Home	What's New? •• Author •• Books •• Press and Book Reviews •• Papers & Articles •• Theory & Practice •• Research Questions •• Free Downloads •• Sample Syllabi •• Courses & Workshops •• Contact © 2002, 2010 Susan Rich Sheridan

---

Author Information

---

Dr. Susan Sheridan is an artist, writer, parent and teacher. She received her undergraduate degree in Classics and English from Harvard College and her MAT and her doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. For the past twenty years, Dr. Sheridan has taught English and Art at the middle school level, and studio arts and art history at the college level, promoting what she calls a Neuroconstructivist theory of education with the cross-modal practice Drawing/Writing. Her approach rests on the fact that the brain constructs itself in response not only to genetic blueprints but to environmental influences, including the influence of parents and teachers. This brain has two hemispheres, a right and a left, a visual and a verbal, a spatial and a linguistic mode. These two sides, two modes work separately and together in special ways in humans who are able to speak and to write. Dr. Sheridan is especially interested in the effects of writing as a range of meaningful marks - scribbles, drawings, writing, mathematical notation, musical notation - on the evolution of the human brain, as well as on the development of modern children's brains in connection with their abilities to think as artists, writers, mathematicians and musicians, but as speakers. Research suggests that the work of the hands and the mouth evolved together. Scribbling and drawing influence children's speech. Dr. Sheridan believes that the best brain for children to develop are balanced, or bi-lateral brains, at ease with drawing and writing, art and English, mathematics and music, able to speak comfortably about these multiple literacies. Her research and practice point the way toward multiple literacies at home, and at school, as well as in the workplace where technology clearly requires brains equally adept at image and word. Dr. Sheridan lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, and in Addison, Maine. She has three adult children, and three grandchildren, who are the center of her life. An avid gardener, she also raises laying hens and pigs. The rest of her time, she mows, sails, and walks and thinks about scribbling, drawing and writing.

To an unprecedented degree, a technological society requires visual literacy skills as well as verbal skills. These requirements place considerable pressures on the classroom, the home, and industry. This book meets this demand for multiple literacy skills by encouraging the natural, evolutionary capabilities of our brains, starting with the universal skill that everyone can do, drawing.

The abilities to write and to read depend upon core skills including the ability to pay attention, to extract information, to communicate ideas and emotions clearly, and to use both words and images. In short, to use the whole brain. These skills can be learned through training in drawing. Drawing is a universal skill. Everyone can draw. No one teaches us how. Drawing is a language instinct.

When talking and writing accompany drawing, verbal skills grow and a double literacy develops, both visual and verbal. This “new literacy " is as old as paleolithic cave drawings and as new as computer technology. The New Literacy models integrated brain function . The New Literacy rests on a new theory of multiple literacies. Humans as language-users have one unique characteristic: they make marks of meaning. These marks first take the form of scribbles. Then, children draw. The marks are equipotential: they can become anything: drawing, writing, mathematics, musical notation. The number of systems for meaning-making each of us learns depends upon opportunity, encouragement and instruction. It depends on our parents, our teachers, our environment, and our culture. Ultimately, it depends upon our brains and how we choose to use them.

Neurologically speaking, literacy is visual/verbal; it is both The corpus callosum connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain insures that thinking is a complex , cooperative unity- no matter what kind of thinking is going on. The more mark-making systems we use, the more powerfully we think. Multiple literacy is our goal and our birthright.

Learn how to acquire and teach the New Literacy using this teachers' workbook Drawing/Writing and the new literacy, Susan Rich Sheridan, 1997. $33.95 including postage and handling. The How-to section of the book is written in a script-like form. Drawing/Writing can be taught by reading aloud. Drawing/Writing and the new literacy: where verbal meets visual is a textbook/handbook for teachers and for schools of education. It is also a parents’ guide to a home literacy program. The book provides classroom support for teachers across grade and discipline who are interested in a broader approach to literacy, or who have already been trained in Drawing/Writing through workshops or through school of education courses or via self-instruction. the book provides the same kind of support for parents. The 500-page book is illustrated with student work across grade and field grades K-12, as well as at the college level, and at the Elderhostel level. The book is divided into four parts. The first part provides the rationale for a new theory of education called neuroconstructivism * (Sheridan, 1990) and a new literacy strategy across content areas called Drawing/Writing. The rationale is from a combination of sources: art history, psychology, children’s drawings, the history of writing, and, most compellingly, neurobiology. The second part of the book lays out the five-step Drawing/Writing program step by step while providing supplementary information, especially in connection with geometry, or the study of shapes in space. An ethics component is included in connection with abstract drawing using two new concepts: Acceptable Differences and Right Relationships. The third part of the book -“Hitchhikers’ Guide to Brain Science” - offers information on brain structure and function, including 13 tips for teachers and parents and students on how to encourage and enhance brain development. This section includes a heightened-experience approach to school-based drug education programs. The last part of the book outlines a generally applicable cross-modal approach to curricula called “The Thinking Child.” This section includes detailed, illustrated cross-modal English and Fine Arts curricula appropriate K-12 as well as at the college level. For more information on the book or courses and presentations on Drawing/Writing, consult this site. If you have further questions or requests, contact the author/instructor/consultant directly at: susan.sheridan9@gmail.com or write Susan Rich Sheridan, Ed.D. 68 Maplewood Drive Amherst, MA 01002

