Sharon M. Fennessey is the author of the Heinemann titles Language Arts Lessons for Active Learning, Grades 3–8 (2008) and History in the Spotlight (2000). She teaches fifth grade at the Henry Barnard School on the Rhode Island College campus in Providence, Rhode Island. There, she uses the strategies and dramatic activities she writes about in Language Arts Lessons for Active Learning, Grades 3–8 in her own classroom. As a professor at the college, she teaches courses in creative drama, children’s theatre, and methods in drama. She has written and directed many theatre productions for young audiences and works actively as a consultant and presenter at teacher conferences.