MEET THE TEAM
Melissa Orkin, Ph. D
Director
Melissa Orkin is a Developmental Psychologist who specializes in learning disabilities, and achievement motivation. Dr. Orkin trained in the assessment and remediation of reading and learning disabilities with Dr. Maryanne Wolf, at the Tufts’ University Center for Reading and Language Research where she received her doctorate and served as a Program Director. She has worked as a reading teacher in the classroom, and in clinical settings. Dr. Orkin instructs on learning disabilities at Tufts University, and has also lectured on reading disabilities at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She contributes to publications on a variety of educational topics including literacy development and executive function skills, and regularly provides professional development workshops and consults with public and private schools on best literacy practices.
Crafting Minds seeks to promote the best practices in literacy and English language arts instruction. Along these lines members from our group provide consultations, evaluations and ongoing professional development workshops designed to support school districts and enhance practitioners knowledge about the fields of neuroscience, reading instruction, dyslexia, achievement motivation, early literacy skills and use of technology in literacy development. Our interdisciplinary team of professionals consists of Developmental Psychologists, Educational Researchers, Reading Specialists, and Special Educators.
CONNIE HENRY, M.A.
Consultant
Connie Henry is an experienced educator with a focus on equity and access in mathematics for all students. Ms. Henry served as the Assistant Director of K-12 Mathematics for Boston Public Schools, where her responsibilities included professional development, curricular and assessment recommendations, and collaboration with other departments such as the Office of Special Education. Prior to that role, she worked as a classroom teacher and instruction coach.
Connie designs and facilitates professional development that builds content knowledge and examines equitable practices through a lens of inquiry.In addition, she is interested in the complex link between mathematics and language in the context of student thinking. She is a content advisor to MathTalk, a community-based initiative to encourage adult-child conversations. She recently co-authored No More Math Fact Frenzy (Heinemann, 2019) that includes research-based strategies to achieve fluency with all four operations using strategies and representations based on conceptual understanding