SUSAN RICH SHERIDAN 68 Maplewood Drive Amherst, MA 01002 susan.sheridan9@gmail.com www.drawingwriting.com/marksandmind.org EDUCATION DOCTORATE IN EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, Amherst, MA MASTER OF ARTS AND TEACHING. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, Amherst, MA * Massachusetts state certification, #254606, K-12, English, Latin and Art. B.A. CLASSICS AND ENGLISH HARVARD COLLEGE, Cambridge, Mass. PROFESSIONAL WRITING - all articles published in 2000 are downloadable from website www.drawingwriting.com 2010 Saving Literacy: a guide for professional caregivers of children 10 momths to 6 years. 2010 HandMade Marks: a manual for parents with children 10 months to 6 years. 2005 "A Theory of Marks and Mind: the effect of notional systems on homind brain evolution and child development with an emphasis on exchanges between mothers and children," Medical Hypotheses Journal, V64(2):417-427. This article is downloadable in on-site version by permission by Elsevier. Hypertext link to Medical Hypotheses ScienceDirect Page at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03069877 2004 "Scribbles: The missing link in a bio-evolutionary theory of language with implications for human consciousness," Toward a Science of Consciousness 2004, Tucson, abstract #209. This article is downloadable in on-site version. 2003 "Scribbling, Drawing, Reading and Writing," Life Learning, a magazine for home schooling, January/February, 2003, pages 23-27. This article is downloadable in on-site version. 2002 The Thinking Child: a handbook for parents. How Literacy starts at home with scribbling and drawing. The Drawing/Writing Program, Drawing/Writing Publications, Amherst, MA. This handbook is downloadable in on-site version. 2002 "The Scribble Hypothesis: Invisible brain building," Life Learning, July/August 2002, pages 10-12. This article is downloadable in on-site version. 2002 "The Neurological Significance of Children's Drawings: The Scribble Hypothesis," Journal of Visual Literacy, volume 22, number 2, 107-128. This article is downloadable in on-site version. 2001 "Very Young Children's Drawings and Human Consciousness," Toward a Science of Consciousness 2001, abstract #224, Skovde, Sweden. This article is downloadable in on-site version. 1999 "Arts-based education in a technological society,” Focus alumni magazine, Westfield State College, Westfield, MA. 1997 Drawing/Writing and the new literacy: where verbal meets visual. A textbook for teachers. Drawing/Writing Publications:Amherst, MA. Order information is available on this site. 1993-1994 "The Valley Charter Middle School: Integrating Education and Health Care," a proposal accepted by the Massachusetts Office of Education 1993 "Wellness Work; Health Care, Arts and Technologies Providing Education, Training, Testing and Evaluation at the Community Level," an award-winning model in the America 2000 National Competition. 1992 "The Thinking Child: More like the World. An Holistic Model Combining Education and Economics," an award-winning proposal accepted by the America 2000 National Competition. 1991-1992 "Neurobiolgoical Guidelines for Education," National Forum of Teacher Education Journal, vol. 1, 12-20. 1991 "Drawing/Writing and the Native American Middle School Student: Multi-Cultural Applications of a Brain Research-Based Writing Program," presented at New England Educational Research Conference, NEERO, Portsmouth, NH. 1990-1991 "Drawing/Writing: Effects of a Brain Research-Based Writing Program on Children’s Thinking Skills," National Forum of Teacher Education Journal, vol. 7, number 3, pp. 87- 100. 1990 "Drawing/Writing: A brain-based writing program designed to develop descriptive, analytical and inferential thinking skills at the elementary school level," dissertation, UMASS School of Education doctoral program:Amherst, MA. 1990 "Neurobiological guidelines for education," NFEAS Journal, Nova University, Alexandria, Louisiana. 1990 "Drawing/Writing: Effects of a Brain Research-Based Writing Program on Children's Thinking Skills," NFEAS Journal. 1990-1991 "Drawing/Writing: Effects of a Brain Research-Based Writing Program on Children’s Thinking Skills," National Forum of Teacher Education Journal, vol. 7, number 3, pp. 87- 100. 