Christopher Glenn

I started working with children when I was 17 (I'm 65 now) and have worked since with children every year except two (first year in graduate school, first year in first job after school). I've worked with emotionally challenged and healthy children, mostly in the 6-12 age range.

I received a Masters in Counseling from the University of Oregon (1975) and a Doctorate in Psychology from Texas Tech University (1980).

My interests include, among other activities, science fiction (something in common with most of the kids I've worked with), nature and hiking, and creative thinking.

I am retired but still work as a consultant (www.glennresearch.com). Pertinent to this book, I was the consulting Director of Research at the Franciscan Montessori Earth School in Portland, Oregon for 30 years. The most notable of many research projects was an 18 year longitudinal study, following elementary aged Montessori-educated children into adulthood (ERIC: ED478792).

My interest in role playing began in the 1970's by taking several classes in Psychodrama as an undergraduate. Psychodrama is a way to act out and work on personal issues while striving for self-understanding and trying alternate solutions. I melded my experiences with and psychological understanding of children with psychodrama to create a way of having fun while learning social skills and self-understanding, and I made it appropriate for classroom, after school, therapeutic, and home environments. Over the years, and with the help of the children, I added more and more role plays pertinent to important childhood issues such as self-confidence, independence, assertiveness, and mediation. Each time we did a certain role play, I had opportunities to fine tune it and to identify common pitfalls to be avoided.

I am most pleased that, with this book, I will have the opportunity to help many more children better understand themselves and to work more effectively in a group, while having fun and being creative.