For the last 20 years, Jane Katch has taught young children, first at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and presently at the Touchstone Community School in Grafton, Mass. She received a BA from Oberlin College, a master of science in teaching from the University of Chicago, and a certificate in teacher education from the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute.
Katch was a counselor at the University of Chicago Orthogenic School, a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed children directed by Bruno Bettelheim. While working with Bettelheim, she counseled emotionally disturbed adolescent girls. It was an experience that taught her, she says, that it can be less frightening to face one's fears than to run from them.
While at the Laboratory Schools, Katch student taught with Vivian Paley and then taught kindergarten and nursery school for 13 years, taking a two-year leave of absence to have her first child and be part-time director of a small nursery school next door to her home.
Katch now lives in rural Connecticut with her husband, Jed, and two daughters, Margaret and Hannah. Under Deadman's Skin - Discovering the Meaning of Children's Violent Play is her first book.