1990 Dissertation, “Drawing/Writing: A brain-based writing program designed to develop descriptive, analytical and inferential thinking skills at the elementary school level,” UMASS School of Education, microfiche # 1990 “Drawing/Writing: Scope of a Brain Research-Based Writing Program. Developing Thinking Skills in an Age of Cognitive Pluralism. Generalizing Special Education,” presented at Orton Society National Conference, Washington, D.C. TEACHING/PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYMENT 2004-1985 Consultant, lecturer, workshop provider in Neuroconstructive theory and the practice Drawing/Writing through the following venues: Continuing Education and Professional Development accredited courses, graduate and undergraduate levels at UMASS, Amherst, Westfield State College, Holyoke Community College, Worcester Art Museum, Merrimac Education Center (thru Fitchburg State College), Cambridge College,Cambridge, MA (Saturday courses 1999, 2000, 2001), The Northeast Consortium for Teacher Education, Salem State College, Salem, MA. 2002 Spring Semester, adjunct professor, Secondary English Methods, School of Education, University of Maine, Machias, Maine 2002, winter Cont. Ed., UMASS, Amherst, week workshop, Drawing/Writing and Brain Compatible Literacy 1992- 1999 Adjunct professor, Westfield State College, Art Survey I and II, painting, drawing, anatomy, design fundamentals. 1999- Instructor, grant-funded 3-way learning community for freshmen combining mathematics education, English writing and literature education, and art survey II using the Drawing/Writing as method of delivery,Westfield State College l997- 99 Instructor, Continuing Education, "Neuroconstructivism * (Sheridan, 1990): Applications of Drawing and Writing," Westfield State College, pilot courses through the departments of Art and Education. l997 Visiting Prof. Cont. Ed., Drawing/Writing, Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, MA l996 Visiting Prof. Art Survey with Drawing/Writing, Jan. term, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA l995 Adjunct Professor, modern art with Drawing/Writing, Anna Maria College, Paxton, MA l992 Designed a model for contemporary middle school , community-based education with an emphasis on broad- based literacy and self-sufficiency - with some fail-safe economic considerations. The model, called "The Thinking Child," received number 2009 from the New American Schools Development Corp. l992 Volunteer mini-course teaching, K-12, with a focus on elementary schools, in Drawing/Writing, and architecture. Worked with Gill elementary students on designing a house for Gaia, Mother Earth. Idea of affordable, environmentally sound, humane, community-based cluster dwelling, urban or rural. l992 State-wide independent research into what seems to be working, especially in connection with a broad- based approach to literacy, in both public and private schools, with a focus on the middle school level. Developed the idea of project-based technical literacy, where writing, reading, math, science, history and the arts are built into a hands-on project. The approach is radically constructivist where students actively incorporate understanding and knowledge. l992- The founding of the educational think-tank called "The Thinking Child, " Amherst 1991- 1995 Appointed by Governor William Weld to two committees: Advisory Committee on Women's Issues Higher Education Nomianting Committee, Office of Education l991- l992 Chair, Deerfield Republican Town Committee April, l991 Drawing/Writing is taught in another language for the first time; I conducted an 8- day session of Drawing/Writing in Spanish to 3rd year Spanish students, sophomore grade, at Deerfield Academy. The teacher, John Taylor, learned to teach Drawing/Writing with these students, and then taught Drawing/Writing to two other sections of 3rd year Spanish students. The data is being evaluated. Did the same at Eaglebrook School, with Spanish teacher, Sally Spencer and her eighth grade students. Summer, l991 Enrolled in 6-week Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of Writing Program at Lincoln College, Oxford, to study culture, writing and discourse with Tony Burgess. Wrote handbook, DRAWING AND WRITING: THE MAGIC MIRROR. A HANDBOOK FOR TEACHERS. Alternative title: DRAWING/WRITING; TWO STEPS TOWARD LITERACY. RESTRUCTURING THE 3 R'S. Summer, l990, & l991 Chair, Cushing Academy's Expository Writing Program for The Native American Preparatory School, Las Cruces, New Mexico l988- 2002 Drawing/Writing workshops in Gill, Hadley, Greenfield, Chicopee, Amherst (Pelham, Fort River, Crocker Farm schools), Ashburnham (Cushing Academy); Bangor, Maine; Barre, Vt.