Christopher Healy

Get in Touch

207-893-7559  | chealy@sjcme.edu | Alfond Hall, 4th Floor

Christopher Healy is an assistant professor in the education department at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine. His teaching focuses on literacy instruction and special education. Following the completion of his Maine Writing Project Fellowship in 2008, Chris became a Teaching Consultant working with area teachers to enhance writing instruction. His scholarship includes language and literacy acquisition in students on the autism spectrum, the role of literacy instruction in special education settings, and reading comprehension in disfluent yet accurate readers. He also has an interest in the effective practices of Career and Technical Education (CTE) instructors as perceived by female students learning in male-dominated vocational programs. Chris serves on the Teacher Education Alliance of Maine and the Educational Standards Committee at Saint Joseph’s College.

Throughout his 20-year career in K-12 education, he has focused on transactional and exploratory models of reading instruction in special education classrooms. Along with his academic publications, he has published his poetry.

In his spare time, Chris enjoys writing poetry, playing guitar and ukulele, and mountain biking in the wildly wonderful woods of Maine.

Affiliations

2018-2019 Association for Career and Technical Education Research
2011-2012 Literacy Research Association
2011-2012 Eastern Education Research Association
2010-present National Council for the Teachers of English
2010-2011 Assembly on Literature for Adolescents
2009-present National Association of Special Education Teachers
2008-2009 Partnership for the Americas
1998-2000 Council for Exceptional Children

PUBLICATIONS (*Refereed)

Articles

*Healy, C. (2011). One-to-one in the inclusive classroom: The perspectives of paraeducators who support adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals, (4), 77-92.

Healy, C. (2008). “It taught me about being me”: Getting to know the writing life of a student. Maine Writing Project Anthology, (1), 22-31.

Poetry

Healy, C. (1998). Love Poem. Sandy River Review. Farmington, ME: Alice James Books.

PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS (*Refereed)

International

*Healy, C. (2009, July) “Walking in Another World: Understanding Common Reading and Writing Difficulties.” Workshop presented at the Jornada De Palestras Internacionals, Universidad Federal Do Rio Grande Do Norte, Natal, Brazil.

Healy, C. (2009, July) “Walking in Another World: Understanding Common Reading and Writing Difficulties.” Workshop presented at Cultura Inglesa, School of English, Natal, Brazil.

National/Regional

*Healy, C. (2012, November) “One-to-one in the Inclusive Classroom: The Perspective of Paraeducators Who Support Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Roundtable discussion presented at the annual conference for the Literacy Research Association (LRA), San Diego, California.

*Healy, C. (2012, February) “One-to-one in the Inclusive Classroom: The Perspectives of Paraeducators Who Support Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder” Poster presented at the regional conference for the Eastern Education Research Association (EERA), Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Healy, C. (2008, October) “Take Time to Write Well: Effective Modifications for Students with Information Processing Disorders.” Workshop presented at the Effective Practices Conference, University of Maine Hutchinson Center, Belfast, Maine.

Local

*Healy, C. (2020, April) “Facilitating Vocabulary Development and Reading Comprehension for Adolescents who Struggle with Social Awareness.” Maine Literacy Connections Conference, Thomas College, Waterville, Maine. (Postponed due to COVID-19)

Healy, C. (2017, April) “Classroom Discussion Strategies: Leading Classroom Questions.” Workshop presented to the faculty of Hermon High School, Hermon, Maine.

Innovative Pedagogical Methods

Reading is a dynamic process that involves interactions between thought and language. The reader brings their own background experiences to create unique meaning as they engage with a text; reading, then, goes beyond the task of grasping meaning from a passage. Reading is a transaction between the reader and the text that is bound within social, cultural, linguistic, and physiologic senses. A teacher's job is to engage with their students' individual meanings following reading.

Unique Excursions for Academic Research or Societies

Dr. Healy is a prior member of the Partnership for the Americas. He has travel to Brazil for a joint educational exchange between Maine and Natal, Brazil.