by Mary E. Cronin | Apr 13, 2025 | FDNY, Poetry, SCBWI
“There is something about this manuscript that cries out for publication. It may take you a while to ‘get there’ but you must.” Noted poet and anthologist Lee Bennett Hopkins saw something in me and in my firehouse poems that was worth nurturing and...
by Mary E. Cronin | Mar 21, 2025 | FDNY, Poetry
Writers often talk about the long road to publication. This is one of those stories, and it isn’t over yet! I started writing poems about firefighting after my father died in 2006. It was a grief project, a way to feel closer to him. And it helped. I was so proud of...
by Mary E. Cronin | Nov 29, 2024 | Conferences-workshops, NCTE
Because I am a Literacy Coach, the writer part of my brain and the educator part of my brain are often working in concert… but going to the NCTE Convention in Boston last week brought that to a whole new level! For four days, I learned from, collaborated with, and...
by Mary E. Cronin | Aug 19, 2024 | Cape Cod, Community connections, Poetry
Summer is winding down! One of the sweetest treats this month was my visit to Barnstable West Barnstable Elementary School here on Cape Cod. As a Visiting Poet, I presented to a class or rising second graders in the Literacy and Arts summer program. We drummed along...
by Mary E. Cronin | Jul 17, 2024 | Cape Cod, Teaching
It was three years ago this week that I signed my contract to become a Literacy Coach in a school district here on Cape Cod. I love working in a K-3 school, where the magic of emerging readers and writers is crackling! I wrote a poem about working with a struggling...