Introduction:  Fran Toomey

 My name is Fran Toomey.  I am a “retired” professor from St. Michael’s Education Department.  I taught there full time from 1981 to 2004 and since then have taught one course a year.   During my full time work I taught courses in Language and Learning, as well as courses in Adolescent and Adult Development and Learning, and Development, Learning, and Individual Differences.   More recently I have been teaching a course on reading comprehension for Middle and High School Teachers.  This summer I was scheduled to teach a graduate course titled “Learning How to Learn.”  My particular focus has always been on learners who struggle with learning in general and language/literacy learning in particular.  Within those areas, I have focused on memory, metacognition, and discourse.

I am passionate about language, literacy, and learning!  I think everyone has the capacity to be a successful learner!

I have degrees in Speech/Language Pathology and Developmental Psychology.

B.S. Elementary Education, Speech/Language Pathology, Carlow College, Pittsburgh, Pa.

M.A. Speech/Language Pathology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

M.A., Ph.D., (Developmental) Psychology, University of Vermont

I have worked in elementary, middle and high schools, hospital settings, private clinics, college/university settings.  I have worked directly with students in one-on-one and small group instruction as well as whole class teaching.  I have supervised and coached undergraduate and graduate students working with struggling learners.  I have worked in school systems on professional development in the areas of language, literacy and development.

My husband, George, is also a speech/language pathologist.  Recently we have worked on team teaching a course in reading comprehension for teachers at a local middle school.  We are also working on revising a teacher’s manual on reading comprehension and the first draft of a manual on writing.

Update:

I am an advocate for children who struggle with learning to read through my work at Vermont Family Network and Decoding Dyslexia-Vermont.

I am scheduled to teach a Stern Center 2019 summer course: "Connecting Oral and Written Language."