Arts Programs-What Works
Lifelong Daddying
Anderson the Music Man
Grandma Storyteller
Poet Mom
Selecting Movies for Kids
Becoming a New Dad
Taback-on Illustrating
Alice Hoffman Kids' Books
Kingsley on "Holland"
Monday Night Art Class
The Sisters Yankowitz
Istar on Harry Potter
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Background
and Credits-Istar Schwager, Ph.D.
Founder & President, Creative Parents, Inc.
Istar Schwager, Ph.D., president of Creative Parents, Inc. advises media
projects, individuals and organizations on how to apply positive psychology
to realize their goals and achieve their creative potential. With her
expertise in parenting and her philosophy that “parenting”
has many facets, she has been a principal consultant to numerous award-winning
television, interactive and print projects; has frequently been interviewed
on television and radio; has written for national publications; has developed
and conducted workshops; and has advised individuals on how to develop
and apply their strengths.
For parents:
Istar Schwager is founder and editor of the website CreativeParents.com.
She was advisor to Sesame Street Parents, which she helped launch, and
for which she wrote a monthly column on a range of topics. She developed
the content for Children's Television Workshop's Family Living Series
(including titles: Raising Kids Who Love to Learn; Raising Responsible
Kids; Understanding Discipline and Raising Children in a Changing World
- published by Prentice Hall.) Articles she has written have appeared
in Working Mother, Parents, Parenting,
Good Housekeeping, Games, and Principal magazines. She appeared
as a regular guest on FX's Breakfast Time Show where she and Tom Bergeron
(now host of Hollywood Squares/ America’s Funniest Home Videos)
demonstrated for viewers such creative activities as finger-painting,
block building and puppet-making with a studio full of children. She was
spokesperson for Duracell's National Toy Survey, talking to parents about
child development and play, and has been interviewed on many other TV
and radio programs, both national and local.
For young children:
Dr. Schwager is an advisor to Sesame Street Magazine, and has been a principal
consultant to the TV series: Play with Me Sesame (Noggin), Gullah, Gullah
Island, and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (Nick Jr.) She was the creative
consultant to The Sony/CTW Kids Guide to Life Series of videos: Big Bird
Gets Lost; Telling the Truth and Learning to Share. As the associate director
of research for the Sesame Street series, Dr. Schwager worked with writers
and producers developing content and scripts. As director of research
for Sesame Workshop’s Magazine Group, she worked with editors, art
directors and publishers on each issue of its monthly preschool magazine,
read by over a million families, and has consulted to special issues designed
to help preschoolers learn about such topics as health and money. She
was consultant-author to Publications International’s Active Minds
series of books for preschoolers (My Day; Colors; Opposites; Shapes; Alphabet;
Numbers.) She wrote and developed materials on a wide range of topics
for Family Day Care providers. Dr. Schwager has experience as a preschool
teacher, developing curriculum and working closely with parents.
For tweens and teens:
Dr. Schwager has been a principal consultant to Degrassi: the Next Generation,
(aired in the U.S. on the N) a scripted series for teens that addresses
controversial topics and has written the online resource designed to spark
discussion-- and was principal advisor to Noggin’s A Walk in Your
Shoes, a reality series where teens switch places to learn what someone
else’s life is like. She was a principal consultant to NBA’s
Inside Stuff (aired on NBC) which focused on the positive, educational
and community-oriented activities many basketball players engage in when
they are off the court. She was evaluator to the national developer/demonstrator
program Learning to Read through the Arts, which brought visual and performing
artists into schools; and consulted to Scholastic Entertainment in their
development of a line of learning games and toys.
Workshops and Classes:
Dr. Istar Schwager has designed and conducted workshops at the Parents
League of New York; The West Side JCC; Rockefeller University Child and
Family Center; Hunter College Campus Schools, and the 92nd Street Y. As
a member of the faculty of the School of Visual Arts she has developed
and taught classes on writing screenplays oriented to child audiences
and about childhood themes. She has also taught teachers at Bank Street
and Brooklyn Colleges.
Work with Individuals and Families:
Dr. Schwager coaches individuals to help them apply their strengths and
develop their creative projects. She also works with families and other
groups to help improve their interactions, often using MBTI (Myers Briggs
Type Indicator) in which she is trained and officially qualified.
Education:
Dr. Schwager has a B.A. from Barnard, an M.S. from Bank Street and a Ph.D.
in educational psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University
of New York where she specialized in life-long development and learning.
Other Activities:
Istar Schwager is on the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences
blue ribbon panel as an Emmy judge for family programming; is a member
of New York Women in Film and Television; and is a member of the advisory
councils for the Moth, an organization that promotes storytelling, and
for Women in Children's Media.
contact
us.
Copyright©
2005, Dr. Istar Schwager
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