Meet our Presenters

Jean Ciborowski Fahey PhD is the co-founder and Education Director of the South Shore Hospital Reading Partnership, an early literacy training and education program for expectant parents and other adults who live and work with young children. She has also taught at Lesley University in the language and literacy graduate program.

Before the Reading Partnership, she spent 15 years engaged in teaching and clinical work with children with reading difficulties at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. She is the author of Textbooks and the Students Who Can’t Read Them and Executive Producer of Raising Readers a short film for preschool children, their parents and teachers published on www.getreadytoread.org . Her latest book is Make Time for Reading: A Story Guide for Parents of Babies and Young Children. More about Dr. Fahey and her book at www.readingfarm.net

Cherrie Fulton is currently the Director of Title 1 for the Nashua School District. She has been a professional educator for more than 20 years in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Kansas. Her educational experience includes: Preschool and Elementary teacher, GED Instructor, Mentor Facilitator, Math Consultant, Curriculum Writer and Administrator. Throughout her career, she has had the opportunity to work on several instructional initiatives and is presently co-facilitating Nashua’s national participation in Vermont’s Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP), a mathematical learning progression for multiplicative, fractional and proportionality reasoning. While serving as an assistant principal and curriculum specialist, she has facilitated teams of teachers building UbD units of study in Science, Math, Social Studies and English Language Arts.

Ms. Gray has over 10 years experience as a speech language pathologist specializing in assistive technology as an augmentative communication specialist. She graduated in 2000 from the University of Maine Honors College with her Bachelor’s degree, double majoring in communication sciences and disorders, and psychology. She furthered her education at the University of New Hampshire, where she obtained her Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 2003. As a graduate student, she completed a graduate assistantship with the Institute on Disability, and an MCH-LEND Traineeship in Leadership and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. Currently, Ms. Gray is a speech language pathologist working in the public schools as well as at CM ATECH Services, where she specializes in augmentative communication and assistive technology. Ms. Gray has received the ASHA ACE Award, and in 2013, she earned her Assistive Technology Professional credential. She has completed advanced professional development in literacy for students with significant disabilities. Her skills as an augmentative communication consultant combined with her experience as a school speech-language pathologist provides her with a unique perspective in understanding students with complex communication needs, as well as the supports their educational team needs to be successful.

Sally Grimes has provided consulting and professional development services nation-wide in the area of Language and Literacy for teachers and administrators Pre K-Grade 4, for the last 15 years. Prior to that, Sally's experience included teaching (pre-K through graduate school), clinical diagnostic work, policy development, public service, and administration. She is the founding director of The Grimes Reading Institute, one of the three entities awarded the contract for implementing the Massachusetts Reading First Professional Development Plan and served as a Lead Trainer for this grant and others, some in conjunctions with the Massachusetts Elementary Principals’ Association, for which Sally often does professional development. Sally has served on the Governor’s Commission on School Readiness and on the MA State Literacy Planning Team. Recently she was chosen to be a trainer of trainers for the country’s first Early Childhood Dual Language Learner initiative that Massachusetts is launching with the Wisconsin-based WIDA. Sally received her Master’s Degree in Reading and Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her Bachelor’s Degree from University of Illinois at Chicago.

Lisa is an experienced educator with a passion for literacy and a literacy trainer for Keys to Literacy. She began her career in 1995 at the Landmark School, a school renowned for the work they do with children and adolescents with language-based learning disabilities. Throughout her career, Lisa has served as a classroom teacher, a literacy trainer, and a reading specialist, in both urban and suburban schools. Lisa presented teacher training for district-wide adoptions across the state of Florida. She is also serving on the Board of Trustees for Gate City Charter School. Lisa graduated from Rivier College with a M.Ed in Reading and B.A. in Elementary Education and Special Education.

Margaret has a passion for teaching and learning. She received her BA in Comparative Literature and Spanish with initial teaching licensure at the elementary level from William Smith College in Geneva, NY. She began her career as an educator in Needham, MA in 1994 as a teacher in the innovative Elementary Interactive Spanish Program. Teaching face to face and via interactive television, Margaret pioneered distance learning technology and language acquisition, for which she was the recipient of the Goldin Foundation for Excellence in Teaching Award. After receiving a Master’s in Education in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in literacy from Lesley University, she served as a second grade inclusion classroom teacher. Margaret has worked for Simmons College in Boston for twelve years as a supervisor of student teachers and interns. In addition to being a trainer for Keys to Literacy, she has experience teaching graduate courses in literacy and mentoring veteran teachers through the action research process.

Connie Steigerwald completed her undergraduate work with a BS in Communication Disorders with a concentration as a Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She received her Master’s Degree in Special Education from North Carolina State University and completed additional course work for Certification as a Reading Specialist.

Connie worked in both Durham Public Schools and Wake County Schools as a classroom teacher for students who were deaf and hard of hearing, those with learning disabilities and behavior disorders. At the school level in both districts, she served in many leadership roles: Professional Development Coordinator, Mentor Coordinator; Special Education Department Chair and Student Support Team Chair. Connie worked in Wake County Public Schools at the

District level as a Coordinating Teacher for the District Literacy Department. She then worked at the NC Department of Public Instruction/Exceptional Children Division as a Literacy Consultant for the Central Region of NC.

Additionally, Connie is a frequent presenter of In-service programs to regular and special educators; she holds Level I and II Wilson Language Training Certificates. Connie has been a certified Wilson trainer since 2004. She has held the position of Senior Literacy Advisor/Literacy Specialist for Wilson Language Training. She currently holds the of Director of Literacy Practice at Wilson Language Training. The focus of her work is working with the Education, Development and Fidelity teams at Wilson on the many WLT Professional Learning and District initiatives.

Judith Sumner (B.A. Vassar College; M.S., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst) developed a comprehensive program in science writing and literacy at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She is a biologist, science writer, and teacher, with particular interest in original student research in STEM topics. Judith enjoys working with middle and high school teachers who want to implement engaging science writing prompts into their classroom practice. She is certified by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as a classroom teacher, supervisor/director, and principal.