Write Creations Group

Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor are nationally recognized trainers, speakers, authors and consultants in the youth and community development field. As co-founders of Write Creations Group LLC and the Center for Asset Development at the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, they have coached and trained numerous youth-serving agencies and schools on developing and empowering youth leaders, team building, service-learning, program strategies, and youth development best practices. They are best-selling authors of Great Group Games: 175 Boredom-Busting, Zero-Prep Team Builders for All Ages and 7 other books for educators and youth workers. Their latest creation is Brain Boosters for Groups in a Jar. They have a passion for empowering youth to succeed and sustaining professionals in the youth development field. Susan Ragsdale has been doing youth and community development work with the YMCA of Middle Tennessee since 1992. Her work includes a variety of teen leadership and inner-city outreach programs, both locally and nationally with the YMCA of USA, ranging from directing a regional youth environmental service-learning program to helping coach the “Bulldawgs” inner-city team. Susan lives in Nashville with her husband Pete and their two dogs. Ann Saylor has taught at CHET Homeschool Tutorial, Harpeth Hall School, and as an intern at West High School and the University of TN. She has developed and directed service-learning programs for multiple schools and organizations since 1994, including Points of Light Institute, Tennessee 4-H, and Volunteer Tennessee. She has published more than 150 articles about youth leadership, service-learning, developmental assets and personal balance as well as putting her theories to work both in the classroom and in the community. Ann and her husband Dan have 4 children in Pleasant View, TN.

experiential, cooperative learning, social emotional learning, service-learning, strength-based approach

PUBLISHED BOOKS  Brain Boosters for Groups in a Jar. Free Spirit Publishing, 2016.  Groups, Troops, Clubs and Classrooms: The Essential Handbook for Working with Youth, SI Press, 2014.  Get Things Going: 85 Asset-Building Activities for Workshops, Presentations, and Meetings, SI Press, 2012.  Great Group Games Cards on the Go: 50 Favorite Team Builders, 2012  Great Group Games for Kids: 150 Meaningful Activities for Any Setting, SI Press, 2011.  Building Character from the Start: 150 Activities to Promote Creativity, Literacy and Play in K-3, SI Press, 2009  Ready to Go Service Projects: 140 Ways to Lend a Hand, Abingdon Press, 2008.  Great Group Games: 175 Boredom-Busting, Zero Prep Team Builders for All Ages, SI Press, 2007. OTHER PUBLICATIONS  Rewrote the Prudential Youth Leadership Institute curriculum, and launched it as goLEAD  Seasons of Service Curriculum with Volunteer Tennessee and Corporation for National Service, 2011.  YMCA Y-FACE Guide for Service-Learning, (on the creative and interactive development team), 2008  Discover the Superhero in You, coloring activity book for Mississippi Commission on Volunteerism, 2005.  The Asset Messenger, a series of monthly newsletters, Center for Asset Development  Building a Spirit of Service in Teen Programs, YMCA of the USA  Reading for Life: Equipping Caregivers to Raise a Generation of Lifelong Readers  Evaluating Youth Programs: Outcome-Based Evaluation , YMCA of the USA  Introduction to Service-Learning, YMCA of the USA  Peer Mediation Guide, YMCA of the USA  Youth/Adult Partnership Guide: The Power of Working Side by Side, YMCA of the USA

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