Gustafson, Chris(tine) 1950–

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Gustafson, Chris(tine) 1950–

PERSONAL: Born October 30, 1950, in Seattle, WA; daughter of Wilbert E. (an educator) and Grace L. (an educator; maiden name, McFarland) Nuetzmann; married Wayne E. Gustafson (a legal assistant), September 19, 1969; children: Ross, Mae Gustafson Moore. Ethnicity: "White." Education: University of Washington, Seattle, B.A., 1972, elementary certificate, 1990, library/media endorsement, 2000; Lesley College, M.Ed., 1993. Religion: Christian.

ADDRESSES: Office—Whitman Middle School, 9201 15th NW, Seattle, WA 98117. E-mail[email protected].

CAREER: Elementary school teacher, 1990–2000; Whitman Middle School, Seattle, WA, librarian, 2000–, teaching and technology coach, 2002–. Volunteer for homeless outreach programs.

MEMBER: Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Lambda Theta.

AWARDS, HONORS: Grants from Shoreline Foundation, Shoreline Arts Council, Shoreline Applied Learning, and Foxfire, beginning 1995; named media specialist of the year, Washington State Library, 2003–04.

WRITINGS:

Acting Out: Reader's Theatre across the Curriculum, Linworth Publishing (Worthington, OH), 2002.

Acting Cool! Using Reader's Theatre to Teach Math and Science in Your Classroom, Linworth Publishing (Worthington, OH), 2003.

Acting Cool! Using Reader's Theatre to Teach Language Arts and Social Studies in Your Classroom, Linworth Publishing (Worthington, OH), 2003.

Work represented in anthologies, including A Horse's Tale: Ten Adventures in One Hundred Years, Parenting Press, 1989. Author of monthly book-review column for Ballard News Tribune. Contributor to magazines, including School Library Journal, Book Report, Educational Leadership, Foxfire News, and Library Media Connection.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A book of children's sermons.

SIDELIGHTS: Chris Gustafson told CA: "The first thing I remember writing was a truly awful story about a boy who was the only survivor of a plane crash. He managed to make crutches and hike out to safety. I sat by the fireplace in the house where I grew up, with a tablet of lined paper and a pencil, creating a world totally outside anything I'd ever experienced as an eight year old growing up in Seattle in the 1950s. The story is long gone, but the excitement of bending over a page and finding words to match my imagination is still strong. I write because writing is part of who I am.

"Writing reader's theater for young teens happened because a Seattle public librarian, Peg Dombek, came to my middle-school library and led my students in performing a short piece taken from The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer. My students loved it, so I began experimenting with adapting other books and then writing short original pieces. Students are eager to read a book once they've performed a scene from it, and they are much more likely to remember a lesson I've taught if it includes their own participation in a play.

"I'm a disciplined writer because I hate to hurry my writing. A lot of it happens in my head and in outline form before I even sit down to write."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

School Library Journal, February, 2004, Cris Riedel, review of Acting Out: Reader's Theatre across the Curriculum, p. 175.