularly with artists who are employed to enrich the new Curriculum for Excellence that has recently been introduced across the country. She writes and delivers Storyline courses for teachers in the city with Sallie Harkness.

Frank Egeland is an assistant professor of education at the University of Agder in Norway. He specializes in vocational education and ICT. His subjects include Teacher ICT (LærerIKT), Learning Network (Lærende Nettverk) and using Storyline in vocational education.

Björg Eiríksdóttir is a teacher and project manager at Kársnesskóli, Kópavogur, Iceland, and teaches part time at the University of Iceland. She has a master’s degree from Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland where she studied teaching methods with emphasis on Storyline. The title of her master’s thesis is Qualities of the Storyline Method for Teaching in Primary Schools in Iceland. She has used Storyline in her classroom and has organized and taught many courses about the Storyline method in Iceland, Finland and Denmark. The Storyline method has been used extensively in Kársnesskóli in all classes from first to seventh grade. Ms. Eiríksdóttir has designed many topics and been a leader in this work. She has attended all international Storyline conferences and the Golden Circle seminars, as well as national conferences in Iceland and Sweden. Her interest is in how Storyline method helps teachers make students more interested and better learners.

Marcie Ellerbe is a co-director of the Coastal Area Writing Project in South Carolina and a literacy instructor in the elementary education program at the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include studying effective teaching practices within writing workshops. After participating in a Storyline workshop with Jeff Cresswell she became interested in how Storyline can support writing teachers as they develop new visions of units of study in writing.

Wendy Emo first taught with Storyline while teaching kindergarten in Oregon and subsequently used it in second and fifth grades. Convinced of Storyline's positive effects on both students and teachers, she introduced it to K-12 and university teachers in South Dakota and Minnesota. Ms. Emo is currently an instructor in the department of teacher education at South Dakota State University and a doctoral candidate at the University of York, England. Storyline is the context for her doctoral thesis.

Bianca Espinosa is a high school language arts and fine arts teacher at the Metropolitan Learning Center in Portland, Oregon. She incorporates Storyline into her high school curriculum. As a newer teacher she feels that Storyline has helped her to integrate cross-curriculum work in a way that benefits students of various abilities in her classroom. This lasting work provides a path for student-discovery, and presents an authentic audience for learners. Storyline has helped to enrich her experiences as an educator.

Janet Files is the director of the Coastal Area Writing Project in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and a literacy coaching specialist for the South Carolina Reading Initiative. She is also a facilitator with the Courage to Teach program. Ms. Files met Storyline trainer, Jeff Creswell, through their work with Parker Palmer and the Courage to Teach program and was intrigued by the potential of the Storyline approach to enrich a writing community. Mr. Creswell was the guest presenter at the Coastal Area Writing Project’s Summer Institute in 2008. Storyline infused institute teacher participants and leaders with enormous energy and enthusiasm for creating short stories based on the hotel storyline they pursued together. Inspired by the impact of Storyline, Ms. Files and her co-director, Marcie Ellerbe chose to base their 2009 institute on building a storyline that would help them further study the synergy released from a marriage of Storyline and fiction, as well as nonfiction writing within a writing project setting.

Roger Fisher is an educator and presenter with 20 years experience working with children and adults. He has a master’s degree from the University of Oregon and is a veteran Storyline Design trainer with expertise in integrated curriculum design and implementation. Mr. Fisher has worked with children ages 7-14 in self-contained classrooms, middle schools, after school programs, and summer challenge academies. He currently teaches gifted and talented children in grades 2-5 in a district-wide pull-out model and teaches math and science methods at the college level. Storyline is his favorite model for creating exciting and relevant learning for young people.

Cami Green has just finished her 16th year of teaching. The past eight years have been spent at Highland Elementary, a Storyline Magnet School, located in Bend, Oregon. She has taught Storylines in grades 2-5. Her favorite Storylines are Revolution, Detective Agency, Iditarod, National Parks, Space Abduction, and Oregon Trail.

Marieka Greene was born and raised near San Francisco, California. She received her bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in Vermont where she majored in both theatre and English. After graduation, she moved to Bend, Oregon, and started her teaching career in a 2/3 split-grade classroom at Highland Elementary School (A Storyline magnet school in Bend, Oregon). Ms. Green continually calls upon her background in theatre to enrich her Storylines – and in her three years at Highland has completed nine Storylines – two of them based on the works of William Shakespeare.

