Mary Ann Carr

Educator, Writer, Workshop Leader, Motivational Speaker.

Mary Ann Carr, a 30 year veteran educator, began writing mysteries for kids to solve while teaching gifted students. Each of her four mystery books are designed to develop critical thinking skills. Her three "One Hour Mysteries" remain on the publisher's best sellers list. The first of them garnered national recognition by Learning Magazine as one of 40 "must have" curricular materials for the classroom.

"What I enjoy most about One-Hour Mysteries is that it introduces students to situations that seem completely relevant to their lives, while setting up intriguing and thought-provoking activities. I am constantly reminded of teachers' need for challenging, good quality material like your books at the conferences we attend; there, teachers often tell us how much they and their students love your books and how they've encouraged their teaching peers to buy them, as well." -- Lacy Elwood, Editor, Prufrock Press

Mary Ann currently is an educational consultant frequently sought after by school systems to conduct workshops on strategies for differentiation of instruction for use by classroom teachers. Her first book on that mainstream subject, entitled "A Handbook of Timesaving Tools for Differentiation," is scheduled for release by Prufrock Press in the spring of 2009. Click here for pre-publication reviews and teacher workshop options.

Her current projects include a Toolkit to help parents complement the education offered by schools (available in Draft), a book of timesaving tools for teaching writing, a series of young children's picture books and a series of CSI-like mysteries to help pre-teenaged children develop critical thinking and deductive reasoning skills while having fun solving crimes at home.

In addition to frequent speaking engagements, Mary Ann recurrently teaches in the College of William and Mary’s summer enrichment program for gifted children and at the Bay School of the Cultural Arts in Mathews, Virginia. She holds an M.A. in Curriculum Development from Virginia Commonwealth University. 

David J. Carr

 

Website Designer, Writer, Educator

 

David J. Carr retired from the Virginia State Government service in 1995 after serving in various teaching, research and administrative positions at Colleges, Universities and state Higher Education Agencies in Massachusetts, New York and Virginia. He continues to serve as an Information Technology consultant for several Virginia State Agencies. David holds a Ph.D. in higher education from SUNY at Buffalo.

 

David's latest venture is the design of non-cookie-cutter websites for unconventional, creative individuals.

 

"A lot of the things that I do, it's not all art. Some of it's design, some of it's illustration, some of it's graphics, some of it's concept, some of it's business and some of it, hopefully, is art." -- Ken Done
 

David's on-going retirement interest is writing. Aside from occasional essays and short pieces in both fiction and non-fiction, most of his time outside website design is devoted to the completion of a time-travel novel for young adults.

 

The novel is an historically based "what if" tale built around Orville Wright's "dive brake,"a 1920 invention that played a decisive role in the naval air victories in the Pacific during World War II. Read the first two Chapters of his novel, "To Wright a Wrong".

 

For a look at some of the Websites David has designed, check out the Member web Pages on the Chesapeake Bay Writers site and other sample sites listed below:

 

Chesapeake Bay Writers Yates House Community Arts Center
Coach Tom Holaday - Comic

Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Poet Laureate of Virginia

NancyBurchArt.com

For Website packages, Pricing and Endorsements of David's Web Design Work, Click Here. Free Estimates. But before you do, feel free to browse the Simultaneous form poem below, written by both David and Mary Ann.
 

The Best Parent's Toolkit

For the price of $10 you may purchase a User ID and password required to download your personal copy of the toolkit OR  Contact Mary Ann to arrange for her to speak to your  organization or group on the Parent Toolkit and get bonus copies free for all who attend.

Topic Description Stipend (negotiable) Min Max
Parent Toolkit: A Seminar for Parents of "just plain smart" kids. Does your child complain of boredom? Are they silent, impatient or restless too often? Are they incommunicative or do they too frequently answer "Nothing." to questions such as "What did you do at school today?" If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, you need THE BEST PARENT TOOLKIT, a series of ready-to-apply questions and activities designed to engage your child in higher level thinking and problem solving. Activities are specifically tailored for any situation, whether in the home, on a road trip, at a restaurant or waiting at the doctor's office. Development based on 30 years experience in education, a classroom teacher for nine years then a Gifted/Talented Resource teacher, teaching grades K-7. Optional formats tailored to group needs; 1 to 3 hours. Minimum Charge of $200 plus $100/hour for additional follow-up discussion with audience or group consultations/panels. Travel expenses if more than 20 miles*. 20 n/a
Contact Mary Ann

To get your personal copy, complete and submit the form below and purchase instructions will be e-mailed to you. Once payment has been received, a second e-mail will be issued with the ID and Password you'll need to download and open the Toolkit (NOTE: Refund guaranteed within 10 days of download if not satisfied; Viewing toolkit requires free Adobe reader version 5 or above).

E-mail Me Purchase Instructions for The Parent Toolkit 


First Name: Last Name:

Note: We will never rent or sell your personal information. 

A Simultaneous form Poem - to be read independently or together across rows

Out Back Behind The Barn

By Mary Ann Carr

In that secret place where fantasy reigns

By David J. Carr

Out back behind the barn,
I rode the range as Roy Rogers, chasing outlaws
Astride a quilt tossed over a paint-stained sawhorse.
I chased outlaws then ate Twinkies sitting by the fire,
a pile of tiny sticks I had gathered from the yard.

 

Out back behind the barn,
I paged through the diary Ma bought me at Ben Franklin's.
Bound in red imitation leather, it offered a sympathetic ear
and listened to my secrets each day for almost a year.

 

Out back behind the barn,
I practiced doing the twist
in my yellow organdy gown, dreaming of my prom.
Then, humming "Teen Angel," I raised my arms
To Pat Boone's shoulder and danced til my hands numbed.
 
Out back behind the barn,
I sat on the morn of my wedding
To Samuel Shoemaker who I met in History 101.
I pictured myself dressed in white,
the lace of my peignoir slipping off my shoulder.
 
Out back behind the barn,
I went in search of little Sam
Whenever he didn't come in for supper.
And there I would find him, sitting as I once sat,
Alone, his eyes focused on sights only he could see.

Out back behind the barn,
I searched the ground the day I turned sixty,
Looking for footprints of children I would never live to see,
I wondered who their Roy Rogers would be
When one day they ride the range, out back behind the barn.
 

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Imaginary trails without end,
Reality abandoned, constraints removed.                         

 

No one to tattle when the barn almost caught fire.

 

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Lost in reflections, unedited curiosities revealed.

 

What would mother think?

 

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Swaying to music un-played,
An apparition of beauty and cool was I,

The envied queen of my Junior prom.

 

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,

Is it apprehension or excitement I feel most
 

As my love carries me over the threshold.
Will he notice?

 

In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Where all is right, my childhood sanctuary. 
Maternal panic. Will he be there?
Foolish me, I should know better,
I am my son, my son is me.
 
In that secret place where fantasy reigns,
Bent by age, I ponder continuity beyond life.
One by one, descendants appear as tickling breezes.

Does it really matter at all, they ask,
In that secret place where fantasy reigns.

Hosting by:  www.afmu.com - You are Visitor #  Hit Counter        Google PageRank Checking tool

 

Contact 2CarrsCreative