Donna Van Cleve

9 years in public school teaching journalism, art, study skills, & information literacy, 5th - 12th grades~~~ 9 years as a public library director~~~ 6 years as a school librarian, 5th - 8th grades~~~ 1 year in a private school, elementary level~~~ 3 years as a homeschool teacher~~~

I try to incorporate as many learning styles in the lessons I teach, which include lecture, reading, audio-visual, demonstration, & practice. I try to use visual aids as much as possible.

Writing Awards: ~~~Finalist - 2009 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest - Middle School/Young Adult Category - Reality Tales; ~~~1st Place - Memoir Category; 1st Place - Short Story - 2008 East ~~~Texas Christian Writers Conference, Marshall, Texas; ~~~Finalist for the Writers' League of Texas Violet Crown Award for fiction, 2007, for her first novel, Grace Falling Like Rain; ~~~2nd Place Texas Press Association - Better Newspaper Contest in Column Writing, 2000 & 2002~~~Finalist - 2013 Writers' League of Texas Manuscript Contest - Adult Historical Novel - With Liberty and Justice

~~~B.S. in Education, Major - Art, Minor - Business, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas; !~~~MLS in Library & Information Science, Texas Woman's University, Denton, Texas

Donna is also the author of five novels and one picture book, Feathers: a Fable about Learning for Life she wrote after observing so many students who are clueless that school is preparing them for life. She has two adult children and son-in-law and three grand-children that inspire and challenge her to continue to grow and learn and create. She lives in a restored Victorian home outside of Austin, Texas, with her father. Or he lives with her. And they both live with a very sweet, emotionally-disturbed dog named Snickers.