Colleen Whalen JohnsonHello, I am Colleen Whalen Johnson and I love stories especially sharing them with others. I truly enjoy the uplifting experience of children enjoying stories both fiction and nonfiction. Through my experience of raising three boys as well as my manyyears as an educator, I have read hundreds of stories to children. As an author, my goal is to bring that same joy to children and their families with my own stories. I began my journey working with children at the age of nine. I volunteered for two summers at a Head Start summer camp for preschoolers. Later in life I got a little derailed from becoming a teacher and picked it back up as adult with three children of my own. I became reacquainted with the world of special education through two of my sons requiring services through the public school system. Then I began volunteering again, participating on committees at both the local and state level in special education. In addition to volunteering, I subbed in classrooms for the public school system. I landed several times in a classroom for early childhood students with disabilities. I knew I had found my career home. I landed a job as a teaching assistant in the same classroom as the one I subbed in. I went on to get my masters degree in special education with licenses in Early Childhood Special Education and Administration and Supervision Pre-k through 12th grade. In addition, I have been a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. I held many positions such as the Teaching Assistant, Teacher, Consultant Teacher, Assistant Principal, and finally Special Education Supervisor. Interestingly, I kept writing on the back burner continuing to develop stories for my idea file. I actually wrote Gellini when my sons were very young. In all my classrooms, I used literature and story to guide my curriculum and activities. I have kept myself surrounded by story. So it was no surprise that after my retirement from the public school system, I turned to writing as my new vocation. Read More Read Less