The 23rd WLU Summer Institute is intended to focus on the extremely political act of reclaiming classrooms and other settings for learning as places of joyful engagement, and complex relationships. Join us in reclaiming our joys and celebrating them in the wonderfully supportive forum that gathers each year under the whole language umbrella.
Isoke Titilayo Nia
Ernest Morrell is the incoming director of Teachers College’s Institute for Urban Minority Education (IUME) at Columbia University. He is a nationally prominent scholar in literacy, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, urban education and ethnic studies as well as a writer of poems, plays, essays, novels, academic books, book chapters, articles, and encyclopedia entries. Ernest is the author of Linking Literacy and Popular Culture: Finding Connections for Lifelong Learning and Becoming Critical Researchers: Literacy and Empowerment for Urban Youth. For more than a decade he has worked with adolescents, drawing on their involvement with popular culture to promote academic literacy development.
Ernest has recently been elected to the office of NCTE vice president and will take office during the NCTE Annual Convention in Chicago this November. He was been a member of the NCTE CEE Executive Committee (2003-07) and has served on several NCTE committees.
Visit Ernest's website at http://www.ernestmorrell.com
Join Isoke on Thursday evening, July 19 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
R. Joseph Rodriguez
Mariana Souto-Manning, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education in Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. From a critical perspective, she examines the sociocultural and historical foundations of early schooling, language development, and literacy practices. She studies how children, families, and teachers from diverse backgrounds shape and are shaped by discursive practices, employing a methodology that combines discourse analysis with ethnographic investigation. Her work can be found in journals such as Early Child Development and Care, Early Childhood Education Journal, Journal of Early Childhood Research, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, and Teachers College Record. She is the Assistant Chair of the Early Childhood Education Assembly of NCTE.
Join Joseph on Friday morning, July 20 from 8:30-9:45 a.m.
Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes does not consider herself a bona fide storyteller, but, as she told an audience at the Library of Congress, she is happy to own the title Poet. Born and raised in New York City, Nikki began composing verse at the age of six and has been writing ever since.
A New York Times bestselling author, Nikki is the recipient of the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her distinguished works include ALA Notable book What is Goodbye?, Coretta Scott King Award winner Bronx Masquerade, the novels Jazmin's Notebook, Dark Sons, and The Road to Paris (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books). Creator of the popular Meet Danitra Brown, Nikki lives in Corona, California.
Visit Nikki's website at http://www.nikkigrimes.com/.
Join Nikki on Saturday morning, July 21 from 8:30-9:45 a.m.
Linda Christensen
Linda Christensen is the Director of the Oregon Writing Project (OWP), located in the Graduate School of Education at Lewis & Clark College. The OWP is part of the National Writing Project network, the oldest and largest professional development project in the United States. For the last thirty years, she has taught high school Language Arts and worked as Language Arts Curriculum Specialist in Portland, Oregon. Linda is the author of Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching about Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word and co-editor of Rethinking School Reform: Views from the Classroom and Rethinking Our Classrooms. Her articles about literacy and social justice have appeared in numerous journals.
Read more about Linda at http://www.lclark.edu/graduate/faculty/members/linda_christensen
Join Linda on Sunday morning, July 24 from 10:30-Noon