Sandra K. Hardee received a BA and a MEd from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. She taught elementary art students for thirteen years, taught as adjunct faculty at CCU, was a co-director of the Coastal Area Writing Project (a partner of the NWP) for ten years, and has served as a G/T art consultant. Ms. Hardee has published writing and artwork in several publications and juried many local art exhibits. Her artwork has been exhibited in numerous galleries, and in private collections throughout the country. Her passions include compiling travel journals as artistic records of her travels, creating art journals as seed books for future artwork, and assemblage designs. Currently, she is working on a series of altered books; each book features a state and its state bird.

Julie Harris has been an early childhood teacher at Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland, Ohio since 2003. She received a degree in family and consumer sciences with a concentration in child development and psychology from Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio. After teaching in Cleveland for two years, she moved to New Hampshire where she became an art and preschool teacher. Her colleague, Mary Boutton, introduced her to Storyline and she used it to engage preschoolers in a farm Storyline.

Ned Hascall is a teacher of 11- and 12-year-olds at the Metropolitan Learning Center in Portland. He earned his bachelor of fine arts in painting from the University of Washington and did his graduate work in education at Pacific Oaks College. His passions include painting, geography, music, history, and cycling. He ardently believes that close cooperation among teachers provides students with a more potent experience in the classroom. His favorite storylines include, The Composer's Notebook, Our Land, The Living Art Museum, Underground to Canada, and The Campaign. For the past seven years, Mr. Haskall has worked closely with a committed group of Storyline teachers, including his colleague and friend Jeff Creswell.

Gretchen Holzberger is finishing her eleventh year as an English teacher at Carolina Forest High School in Myrtle Beach, SC. She graduated with both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Secondary English Education from Coastal Carolina University and received her National Board Certification in Early Adolescence English Language Arts in 2007. In addition to teaching, she works as a teacher coordinator for the Coastal Area Writing Project (partnered with NWP), where she was first introduced to Storyline in 2008. Her passion for learning and sharing this knowledge with others has helped shape her curriculum over the years.

J.J. Howard has been teaching for elementary students for sixteen years. He has been a Storyline teacher since 1997. He currently teaches a second and third grade blend at Highland School, (a Storyline magnet school in Bend, Oregon). When he’s not teaching he enjoys running, science fiction, travel, and spiritual discussions.

Carol T. Jones is the director of the Theatre Institute for Educators and Teaching Artists at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. The institute provides ongoing professional learning for teachers interested in using drama strategies in the classroom. She works in partnership with Teaching Artist Claire Ritzler to design and implement Storyline residencies in the state of Georgia. The pair presented a Rainforest Adventure Storyline in Scotland. They have worked with grades K–8 on topics including Toy Factory, Ghosts of Georgia, the Revolutionary War, US Government, book-based Storylines and others. Ms. Jones has worked as a theatre educator for over 40 years, taught in special education and in graduate classrooms and has degrees in both education and theatre. She is currently completing a CAGS degree in Integrated Arts at Plymouth University, New Hampshire.

Sarah Jones has been teaching Storyline for 10 years in grades 3-8. Currently, she teaches in a self-contained sixth-eighth grade classroom at the Creative Science School in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Jones was at the very first presentation of Storyline in the United States when she was in middle school. Her favorite aspect of Storyline is watching the engagement and excitement students have as they delve into curriculum and take ownership in their learning.

Hanne Lund-Kristensen is assistant professor in pedagogy at Telemark University College, Faculty of Arts, Folk Culture and Teacher Education, Norway. Her main professional and private focus is the creativity of life: 1+1=3. This creativity is represented in Storyline, as a way of bridging the gap between complementary ways of learning. In the creative language of metaphors, Ms. Lund-Kristensen tells how she is exploring the creativity of Storyline from a didactic, action research perspective: My favourite way of “travelling” through the pedagogical landscape, is like a helicopter-pilot moving upwards and downwards, - to get distance and closeness in the same flight. The “helicopter” brings me far up in the philosophical atmosphere, - then straight down close enough to sense the real life in the classroom, - and finally in between, to draw the theoretical map that brings the two together.