(Orange Elementary) ; Hartford, Ct., (Critical and Creative Thinking Center); Warwick, R.I. (Warwick Elementary Schools). 1980- l990 Middle School Art Teacher and English teacher, Eaglebrook School, Deerfield, Mass. l987, l988, l989 Interdisciplinary course "Styles of Thinking" based on Douglas Hofstadter's book Godel, Escher, Bach, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA l988 & l989 Summer teacher, Elderhostel, Drawing/Writing, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield MA 1980- 82 Teaching Assistant, Basic Design amd Basic Drawing courses, MAT Program, U. Mass., Amherst., MA . Conferences, Lectures, Workshops, 1972 to present “Art and Women,” personal interview, T.V. talk show “The Now Women,”Washington, D.C., l972 “Integrating the Arts,” interview with Robert Merriam, host, radio talk show, Greenfield Community College, 1985 “Grading and the Arts,” and “Art as a Paralinguistic Bridge,” Independent Secondary and Middle Schools Association, ISAM Conference, l985, Southshore, MA. "Teaching Art in a Boys' School in New England." Presenter, ISAM conference, Sturbridge Village. Emphasis on art as a para-linguistic bridge into literacy for the ESL student who is not yet fluent in English, as well as for the language- or attention-troubled student (ADD, LD, ADHD) who may have more facility with non-verbal, visual forms of expression, 1985. “Training to Transfer,” New England League of Middle Schools, NELMS, l987. Five Colleges Writing Workshop, Drawing/Writing, Mt. Holyoke College, l990. “ Drawing/Writing: Scope of a Brain Research-based Writing Program. Developing Thinking Skills in an Age of Cognitive Pluralism.,” National Orton Society Conference, Washinton, D.C., l990 “Drawing/Writing and the Native American Middle School Student: Multi-Cultural Applications of a Brain Research-Based Writing Program,” New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, RI., l991. “Drawing and Writing: Connections and Implications,” College Art Association, Session Chair and Presenter, San Antonio, Texas, January, l995. "Why Art? The Missing Piece of the Educational Puzzle. What it means to be literate in the 21st century," lecturer/presenter, Westfield State College, l995 - l996. Discussants, Math Prof. Julian Fleron, English Prof. Gregg Neikirk. Springfield School System, Arts and Technology faculty workshops, l997-98. Drawing/Writing in one and two-day workshops for art teachers and technology teachers. Fall l998 workshop, Drawing/Writing, for the full faculty of the Montessori Community School, Scituate. Session Presenter, Drawing/Writing, New England League of Middle Schools, NELMS, 1997. Session Presenter, Drawing/Writing, New England Art Educators, NAEA, l997 and l998, Session Presenter, Drawing/Writing, National Conference Teachers of English, NCTE, l998 . Workshop, "Neuroconstructivism * (Sheridan, 1990): Educational applications of drawing and writing," School of Education Hillocks Conference, University of Chicago, NCTE, "Re-imagining English instruction," June 17-19, l999. Westfield, MA school system, Drawing/Writing workshop, April 9, 2000. “A New Theory of Multiple Literacies,” lecture, Westfield State College, March, 2000. Lecture/Workshop, Drawing/Writing, School of Design, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, March, 23, 2000. Lecture/Workshop, Drawing/Writing, School of Education, Southern Connecticut State University, April 5, 2000. May 2000 Conference,” Mind, Brain and Spirituality.” Lesley College, Boston. Lecture: “The Magic Mirror: A Brain-based, Self-Reflectvie Drawing and Writing Program.” Jon Kabat-Zinn also presenting at this conference. April 8, 2000, Lecture/Workshop, 4 hours, Drawing/Writing, Cambridge College, Cambridge, MA. June 2000, weeklong intensive, graduate credit course, Drawing/Writing and the New Literacy, Merrimac Educ. Ctr., Chelmsford, MA. through Fitchburg State College, MA. July 2000, weeklong intensive, graduate credit course, Drawing/Writing and the New Literacy, UMASS, Amherst, Cont. Ed. October 11-14, 2000, presenter, Drawing/Writing, 32nd International Visual Literacy