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About Gail

Dr. Gail N. Herman

Creative storyteller and arts consultant, Dr. Gail N. Herman, has performed and taught storytelling extensively throughout the United States, as well as in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Jamaica, Germany, Ghana, India, and the Virgin Islands. Besides performing for students in schools and libraries, Dr. Herman works with teachers and helping professionals to infuse storytelling and the kinesthetic, musical, and spatial aspects of learning into reading and other curriculum areas of our schools. She teaches at  The University of Connecticut (CONFRATUTE) in CT and also taught for Lesley University, Frostburg State University and Garrett College. Gail directed the Tall Tale Liar’s Festival and the Student Tall Tale Storytelling Festival in MD for 19 years.

Dr. Herman has conducted hundreds of in-service storytelling workshops.  She also teaches Storytelling, Mime, and Movement and art appreciation workshops through sound, and gesture at the Univ. of Connecticut’s Confratute and has been a guest presenter for art education classes at George Mason University and Maryland Institute, College of Art.  She has taught “Storytelling” and  Speaking in Sculpted Silence: The Art of Mime” at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts since 2013.  She presents many storytelling workshops and keynotes to state educational and other organizations such as LANES, NSN, NAEYC, NAGC, and AEGUS. 

She was an invited presenter at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and the New Ways Of Learning: Spotlight on the Multiple Intelligences Conference sponsored by Zephyr Press in Tucson, AZ.  She performed at the Albert Schweitzer Symposium at the United Nations in NYC, at the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, NY, the WV Storytelling Festival, the Harvest Moon Festival in WV, and the Northeast Storytelling Festival in Historic Gettysburg . 

Dr. Herman worked as a consultant with Dr. Patricia Hollingsworth on four education grants to train teachers to work with economically disadvantaged students with high potential at the University School in Tulsa.  Her job was to infuse the kinesthetic arts and storytelling into the curriculum.  Dr. Herman also worked as an enrichment consultant and storyteller in Cherry Creek Schools and Littleton Schools near Denver, Colorado.  She works with Drs.Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis at the University of Connecticut for the institute/conference called CONFRATUTE where she teaches storytelling and movement applications to the classroom.

Dr. Herman has received grants from Laurel Arts, Bluemont Concert Series, local arts council grants from MD and WV Humanities Council, as well as MD State Arts Council Residency and Artist in Education (AIE) grants.  She directed the Coal Talk Oral History project.  She received a grant from MBEC to collect stories in the Estonia,Latvia, and Lithuania.

Other Experience

Dr. Herman was a primary grade teacher, a gifted K-8 and an early childhood teacher, and taught at WVU as Visiting Assistant Professor.  She taught in the New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Maryland public schools. She was a regular classroom teacher, a Helping Teacher, and an Enrichment Teacher.  She has taught learning disabled, underachieving, as well as gifted students.  Presently she teaches at several colleges in her specialized fields of education, storytelling, creative arts, and gifted education.