Lizzy May

Lizzy (she/they) has worked with schools, arts organizations, hospitals and camps to implement healing centered, arts-integrated pedagogy and curriculum. She moved to California in 2020 and currently works as a Literacy Specialist and Instructional Coach for Seneca's five Therapeutic Day schools in the Bay Area.

Lizzy creates curricula and trains teaching artists for Chicago-based, city-wide arts project, Once Upon Our Time Capsule, which works with the Chicago Public Libraries to guide 8,000 students through their journeys each year and toward imagining a more beautiful and radical future.

She has partnered with the Lurie Center for Childhood Resilience to learn about the neurological effects of trauma on the childhood brain and pedagogical techniques to mitigate its impact and increase resilience. Lizzy has twice been an invited presenter at Ingenuity's annual arts education conference and spoke at the Trauma-Informed Arts Education for a Trauma Informed Illinois conference in 2021.

She has authored curricula for Chicago Children's Theatre, Chicago Public Schools and Intrinsic Schools, and has coached teachers grades pre K-8 on anti-racism in the classroom; trauma-responsive pedagogy; accessibility for all learners; culturally sustaining instruction; and project-based learning. As the founder of Backyard Chicago Ensemble, she has created trauma responsive theater curricula for middle schoolers and devised inter-generational theater work that has been performed in Chicago and New York City.

Degree(s)

MAT, Special Education, National Louis University

Curriculum Vitae

lizzy.may.pdf

Contact