Gudmundur Kristmundsson got his teacher education from Iceland College of Education and degrees in Icelandic, literature and linguistics, and language in education from the University of Iceland and Nottingham University, UK. In the beginning he was a classroom teacher at the teacher training and experimental school and was deputive head and head teacher at the same institution. Mr. Kristmundsson was the director of Icelandic studies at the Ministry of Education and then a lecturer and later associate professor at University of Iceland, School of Education. His research is mostly in the field of literacy, reading and writing in children and adolescents.  He has written textbooks for schools, and books and articles in his field of study, and has published in Iceland and other countries.

Since 1982 he has been working with Storyline, giving lectures, teaching courses and publishing articles both in Iceland and other countries.

Mary Lane has been teaching for 22 years a combination of grades 3-8. She took her first Storyline class about 15 years ago. It changed the way she thinks of education and the way she teaches. She taught in the Molalla River School District for 20 years and currently works in the Gladstone School District teaching fifth grade. She earned her master’s degree in 1996 with an action research topic centered around writing in the Storyline classroom.

Carole Lechleitner is the director of academic technology and a primary school technology teacher at Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls independent school in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She has a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and a master’s degree in instructional technology from Kent State University. She has been teaching students and teachers how to integrate technology into the classroom curriculum since 1989. She uses PicoCrickets Storyline with third and fourth graders.

Ona Leonaviciene is a teacher at Marijampole Marian Gymnasium (Lithuania). She has been teaching English as a foreign language for secondary school classes since 1972. Inspired by Steve Bell (chairman of European Association for Educational Design) and Finn Mosegaard (Pedagogical adviser from Denmark), she has been involved in Storyline practice for about 10 years.

The ideas of Storyline Conferences I, II, and III—as well as Golden Circle seminars 11, 12, 13, and 14—have been of essential importance for her in teaching English and giving seminars to foreign language teachers.

Her Storyline topics are Forest, Cruise Ship, Health Is Above Wealth, School, Town, Market, and Ali Baba and 40 Thieves, and make foreign language lessons more enjoyable for both the students and the teacher.

Cori Longstreet uses storyline to teach Spanish to middle school students in Portland, OR. She finds that storyline allows students to engage in Spanish in real life situations and encourages them to participate in the language and culture more fully than learning out of a textbook. She can differentiate the lessons to many learning levels and observe students’ progress.

Edith Mark has been a nursing research worker with the Clinical Nursing Research Unit at Aalborg Hospital since 2005. She has a PhD from Aalborg University's Faculty of Humanities and holds a master's degree in nursing from the health sciences faculty of Aarhus University. Since becoming a registered nurse in 1983, her training has included specialist courses in psychiatric nursing and professional supervision. Her practical work has been concerned with psychiatric support to children, adolescents and their families in Denmark and Norway. She continues to work with professional development and ethical questions in nursing. These are areas that have fostered her special interest in researching the application of narrative methods in promotion of children's health by combining fiction and life stories.

Marie Jeanne McNaughton is a senior lecturer and BEd curricular studies coordinator in the department of Childhood and Primary Studies at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Her main teaching, writing and research work is in the fields of Education for Sustainable Development and Educational Drama. This was the subject of her doctoral thesis. She is extremely enthusiastic about the use of drama and story to help young people to learn more about the world in which they live. She has worked with a number of environmental groups as well as developing courses for teachers with both drama and sustainable development themes. She has found there to be great opportunities to develop children's learning using a combination of Storyline and drama, and she is keen to share her ideas with Storyline conference participants. She is editor of Drama Journal, the publication for those working in the field of drama education.

Linda Miller has a master’s degree in education. She has been teaching for 36 years in the Molalla River School District in Molalla, Oregon, a rural area of the beautiful Willamette Valley. She taught fifth grade for 10 years, sixth grade for nine years, and seventh and eighth grade language arts for five years. She uses the Scottish Storyline Method in her sixth-eighth classroom. “The Scottish Storyline Method has made teaching in my multi-age classroom a joy filled experience.” Storyline enables her to include students with severe learning disabilities in activities with students who are talented and gifted, providing both with valuable learning experiences.

Ben Needham received his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Oregon State University and a master’s degree in education from Portland State University. He began his career at Tualatin Elementary School. In 1997 Mr. Needham taught in Toowoomba, Australia, on a teacher exchange.  After twelve years with the Tigard-Tualatin School District, he joined Portland Public School’s focus option program, The Creative Science School. One morning in 2002 he was surprised by a news crew, complete with giant cardboard check, barging into his classroom to honor him as the KOIN TV/State Farm Teacher of the Month. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and participated in a teacher exchange to Weston-Super-Mare, England, for the 2003-04 school year.

