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.

Faculty

• Richard Beach
  Rick is the author/editor of 15 books; his most recent books include Teaching Literature to Adolescents, Teaching Media Literacy through the Web, Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Literacy Research, and Inquiry-based English Instruction. He conducts research in the areas of response to literature/media, composition, and inquiry-instruction.
• 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.
• 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

Beth Brendler

I am originally from Wisconsin, where I was a Youth Services librarian in a public library. I was (and still am) concerned about the number of children and teenagers that I dealt with who said they didn’t like reading. I worked with a lot of parents who were struggling with some way to get their kids interested in reading. One of my favorite tasks was reader’s advisory, finding a book for someone that really sparked their interest in reading. I gave seminars to parents and teachers on reading and good books that motivate kids to read. That is when I discovered how much I enjoyed teaching people about the joys of literature and reading. When my family moved to the Minneapolis area I decided to pursue my long time goal of getting my Ph.D. so I can, hopefully one day, teach teachers how to motivate their students to read.

I was admitted to the program last fall, so I am just starting my coursework. All of my professors have been fantastic, but I am most influenced by Lee Galda. I hope that some day I can be as good a professor as she is. She really knows her field and she is very enthusiastic about books. She also knows how to motivate and inspire her students. In my first semester, I took a course from her on reader response theory. I am very interested in that now. I have also taken two literature courses from her and she uses reader response theory in her teaching. She really pushes her students to think beyond their old ideas and stereotypes and to respond personally as well as critically to what we read.

Eva Boehm

After moving from Ohio to Minnesota and taking a position as a reading specialist, I got involved with the Best Practice Network, sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Education. The experience launched my involvement with school districts around the state as a reading consultant and knit me to a statewide community of people concerned with reading development. As a board member for the Minnesota Reading Association, I worked collaboratively with other reading professionals to construct the competencies for the newly recognized reading endorsement. With the repeated encouragement of my professional colleagues, I decided to pursue doctoral studies in literacy and started my program in 2003.

My truisms about the world of education have shifted since starting graduate studies. This journey has proven to me that I have so much more to learn. After many meaningful years in the schools focused on effective practice, I struggled with the faculty’s focus on theory. It took me a few semesters for me to construct a conceptual bridge between both worlds. My questions have shifted from “What works?” to “Why does this matter? How does it inform our practices?”

This lens has helped me to seek out opportunities to link theory and practice. With the guidance of my adviser Deborah Dillon, I began imagining the possibility of creating a conference to network the dozens of literacy related organizations and higher education institutions in Minnesota. This vision became a reality in the summer of 2004 with the creation of the Literacy Coalition of Minnesota (LCM). My preliminary research has revealed that many states have literacy coalitions that involve partnerships between higher education institutions or adult literacy programs, however with the LCM, Minnesota is the first state attempting to network both professional teacher organizations and higher education institutions. The literacy faculty was fundamental in making this vision a reality.

Now at the end of my coursework, I look forward to starting the research for my dissertation. I strongly believe that it is impossible to isolate the variables that go into student learning, so I will be using an ethnographic or case study methodology to explore the intersection of content area reading and successful coaching models when working with the teachers of adolescent learners.

Selected presentations

Taylor, B.M., Peterson, D.S., Marx, M., & Chein, M. (2005). The school change framework: A professional development program for REA and Reading First. Presented at the 55th National Reading Conference.

Taylor, B.M., Peterson, D.S., Chein, M., & Marx, M. (2005). Reading First in Minnesota: Using the School Change Framework. Presented at the 32nd Plains Regional Conference, International Reading Association.

Alumni in action

Amanda Haertling Thein, Ph.D.

I am currently an assistant professor of English education at the University of Pittsburgh. I primarily teach courses on the teaching of literature and media, and theory and practice in the teaching of multicultural literature. My research interest that I realized while studying at the University of Minnesota has followed me to my new position; studying the ways in which working-class girls’ responses to literature are negotiated through competing social worlds and cultural models.

My experiences at the University of Minnesota were rich in collaboration with faculty members. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Dr. Beach throughout my doctoral program. During that time we worked on an extensive qualitative and ethnographic study of students reading multicultural literature in an urban high school. My work with Dr. Beach on this study gave me the opportunity to present papers at national conferences and to collaborate on a book, which is currently in press.

I also found great opportunities to collaborate with other students at the University of Minnesota. In particular I worked with Daryl Parks on research in his high school classroom and collaborated with him on developing a master's level course on teaching multicultural literature. I also became great friends and writing partners with Audrey Appelsies – she and I supported one another and read numerous drafts of each other’s writing throughout our dissertation processes.

As a doctoral student at the U of M I learned how to be a member of an academic community. Faculty in Curriculum and Instruction gave me opportunities to conduct research, teach courses, supervise student teachers, find funding for my work, and participate in program development. These experiences gave me a great sense for what life would be like as a faculty member in this field.

Dissertation

Thein, Amanda Haertling (2005) Discourses of femininity? Mapping the social and cultural worlds of high school girls through their stances and responses to literature.

Presentations

Thein, A.H. (April 2006). Working-class girls constructing flexible interpretive stances toward social and culture worlds in life and literature. Paper presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Researchers Associations, San Francisco, CA

Godley, A., Thein, A., & Trainor, J. (February 2006). Re-theorizing the local: How students’ racial identities affect their literacy experiences. Paper presented at the 2006 Midwinter Conference of the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly for Research, Chicago, IL.

Financial support

• Doctoral students in the literacy program are eligible for appropriate scholarships and fellowships.

Sample dissertations

Borka, M.J. (2005). Second language learners use of English during guided reading lessons. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Evenson, A.W. (2005). Teacher need satisfaction in the Reading Excellence Act Grant. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Halvorson, B.J. (2005). Coaching elementary pre-service teachers to ask higher-level comprehension questions in a student-directed stance. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Jorgensen, K.A. (2005). Building bridges: A bilingual child's journey to independent biliteracy. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Samsel, K.W. (2005). An analysis of the implementation of guided reading. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Thein, A.H. (2005). Discourses of femininity? Mapping the social and cultural worlds of high school girls through their stances and responses to literature. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Burns, M.K. (2004). Middle school students’ perceptions: The experience of cross-age tutoring. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Driessen, D.L. (2004). Authoring identities: Eight girls create a literacy community. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Liang, L.A. (2004). Using scaffolding to foster middle school students’ comprehension of and response to short stories. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Parks, D.L. (2004). White, working class males and identity performance in the critical, multicultural high school English classroom. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

• April 2008