After a robust and varied career in education, Anxious to Learn is a labor of love for Dr. Ann Spencer.


Ann’s career started teaching English in grades 7 - 12, spending most of her time teaching eleventh graders how to write. Concurrently, Ann taught composition and American literature at  Morrisville State College, where she was promoted to a full-time position as an Assistant Professor teaching composition. Meanwhile, Ann pursued her doctorate, researching the link between critical thinking and writing instruction. 

A move to New Hampshire shifted Ann’s career to teacher education, teaching and building graduate programs at New England College and Granite State College.  Ann also worked as a consultant for the NH Department of Education offering professional development at several schools.

Retiring from higher education, Ann took a job for fun - tutoring at Mountain Valley Treatment Center, a residential program for adolescents and young adults with anxiety and OCD. To her delight, Ann found that her experience and research interests offered keen insight into the learning barriers faced by anxious students.

For the last six years, Ann’s work has focused exclusively on helping anxious learners, during which she has developed a specialized teaching methodology that has proven effective with hundreds of learners. She is currently at work on a book to share this methodology with her educational colleagues. 

Ann now works independently with a select few learners, some of whom have continued with her throughout their college careers. Ann also helps graduate students and adult professionals who find themselves “stuck” with writing and organization.

Ann holds a Bachelors of Art, Summa Cum Laude with High Honors in English from Kenyon College, a Master’s in the Art of Teaching from the State University of New York at Cortland, and a Doctorate in Education from Binghamton University.


“Ann is very good at helping me write the essay that is in my head. When I go to write I ask myself "What do I want to say?" instead of "What is a thesis I can prove?" because this is how I am able to find motivation to write. What is unique about Ann is that she focused on helping me capture my own ideas and write what is meaningful to me, whereas others tried to help by getting me to come up with claims that fit in pretty little outlined boxes. Ann was the only person to recognize that that was not what I needed.”

Ava