In addition to his teaching duties, he coaches the school’s comprehensive K-8 chess program. The Thunderbolts Chess Team has won numerous tournaments and many trophies at the state’s championship. He lives in Portland with his wife, Jennifer, and their sons, Gabe and Elijah.

Karen Noordhoff teaches at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, working with teacher candidates as they prepare for their initial teaching license. She also works with practicing teachers in the master’s program and doctoral students in the Educational Leadership program. She has been working to integrate Storyline into several courses at PSU and presented some of her initial work at the International Storyline Conference II in Elsinore, Denmark in 2003. Dr. Noordhoff is also trained as a facilitator for Courage to Teach/Lead through the Center for Courage and Renewal and offers retreats for the personal and professional support and renewal of educators.

Kathryn Penrod earned her PhD at Cornell University in 1986. Prior to graduate study she taught 7-12 family consumer science classes. Since earning her graduate degree she has taught 4-H volunteers in Indiana as a member of the Purdue faculty, worked with career technical advisory council members in Montana, and taught teacher education at South Dakota State University. She has always had a strong interest in finding teaching methods that are engaging for her learners. Being a teacher educator has required that she model and demonstrate instructional strategies that her students could assimilate. Dr. Penrod’s interest in creative and innovative instructional strategies was the context into to which Storyline fit extremely well. Her required educational psychology class in the South Dakota State teacher education program focuses on a myriad of concepts and principles. Requiring teams of students to create fictitious teenagers pushes students to study educational psychology concepts more deeply meaningfully. Using the Storyline approach is a great way to role model a solid teaching strategy her future teachers will be sure to use.

Cathy Percich is a classroom teacher with over 25 years experience, spanning grades K-4. She currently teaches grades 3 and 4 at Irvington Elementary in Portland, Oregon. Ms. Percich earned a bachelor’s degree from Willamette University, and teaching credentials from Portland State University. Her postgraduate studies include Literacy, Mathematics, Special Needs, History, and Spanish. She also mentors student teachers for Lewis and Clark College and Portland State University, and is active in teacher training in mathematics for PPS.

“I first learned of the Storyline Method 15 years ago, and have enthusiastically implemented this approach to learning in my classroom ever since,” she says. “I was drawn to Storyline’s constructivist focus in which students made meaning from their experiences and explorations.” Also important to her is the opportunity to integrate curriculum in a thoughtful, purposeful, and creative way. Best of all, students are engaged and involved in high-level questioning, activities and explorations. Her Storylines have focused on and integrated all areas of the curriculum. She finds Storyline a fun (and practical) way to facilitate learning.

Rebecca Plaskitt, an experienced Storyline tutor and classroom teacher, has been developing and using Storylines in her classroom for 19 years. She is an American teacher who lived in England for ten years where she taught at the American Community School in Cobham, England. She is enthusiastic about designing Storylines for the potential creativity and learning that is expressed by both the students and the teacher during a topic. While teaching in England, she hosted visits from Norwegian teachers interested in Storyline. She also participated in a year-long project with Riikka Hofmann, a PhD student who conducted research on effective teaching practices, taking a fresh look at the idea of "ownership of learning."  Ms. Plaskitt has presented Storyline courses at conferences in Denmark, Scotland and Sweden. She has a special interest in designing authentic assessments within a Storyline to measure the learning and depth of understanding of her students. She believes that Storyline provides an opportunity for children to show what they are learning within a meaningful context. Designing assessments while planning a Storyline defines the focus for learning.

She is presently teaching and developing Storylines in Portland, Oregon, at The Catlin Gabel School. During the fall of 2008, she designed a Storyline to use with a class of intern teachers from Lewis and Clark College who wanted to explore real world problems using an effective and experiential teaching method. The project partnered fourth grade students with intern buddies one morning a week, as they developed the story of students from around the world meeting at an international summit to discuss global issues.

Nancy Price was inspired to become a teacher by her fifth grade teacher. After graduating from college, she began her career teaching her own fifth grade class in Bend, Oregon. She started teaching with the Storyline method when she experienced it as a parent through her own children. She became trained in storyline and has employed it in her classroom for the last 10 years. Ms. Price now mentors primary teachers in the Storyline method while continuing to develop each new Storyline adventure with her own class of second graders.