Conference, Univ. of Iowa, Ames, Iowa. November, Basic, Intermediate Dr/Wr workshops, 8 hours, Cambridge College, Cambridge, MA. Feb. 2001, weeklong, 3-credit Basic, Drawing/Writing course thru Cont. Ed., UMASS, Amherst. March, April, 2001, 8-hour workshops, PDO credit, Drawing/Writing, Cambridge College, Cambridge,MA. May, 2001, two-hour talk, Dr/Wr, Massachusetts Art Education Association, Worcester Art Museum. July, 2001, 4 courses in Dr/Wr offered through UMASS Cont. Ed and Fitchburg State College via Merrimac Education Center, Drawing/Writing Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. August, 2001, “Toward a Science of Consciousness,” poster presentation, “The Scribble Hypothesis,” Skovde, Sweden November, 2001, International Visual Literacy Conference, poster session, “Very Young Children’s Drawings and Human Consciousness: The Scribble Hypothesis,” Skvode, Sweden. October, 2001, “ Brain Compatible Literacy, Brain Compatible Tests,” New England Association of Teachers of English conference presentation, Nashua, NH. November, 2001, “Drawing/Writing and Human Consciousnessness: Neuroconstructivism * (Sheridan, 1990) and Human Mark-Making,” New England Art Education Conference, Hyannis, MA. March, 2002, presenter, “Drawing/Writing and the new literacy: new standards,” New England League of Middle Schools Conference, Providence, RI. April, 2002, presenter, “Multiple Literacies and “Signing across Systems,” Carmbridge College New Literacy Paradigm, Springfield, MA. July, 2002, presenter, “The Scribble Hypothesis,: International Reading Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland. April, 2004, poster session: "Scribbles: The missing link in a bio- evolutionary theory of language with implications for human consciousness," Toward a Science of Consciousness 2004 conference, University of Arizona, Tucson. November 2004, keynote speaker, "The Scribble Hypothesis," California Association of Art Educators, Riverside,CA. 2004-2007, free afterschool play/literacy program using Drawing/Writing, elementary school children, offered from the Art Barn, Basin Road, Addison, Maine. 2005-7, writer/co-designer with researcher Deborah Wasserman of the ArtSafe, "Side by Side" program, aimed at building self- esteem and critical thinking skills as well as parenting skills in truant teenage mothers, using the Drawing/Writing method. 2008, forming non-profit organization, "Saving Literacy," a start-up cottage industry to publish the preschool literacy workbook, and to provide free literacy classes for adults and preschool children with a caregiver, as well as farming, marine, and woodlands education with am emphasis on mutual community support. MEMBERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATIONS National Council of Teachers of English National Council of Art Educators American Association of Science International Reading Association International Visual Literacy Association Art Exhibits: One-person: Nacul Gallery, Amherst, June, l998 Greenfield Community TV, mini series on Drawing/Writing, l996 Nada/Mason Gallery, Northfield Mount Hermon School, l995 ACTV Amherst Community Television mini series, Drawing/Writing, Amherst. Spring, l995 The Emerson Umbrella, Concord, MA, l993. NACUL Gallery, Amherst, MA, l993 Hilson Gallery, A Retrospective, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA, l985 Group: Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State College, Faculty Show, Fall, l998 Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State College Faculty Show, Spring, l997 Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State College, Faculty Show, Spring, l995. NACUL Gallery, juried show, “Nature and Culture,” Jan, ‘95 NACUL Gallery, Solstice Show, Winter, l994 Student Union Art Gallery, Valley Women artists, U. Mass. Fall, l994 NACUL Gallery, Amherst, MA., Spring, l994. Arno Maris Gallery, Westfield State College, Westfield, MA, l993. Hilson Gallery, Die Brucke, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA l980, 83, 84, 85 Town Square Art Show, Washington, D.C., l969 “Art Exposure ‘69,” Washington, D.C. Area group show. Frst prize, water colors. President’s Park Open Air Exhibit, Washington, D.C., l969. Artists Mart, Georgetown Gallery, l969-70.

Original page design and construction by Plummer's Mines
Page redesign and maintenance by Jeannine Lawall