Getting to the Core of English Language Arts, Grades 6-12: How to Meet the Common Core State Standards with Lessons from the Classroom

Consulting Description 

Vicky Giouroukakis, PhD, (née Vasiliki Menexas), is an Associate Professor in the Division of Education at Molloy College, Rockville Centre, New York. She teaches graduate courses to prospective and practicing secondary English teachers and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. Prior to her tenure at Molloy, Vicky taught English at a public high school in Queens, New York, and ESL to adolescents and adults. She also taught at Manhattanville College and Queens College, CUNY. Her research interests include adolescent literacy, standards and assessment, teacher education, and cultural and linguistic diversity. Her work has been featured in books and scholarly journals, and she frequently presents at regional, national, and international conferences. In 2010, Vicky was the recipient of the Educator of Excellence Award by the New York State English Council and has been serving on the Council’s Executive Board since then. She has been interested in standards and assessment and how they affect teaching and learning ever since she began teaching. Moreover, her dissertation work was on the impact of state assessments in English on instructional practice. Vicky received a master’s degree in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She also received a master’s degree in TESOL and a doctorate in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. Vicky resides in New York with her supportive husband and three loving children.

Consulting Description 

Maureen Connolly, EdD, has been an English teacher at Mineola High School on Long Island, New York, for 12 years. She has also worked as a professor of Education at Molloy College, Adelphi University, and Queens College. She has overseen service-learning grants for the New York Metropolitan Area and collaborated in the writing of several publications related to service-learning. While Maureen credits her passion for service to her mother, a music teacher who often coordinated trips for her pupils to perform at a local nursing home, she credits her love of literature and teaching to her grandmother, a professor of English at Hunter College, and her grandfather, a salesman for Macmillan. Maureen has developed many standards-based, service-learning projects that link community outreach, character education, and reading. In addition, she has been a part of the Learn to Serve with Character Research Project headed by New York State. Maureen earned her master’s degree in Reading and her doctorate in Educational Leadership at St. John’s University. She has been awarded the title of Honoree for the ASCD Outstanding Young Educator of the Year and granted the St. John’s University LEAD Award. Also, she has presented workshops at regional, national, and international conferences, and volunteered to teach in India, Ghana, Peru, and Spain. Maureen is part of the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program which promotes global education. She believes that at the core of her profession is the need to develop purposeful learning that opens students’ eyes to the potential for positive change in themselves and in their local, national, and global communities. Maureen resides in New York City.