Marcia L. Tate is the former executive director of professional development for the DeKalb County School System in Decatur, Georgia. During her 30-year career with the district, she has been a classroom teacher, reading specialist, language arts coordinator, and staff development executive director. Marcia was named Staff Developer of the Year for the state of Georgia, and her department was selected to receive the Exemplary Program Award for the state.

Marcia is currently CEO of the consultant firm she shares with her husband, Tyrone, and has presented her workshops to over 500,000 administrators, teachers, parents, and community leaders from all over the United States and the world, including Australia, Canada, Egypt, Hungary, Oman, New Zealand, Singapore, and Thailand.

She is the author of the following eight bestsellers: Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain (3rd ed.), Sit & Get Won’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Professional Learning Strategies that Engage the Adult Brain (2nd ed.); Reading and Language Arts Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Literacy Strategies that Engage the Brain (2nd ed.); Mathematics Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Numeracy Strategies that Engage the Brain; Science Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain; Social Studies Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain; Shouting Won’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Techniques to Detour Around the Danger Zones (2nd ed.); and Preparing Children for Success in School and in Life: 20 Ways to Increase Your Child’s Brain Power. She is also the author of Formative Assessment in a Brain-compatible Classroom: How Do We Really Know They Are Learning? which won the 2017 Independent Publishers Book Award. Marcia has written a number of published articles and chapters that have been included in other books. Participants in her workshops call them some of the best ones they have ever experienced since Marcia models the 20 strategies in her books to actively engage her audiences.

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Marcia received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and elementary education from Spelman College in Atlanta, her master’s degree in remedial reading from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and her specialist and doctorate degrees in educational leadership from Georgia State University and Clark Atlanta University, respectively. Spelman College awarded her the Apple Award for excellence in the field of education.

Marcia has not only been married to Tyrone for more than 39 years but they are the proud parents of three wonderful children, Jennifer, Jessica, and Christopher. If she had known how wonderful it would be to be a grandmother, Marcia would have had her eight grandchildren, Christian, Aidan, Maxwell, Aaron, Roman, Shiloh, Aya, and Noah, before she had her children. She and her husband own the company, Developing Minds Inc., and can be contacted by calling the company at (770) 918-5039, by e-mailing her at marciata@bellsouth.net, or by visiting either her business website at www.developingmindsinc.com or her personal website at www.drmarciatate.com. Follow Marcia on Twitter and Instagram @drmarciatate.

Brain-based strategies turn reluctant readers into motivated learners!

Building on Marcia Tate’s successful "dendrite-growing" teaching strategies, Reading and Language Arts Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites contains 300 instructional activities and brain-compatible literacy. Newly consistent with Common Core State Standards, this resource offers hands-on techniques to help teach reading in relevant, motivating, and engaging ways. Activities cover literacy instruction including:

Phonemic awareness

Phonics and vocabulary instruction

Text comprehension

Reading authentically, widely, and strategically

Writing strategically

Creating, critiquing, and discussing texts

Conducting research

Using technological resources

Respecting diversity in language

Participating in literary communities

Using language to accomplish purposes