Teaching

My primary goal for my teaching is that students leave my courses with a nuanced understanding of course content, an enthusiasm for ideas encountered in the course, a sense of teaching as an intellectual endeavor, and a desire to inspire learning in their own current or future students. The theoretical commitments that guide my work as a researcher also influence my approach to teaching in my university courses. Therefore, my teaching reflects grounding in sociocultural, critical, and feminist theories. My aim in my literacy courses is for students to leave with both a rich collection of tools to apply in their literacy instruction and a complex understanding of how literacy functions in the lives of children and the debates about literacy learning that underlie the research literature that we engage. In my teacher research course I collaborate closely with graduate students to explore the research process as a key element in effective teaching and a powerful tool for professional development. In all of my courses I attempt to model practices that recognize learning as a social process, influenced by social and cultural contexts, providing opportunities for students to critically examine their own assumptions about literacy, learning, and children and the assumptions embedded in language. In each course I strive to build a sense of community and collaboration that facilitates the exploration of important and complex ideas.

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Courses Taught

EDUC 5095 Teacher as Researcher
K-12 teachers are often encouraged to implement ëresearch-basedí practices, required to attend workshops where research findings are presented, and provided with lists of books that synthesize research and suggest changes in practice based on the implications of research. Although these uses of research have their usefulness, the assumption implicit in much of the discourse surrounding research in education is that teachers are consumers and/or objects of research, rather than the producers of research. The past decade has seen a growing movement to upend those assumptions through an emphasis on the importance of teacher research. Teacher research positions teachers as producers of knowledge, as professionals who can learn about and improve their practice by studying important questions that grow from their own experiences.

This course has two primary goals:

1. To introduce and develop understanding of the ëhowsí and ëwhysí of teacher research as a key tool for professional development and improved teaching practice.


2. To provide an opportunity for you to complete a teacher research project (with support every step of the way!) that truly matters to you and that will positively impact your teaching and your studentsí learning.

EEDUC 4321 Integrated Reading/Writing Block for the Elementary School
This course is designed to familiarize prospective teachers with theoretical knowledge and practical techniques for teaching reading and writing in an integrated way in the elementary grades (K-6). The primary goal of this course is to develop practitioners who are knowledgeable about language and literacy teaching, and are able to apply that knowledge in the design of curriculum and lessons that meet the needs of diverse learners. Through the course of this semester students engage in learning about two critical and interconnected strands of literacy teaching: reading and writing. Students will learn about these two strands through a variety of techniques, such as, readings, in-class demonstrations and discussions, observations of excellent literacy instruction, practice, and reflection.