Current research interests:

• Preservice teachers’ understanding of race and racism during their final internships

• A study of teacher identity development during a pandemic

• Examining the intersection of current sociopolitical issues and refugees in children’s literature.

• Children's literature as a tool for teaching social justice and social studies, and as a tool for social-emotional learning.

• Integrated curriculum, specifically English/Language Arts and Social Studies, in elementary classrooms

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"We're Not Going to Talk About That:" A Qualitative Case Study of Three Elementary Teachers' Experiences Integrating Literacy and Social Studies.  (Dissertation, published 2018). 

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Book chapters:

Leveraging literacy: Research on critical reading in the social studies. 

in The Wiley Handbook of Social Studies Research, chapter by Berson, M., Berson, E., Dennis, D., & Powell, R. (March, 2017).

 

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The World is Flat, Stanley: Globalization, Ethnocentricity, and Absurdity 

Anne W. Anderson and Rebecca L. Powell

in The Early Reader in Children’s Literature and Culture, Edited by Wannamaker, A. and Miskec, J.

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Summer, 2014, PDS Partners Magazine

Invited after 2012 NAPDS Presentation

 

Supporting Pre-Service Teachers’ Understanding of a Culturally Diverse Student Population

 

Culturally responsive pedagogy comprises three dimensions: institutional, personal, and instructional. According to Taylor (2010), "The personal dimension refers to the cognitive and emotional processes teachers must engage in to become culturally responsive" (p. 25). Villegas & Lucas (2002) noted, "Teachers who know about their students’ family lives are better prepared to understand the children’s in-school behavior" (p. 26). Creating a teacher education program that advances equity within schools and the community is essential to preparing teachers (Ladson-Billings, 1999). The collaboration between our university and the local school district afforded us the opportunity to begin conversations and conduct inquiry with our pre-service teachers related to equity and culturally responsive teaching. This inquiry was guided by The National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) Essential 1, "a comprehensive mission… to advance equity within schools, and by potential extension, the broader community", Essential 2, "a school-university culture committed to the preparation of future educators that embraces their active engagement in the school community", and Essential 4, "a shared commitment to innovative and reflective practice by all participants." Beginning the discussion was a critical first step that involved helping our students obtain knowledge about their students and the communities where their students lived. In our urban context, the students’ communities were vastly different from the middle to upper middle class communities of our teacher candidates.

 

 

 

 

 

Book Chapter

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Casework in K-6 writing instruction:Connecting composing strategies, digital literacies, and disciplinary content to the Common Core

 

Krause, M., Frier, A., & Powell, R.L.. (2014). A Mexican Party in the Sky: The Glitches and Hitches of Using Video to Share  

Disciplinary Knowledge. In J.J. Schneider (Ed.). Casework in K-6 writing instruction: Connecting composing strategies, digital literacies, and disciplinary content to the Common Core. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2018 Presentations

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Visual Thinking Strategies:  Research on Transforming Classrooms Through the Use of Visual Images. Annual meeting of the International Dyslexia Association, Connecticut.   

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2014 Literacy Research Association Presentation

 

Perceptions of a Multi-literacy Service Learning Event: Dialogic Literacies in a Second Grade Classroom

by Rebecca L. Powell and Allison Papke

Purpose

The purpose of this research study was to examine the dialogic literacies embedded in a multi-literacy service learning project implemented by a pre-service teacher in a second grade classroom. As teacher educators, we studied our own practices, as well as pre-service teacher pedagogy, content, literacy knowledge and understanding in the context of the pre-service teacher’s year-long final field experience.

 

Our research questions were:

 

● How do dialogic literacies scaffold a pre-service teacher’s transfer of theory to practice in

literacy education?

● In ways ways did we facilitate pre-service teacher learning through dialogues in contentfocused

coaching, reflection, and engagement with multiliteracies?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 Journal of Language and Literacy Education Presentation

 

 Powell, R., Papke, A., Schneider, J., & Peek, L.  (2014, February). Photographing change: Service learning and multi-literacies. Presented

          at the annual meeting of the Journal of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 International Reading Association Presentation

 

Bennett, S.M., Alley, K., Powell, R., & Wofford, J. (2014). Bridging the gap between content-area literacy and disciplinary literacy. A

          workshop presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association, New Orleans, LA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013 Annual Florida Reading Association Conference

 

Powell, R., Feth, J. & Malinka, S. ( 2013, September). Tell Me A Story:  Integrating Children’s Literature and Social Studies. Paper

          presentation at the 2013 Florida Reading Association Conference, Orlando, FL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book chapter-In Press

 

It All Started with One Book: How Trash Created Something Beautiful

by Rebecca L. Powell, Allison Papke, and Dr. Jenifer Schneider

Abstract

       In this chapter, we describe a preservice teacher’s desire to implement meaningful, community-based literacy lessons in a second-grade classroom in an urban, Title I school. Operating from an activist stance and with a social justice agenda, “Lauren” (a pseudonym) designed an inquiry project in which she created a series of reading lessons based on the children’s book, Something Beautiful (1998) by Sharon Dennis Wyeth. Lauren helped the students generate ideas for ways to enact change in their school environment based on their deep understanding of the book. In developing this project, Lauren received mentorship and coaching from her university supervisors, she observed the children applying meaningful literacy strategies to produce activist texts, she received encouragement and appreciation from the parents and families, but she experienced resistance from the classroom teacher. Based on the teacher’s reaction, in combination with the documented success of the lessons, we contrast our understanding of the pressures this teacher faced to increase achievement on high stakes assessments with the outcomes of literacy lessons that engaged young learners and empowered a community through service.

 

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Presented at the 2012 USF Inquiry Conference

 

Bridging the Divide: Connecting Theory and Practice in Literacy Instruction

through a Dual Role as Methods Course Instructor and Field Experience Supervisor  

 

Abstract:

Effective teaching requires a myriad of skills and dispositions, along with a rich understanding of theory and methods of enactment (Florio-Ruane, 2008; Sutherland, Howard & Markauskaite, 2012). As a teacher educator, in dual roles of field experience supervisor and reading course methods instructor, I examined, through qualitative teacher inquiry, my efforts in facilitating pre-service teachers’ understandings of effective literacy instruction and their attempts towards enactment of effective literacy instruction in the elementary classrooms where they practiced. Using a constructivist approach, the research by Nolan and Hoover (2001) on supervision, and what is known about effective literacy instruction from the International Reading Association (2000), I explored the pivotal role of the teacher educator. Findings indicate collaboration is critical, explicitness of instruction is required, and pre-service teacher learner occurs along a continuum.

              

Research Questions:

 

• How can I, as field experience supervisor and course instructor, facilitate the transfer of theory to practice as it relates to effective literacy instruction?

 

After beginning the research, sub-questions emerged.

• What specific pedagogies in my supervision and instruction helped facilitate the transfer of theory to practice?

• What challenges do I face in the dual roles?

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For information about presentations and publication, please go to the VITAE tab.