Claire Ritzler has been involved in education and theatre arts for 30 years with a specialty in puppetry. She has performed with Pam Clouse Puppets, the Alice Rhodes Puppet Theatre, and served as education director at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Currently, Ms. Ritzler is a teaching artist for the Alliance Theatre Company Education Department, a Georgia Council for the Arts roster artist and co-director of Artistic Endeavors.

Ulf Schwaenke, EdD, has studied education, languages, and psychology. In 1970, he worked in a federal research institution and as assistant professor at two universities (Berlin and Hamburg). In 1978, he received a doctorate in education and, in 1984, became a manager in adult education. Three years later, he was appointed as university lecturer and taught at Hamburg University. For 15 years, he worked as head of the training department in Germany’s biggest health insurance company. Dr. Schwaenke learned about Storyline in 1979 through an exchange partnership with Jordanhill College. He has been using the Storyline approach in courses for university students and also in various other fields of adult education. He has also published three books and a number of articles on Storyline. See also: www.Storyline-Methode.de

Birte Simonsen is a dean in the teacher education unit of the University of Agder in Norway. She works in teaching practice for all levels. Her special research interest includes implementation of national curriculum in the classroom.

Åse Paulsen Skiftun is a school librarian and teacher from Kvinesdal, Norway. She works in an upper secondary school. She has experience with giving practical courses and presents on: “How to use storyline in the classroom in Upper Secondary School?” She uses the Storyline Tool Kit – a digital method-tool for storyline in modern education.

Elaine Smith is a retired educator. She began her teaching career after receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University in Northern Colorado and a master’s of education from Kent State University. Halfway through her career, she was introduced to Storyline, which changed the course of her teaching career. She has since shared the Storyline method with many teachers as a Storyline Design trainer and was instrumental in establishing Highland Elementary, a Storyline magnet school, in Bend, Oregon. Retiring in 2007 has allowed her to live out some of her own personal Storylines, such as traveling to the small Mayan village of Ek Balam two to three times a year, and working with the village school. She continues to train teachers in Storyline in Central Oregon and the Los Angeles area.

Christopher Snyder teaches high school social studies at Metropolitan Learning Center in Northwest Portland. Prior to classroom teaching he worked seasonally, teaching hands-on science as a field instructor and program coordinator for the Multnomah and Northwest Regional Education Service Districts’ Outdoor School programs. He also spent a year teaching English in Rome, Italy. He received his M.A.T. from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and a B.A. in History from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.

Todd Stewart-Rinier is a classroom teacher with 25 years experience. He has used Storyline for about 13 years. He has presented student work at the International Storyline Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, as well as at the Storyline Learning for Sustainability Conference in Gothenburg, Sweden. He recently received a MEd in imaginative education from Simon Fraser University. His work there has greatly enriched his Storylines. For more information: http://web.mac.com/stewrin

Knut Åge Teigen, was educated at the University in Oslo, Norway, in English, political science, history, and religion. For eight years he was a teacher at Ringstabekk Skole, located outside Oslo. Ringstabekk is a secondary school with a long experience in project work and Storyline. Mr. Teigen has also been an editor in the publishing company GAN Aschehoug. Now, he is working as a pedagogical consultant in Snöball Film, a production company that specializes in information and educational films.

Misha Therrian has been using the Storyline method for five years. She currently teaches at Highland Elementary School, a Storyline Magnet School in Bend, Oregon. She has completed 13 Storylines, including topics such as: Native People, World Surf Tour, Rockhounding, and The Detective Agency (a Storyline for grades 2-5).

Colleen Coleman Vallerga began teaching in 1986 and taught elementary school for 22 years, working in grades K through 4. In 1993, her teaching was transformed when she took a Storyline class and began to implement this creative method of integration in her classroom. She taught three Storylines per year and almost fifty Storylines throughout her career. In Bend, Oregon, Ms. Vallerga worked together with Elaine Smith to establish Highland Storyline Magnet School, which has been in operation for ten years. She has enjoyed her travels to Scotland, Denmark, and Sweden where she has worked with fellow Storyline teachers and students. For the past fifteen years she has worked as a Storyline trainer for Storyline Design. Now retired from classroom teaching, she plans to continue her work as a Storyline trainer and consultant.

