by Mary E. Cronin | Dec 12, 2025 | Cape Cod, Community connections, FDNY, Poetry, Teaching
So much has happened in the last few months, so here’s a recap! In June, I retired from full-time teaching. Yes, I miss my job as a Literacy Coach and my daily contact with students! But I love having more time for writing, and for… leading poetry workshops in local...
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 | Dec 3, 2023 | Community connections, Conferences-workshops, Poetry, Teaching
Have you ever felt like you were in the sweet spot, a place where the two overlapping circles in a Venn diagram meet? That was me, attending the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) 2023 Convention in Columbus Ohio. Being at the conference brought...
by Mary E. Cronin | Nov 14, 2023 | Cape Cod, Community connections
As a Literacy Coach in a K-3 school with a large Brazilian population, I was thrilled to win a grant from SCBWI that allowed me to invite Brazilian and American picture book author Ana Crespo to be a visiting author to Cape Cod elementary school M.E. Small in the fall...
by Mary E. Cronin | Jun 9, 2023 | Community connections, Poetry, Teaching
It was a joy to be the Visiting Poet at PS 86 in the Bronx last week! I attended kindergarten there, and PS 86 was also the polling place in our neighborhood. I have many memories of accompanying my parents to vote, and of my mother working as an election worker...
by Mary E. Cronin | Mar 31, 2023 | Cape Cod, Community connections, SCBWI, We Need Diverse Books
At the school where I work, the vast majority of children qualify for free and reduced lunch. A quarter of our K-3 students are English Language Learners, many from Brazil. Most of the children had never met an author, or had a book signed… until author Ana Crespo...