Literacy education
The literacy education program has traditionally been one of the strongest in the country. Program faculty are leading scholars in the areas of children’s/adolescent literature, critical literacy, English education, reading, and writing. Literacy education faculty have won teaching awards at various universities across the country; they have served as presidents of literacy organizations, journal editors, committee chairs and executive board members for organizations such as NCTE, IRA, and NRC and program chairs for conferences; they oversee numerous research projects, serving as project directors for federal grants, and they are authors of important journal articles, books, and materials for scholars as well as K-12 teachers and learners. This unique group of individuals offers a breadth of expertise and perspectives on literacy issues that currently face researchers, teachers, and learners in this country and internationally.
The true strength and heart of our program resides in our former graduate students—who now have positions as literacy educators and researchers all across the country—and our current students, who bring a wealth of ideas and experiences with them to enrich our daily interactions. Our graduates secure careers in university and college teaching, research, curriculum development, and administration of literacy programs. We invite you to become part of this large and extended community!
Beth Brendler, a doctoral student in Children's and Adolescent Literature in C&I, is the 2010 recipient of the Norine Odland Fellowship. This fellowship supports Beth's dissertation work and also the purchase of books for children and adolescents who are patients at Fairview University Children's Hospital.
Degree program information in literacy education
- Ph.D.: for experienced professionals who want to develop advanced research, knowledge, and leadership skills in their chosen field
- M.A.: a research-based master's degree for individuals who want to develop research and teaching skills, and advanced knowledge in their chosen field
- M.Ed./initial licensure in English education: for individuals seeking communications, arts, and literature licensure to teach in grades 5-12
- M.Ed./professional studies in English education: for middle school, high school, and community-college English Teachers interested in gaining advanced knowledge about research, practice, and new developments in English education
- M.Ed./professional studies in Literacy education: for licensed teachers and other professionals interested in gaining advanced knowledge and skills with specific emphasis in improving the quality of literacy education in K-12 schools
- Reading (K-12) additional licensure: an 18-month program for licensed teachers
- Teaching writing and critical literacy certificate: a 15-credit program for degree- seeking and non-degree seeking students
Note: Adult basic literacy is also offered as a program at the College, but it is housed in the Department of Organization, Leadership, and Policy Development.
Faculty & interest areas
Deborah Dillon: Literacy practices of teachers and learners in K-12 schools, the role of motivation in engaged reading, literacy leadership and school reform, qualitative research methodologies
Lee Galda: K-12 children's and adolescent literature, child and adolescent response to literature, exploration of literacy learning in literature-based classrooms
Lori Helman:
Literacy development in the elementary grades, effective instructional
practices with English learners, teacher development and leadership,
assessment and instruction to support struggling
readers K-6
Mary Jacobson: Practicum experience in reading teacher preparation programs
Timothy Lensmire: Exploring the teaching and learning of writing as a form of democratic living, and how white people learn to be white in our white supremacist society.
Cynthia Lewis: Critical literacy in urban high schools, classroom discourse, adolescent literacy and identity, critical discourse analysis, classroom ethnography
David O'Brien: Adolescent literacy, construction of supportive programs for adolescents and struggling adolescent readers using literacy across the curriculum
Barbara Taylor: School-wide reading improvement in the elementary grades, with a focus on schools with diverse populations, effective teachers of reading, K-6, interventions for struggling readers, K-4
Rebecca Rapport: Children’s literature and literacy instruction and learning in elementary grades
Student profile
Lauren Causey
The University of Minnesota will be my home for the next few years as I work toward a Ph.D. in Literacy Education. Having grown up in New Orleans, La., I have internalized the strong impact that culture makes in many arenas, especially in education. The experiences I had in New Orleans and elsewhere make a nice backdrop for my current studies at the U. I earned my undergraduate degree from Howard University in 2004, majoring in English. I then moved to New York City to work at Scholastic Inc. as a Contracts Assistant. My job gave me a unique view of the world of books—I was privy to behind-the-scenes talks about how books were made and sold. The more I learned about the industry, though, the more questions I developed about kids who did not have access to our wonderful books, either due to a lack of financial means, or a lack of literacy skills. When I became a tutor to beginning adult readers and writers at a New York Public Library, even more questions surfaced, as I began to think about the systemic causes of low literacy, and the larger societal implications it creates.
In the 2008-2009 academic year, I sought out answers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. There, I earned a Master’s of Education. I concentrated on adolescent literacy, teasing out particularly problematic areas such as vocabulary development and reading comprehension. I have carried over these language-based concerns to the University of Minnesota, where I’m adding new layers of study.
My work with Prof. Lee Galda has been enlightening: From her expertise on children’s and young adult literature I have learned new ways of talking about text-based issues, such as cultural authenticity in diverse literature. Prof. Galda also oversees my research at the Kerlan Special Collections Library, where I’m currently building an electronic portfolio of a picture book, a guide for teachers and librarians. By creating the portfolio, I am expanding my definition of what it means to be an educational researcher.
In addition, I am also on a research team led by Prof. Cynthia Lewis. I assist in collecting ethnographic data at a local high school which integrates Digital Media (DigMe) into its curriculum. Prof. Lewis’s leadership of the qualitative investigation of DigMe classrooms makes this an exciting project for me.
Looking to the future, I hope to deepen my knowledge about high school dropout prevention, and about young people’s attitudes toward literacy skills and texts. I aspire to effect change by teaching university students, and by developing research strategies and practice-based solutions for community-based programs and policy-shaping entities.
See also:
- Reading, writing, and emoticons ;), Connect! Summer 2007
- Choosing a degree
- CI courses with a focus on literacy and English education
- Learning to teach: Teacher education programs
- Profiles of M.Ed. students
Resources
Professional organizations
Revised July 2011