Alicia Vickery grew up in the Seattle area and migrated south to attend the University of Oregon. She received her master’s in education from OSU Cascades in Central Oregon. She has taught the Storyline method with first graders for a handful of years and is currently teaching a fourth and fifth grade blend at Highland Elementary, a Storyline magnet school in Bend, Oregon. Ms. Vickery attended the International Storyline Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, with a few of her colleagues, and was truly inspired by seeing delegates from 16 countries using and learning about the Storyline method.

Debra Vigna received her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Portland State University and a master's degree in special education at Western Oregon University. This is her 20th year as a teacher in Portland Public Schools, including assignments in a resource room, life skills classroom, and first and second grade classrooms. She currently teaches second grade at Laurelhurst School in Portland, Oregon. “I am amazed every time I do a Storyline! My students always take ownership of the unit. Everyone can be successful no matter what their skill level.”

Eileen Vopelak has been an educator for 35 years. She was an elementary school teacher for 15 years in New York, Oregon, and Northern Ireland schools. Later she was a staff developer in Ventura County where she taught a variety of courses on teaching strategies to both teachers and administrators. She was introduced to the Storyline Method in 1991 and has since been involved with using the method and teaching it to teachers throughout Southern California. Lately her interests lie in using Storyline with second language learners as, in addition to Storyline training, she is currently teaching English as a Second Language at Santa Barbara City College.

Jill Wells is currently a head teacher of a primary school in North Yorkshire, England. She became involved in the Storyline approach in 2003, after visiting the Elsinore Conference in Denmark. Inspired, she introduced Storyline into her primary school. As a senior member of the school, she was able to engage all age groups and teachers with Storyline. She became deputy head teacher in another school and quickly introduced the staff at that school to Storyline. Ms. Wells was invited to the Golden Circle in Norway to co-present her experiences introducing Storyline to North Yorkshire. She also lectured at the Glasgow Conference. She is currently introducing Storyline to another new school in England.

Paul Wells was first introduced to Storyline by his wife, Jill Wells, when she went across Europe to discover what Storyline was about! He attended his first Storyline conference in Glasgow, and has since introduced it to his school. Mr. Wells is an ICT manager in a secondary school in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, and currently runs two Storylines with his year eight and nine children in ICT lessons. He has found that the Storylines totally engage the students throughout their ICT lessons, putting the application of ICT skills into a real life context.

Kari Wigstøl works as an assistant professor of education at the University of Agder in Norway. She is educated in special needs, and has much experience in school psychology and special needs education. For the last 20 years, she has worked in teacher training – especially with kindergarten teachers. Her focus areas are ICT in classrooms, and distant education.

Carla Wilson is third flute and piccoloist with the Oregon Symphony and a teaching artist with the Young Audiences of Oregon and Southwest Washington. She collaborates with classroom teachers in writing and presenting Storylines designed to include arts integration through music. Ms. Wilson developed curriculum for the Oregon Symphony and the Galef Institute. She presented at the international conferences for Storyline and the Imaginative Education Research Group.

Susan Wittwer grew up in Bend, Oregon and received an undergraduate degree in Spanish from Willamette University in Salem. She attained her teaching certification from the University of Montana in Missoula. Returning to Oregon, she taught for two years at Jefferson County Middle School in Madras, then took a position at the American School of São Paulo, Brazil, where she taught for three years. “Living in a city of 18 million was quite a change after having lived in the small town of Madras,” she says. She also learned to speak Portuguese and traveled extensively throughout Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. Ms. Wittwer returned to Bend and is teaching fourth and fifth grades at Highland Storyline Magnet School. She started a Roots and Shoots group, a community service-oriented youth organization. Her other interests include politics, independent films, and hiking the outdoors.

Lori Yates has been a teacher for 13 years, eight of which have been at Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She has experience teaching preschool, pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and grade three. She has been using the Story Line Method of teaching in a pre-kindergarten classroom for three years.

Jan Zuckerman has been a teacher in Portland Public Schools for over 25 years and has used Storyline in her classroom for 20 of those years. She was cofounder of the Environmental Middle School, now Sunnyside Environmental School, a focus option Portland Public School with an emphasis on place-based education. Ms. Zuckerman has taught grades 4-8 in all subject areas including Spanish.