Literacy education - Ph.D.
Literacy education is one of ten tracks within the Ph.D. program in education, curriculum and instruction. Within the literacy education track, we have three specializations: (1) children’s and adolescent literature, (2) critical literacy and English education, and (3) reading education. If you have an interest in literacy outside of these specialization areas, we will work with you to develop a program that builds on your interests. Although faculty members work within these distinct specializations, we also enjoy collaborating on teaching, research, and writing projects across the areas embedded within literacy education. Together, faculty and graduate students in the program investigate a host of issues in the field of literacy.
The literacy education track has four overarching goals. They are:
- to apply multiple theoretical and research perspectives to problems and questions central to the field,
- to engage in research, teaching, and outreach that supports culturally and linguistically diverse literacy learners,
- to develop literacy teachers and leaders for diverse schools, and
- to influence literacy policies that address inequities and benefit all learners.
The goal of this series is to promote discussion and new initiatives focused on reading & literacy that extend beyond the literacy education program area to include other programs and departments across the college, university, and organizations in the broader community.
Faculty
- Deborah Dillon
Deborah’s research focuses on the literacy practices of teachers and learners in K-12 schools, including the role of motivation in engaged reading. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the U. S. Department of Education. Deborah has published 4 books, including Kids InSight: Reconsidering How to Meet the Literacy Needs of All Students, and she is past president of the National Reading Conference. - Lee Galda
Lee’s research and teaching interests focus on children and adolescents and their literature. Lee is a fellow in the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy, and an active member of several other organizations, including service as a member of the 2003 Newbery Committee for the Association for Library Service to Children, American Library Association (ALA). Lee’s recent books are Literature and the Child (6th edition), coauthored with Bernice Cullinan, and Reading and Responding in the Middle Grades, coauthored with Michael Graves. - Lori Helman
Lori’s research examines the early stages of literacy development, in particular for students who are learning English as a new language. She also works with teachers to understand and implement effective instructional practices with English learners. Lori is coauthor of Words Their Way with English Learners. - Mary Jacobson
Mary is a lecturer in literacy and coordinates the K-12 reading licensure program. - Tim Lensmire
Tim’s research explores 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. His books include When Children Write: Critical Re-Visions of the Writing Workshop and Powerful Writing, Responsible Teaching. - Cynthia Lewis
Cynthia’s current research focuses on critical engagement in English classrooms in urban schools. She is interested in literacy as a critical practice with an emphasis on social identity as it shapes classroom discourse, response to literature, and adolescents’ uses of digital media. Cynthia’s books include Literary Practices as Social Acts: Power, Status, and Cultural Norms in the Classroom and Reframing Sociocultural Research: Identity, Agency, and Power (co-edited with Patricia Enciso and Elizabeth Moje). Both books were awarded the Edward Fry Book Award. - David O'Brien
David works collaboratively with school-based colleagues to study adolescent literacy, to help construct supportive programs for adolescents using literacy practices across the curriculum, and to support struggling adolescent readers. - Rebecca Tisdel Rapport
Rebecca is a lecturer in children's literature and elementary grade literacy. Currently, she is the editor for New Books for Young Readers and serves on the advisory boards of Minnesota Storytime, and the Kerlan Friends. - Barbara Taylor
Barbara’s research interests focus on school-wide reading improvement, and she is currently helping 51 Reading First schools in Minnesota improve students' reading achievement in grades K-3. Barbara is also the director of the Minnesota Center for Reading Research at the University of Minnesota.
Student profiles
Jessica Dockter
Before entering the Literacy Education Program as a full-time graduate student, I taught middle school language arts for eight years in a Twin Cities suburb. I loved teaching literature and writing (and still do) and found that I had a good sense of humor for the middle school mind. Although I was successful in getting my students to connect on a personal level with the texts they read and the texts they created, questions remained for me about how to make equity, justice, and action the center of my curriculum and pedagogy. In addition, as a white teacher in diverse school, I wondered constantly how my own privilege positioned me as an educator.
With these questions in mind, I entered the Literacy Program with a Critical English focus. I continue to be passionate about helping students see how the texts they create contribute to the production of knowledge and help to change the world. Through my involvement in the Critical Literacy track, I have come to understand the centrality of identity in literacy, the immense power of language—often unevenly distributed—and the challenges and significance of implementing a critical approach to teaching and learning.
For this reason, I have pursued research in literacy which explores a deeper, nuanced understanding of identities in practice in critical literacy classrooms. My dissertation study focuses specifically on students’ responses to discussions about race in a curriculum focused on the critical analysis and production of media. In particular, I am interested in how whiteness is enacted and disrupted in this space – through language and interaction – as students negotiate their identities around media and each other.
The Literacy Program has fostered my passion for theory while grounding it in the daily lives of students and teachers in classrooms. Thus, after completing my degree, I hope to find a position in a college or university which will allow me to grow as a researcher while turning questions about pedagogy back onto my own practice as a teacher.
Kara Coffino
After teaching and working as a Literacy Coach for five years in the Mississippi Delta, I made the difficult decision to leave my school and pursue my Ph.D in Curriculum and Instruction. It is through knowing the strength of my students and the character of the teachers in the Mississippi Delta that I have chosen to pursue higher education. My experience with students in the Mississippi Delta planted the seed for my future research in my mind. In Mississippi I was exposed to a region of our country where de facto segregation still exists and the lived culture of my students was neither represented nor validated in the school curriculum. It was witnessing the effects that this non-representation had on student engagement, motivation, and perceptions of self that both continues to resonate with me and serves as a personal call to action. My research interest has grown from my experiences working with learners from diverse backgrounds and supporting the teachers who educate them. I plan to complete my doctoral research by looking at the effect that teachers’ understanding of culture (both their own and that of their students) has on student experiences in the classroom.
In the past two and a half years I have immersed myself in coursework and research that have led me closer to understanding the specific instructional methods and approaches that will best serve students from diverse backgrounds. I have been able to balance theoretical classes delving into foundational ideas of culture, curriculum, and reading research with more practice-based courses in the Reading Licensure program. Additionally, I have had the opportunity to work for the past year as a research and teaching assistant on a grant that has created a partnership between a small, rural school district in southern Minnesota and the University of Minnesota. Through my work on this project I have assisted with both the planning and facilitation of masters level courses focusing on various components of literacy instruction for diverse learners. This role has supported my professional growth and has pushed me to link theory to practice in this field of research for both myself and for the teachers with whom I am currently working.
Financial support
- Doctoral students in the literacy program are eligible for appropriate scholarships and fellowships.
Recent dissertation titles
Arnold, J. (2009). Chatting about books: Online discussions about young adult multicultural literature in a course for pre-service and practicing teachers.
Flynn, J. (2009). Discussing race and culture in the middle school classroom.
Hammond, H. (2009). Graphic novels and multimodal literacy: A reader response study.
Hopkins, J. (2009). Being a teacher and the teaching of being.
Knutson, M. (2009). Student response to critical literacy within the dominant discourse.
Malchow Lloyd, R. (2009). Questioning the tensions: Action research within a teacher collaboration.
Scharber Doering, C. (2009). Online book clubs for the net generation.
See also:
Scholarships and awards offered through the College
Literacy resources
Minnesota Center for Reading Research
Revised December 2009
