Anne Haas Dyson Eminent Scholar

Anne Haas DysonEminent Scholar Tracey Roden RDG 692, Spring 2013

Anne Haas Dyson Professor Curriculum & Instruction University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Educational Background • Ph.D., Education, University of Texas, Austin, 1981 • M.Ed., Education, University of Texas, Austin, 1976 • B.S., Elementary Education (concentration: English), University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1972

Professional Appointments • Professor, Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006-present • Professor, Department. of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, 2002-2006 • Professor, Division of Language, Literacy, & Culture, University of California, Berkeley, 1991-2002 • Associate Professor, Division of Language, Literacy, & Culture, University of California, Berkeley, 1987-1991 • Assistant Professor, Division of Language, Literacy, & Culture, University of California, Berkeley, 1985-1987 • Graduate Faculty, Graduate School, University of Georgia, 1984-1985 • Assistant Professor, Department of Language Education, University of Georgia, 1981-1985

Awards & Honors • Fellow of the American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association, 2012- present • Vera Nofftz Early Childhood Education Fellow, Given for "preeminence in the field of early childhood education", College of Education, 2011- present • John R. Hayes Award for Excellence in Writing Research, Award given for best article in Written Communication during the preceding year (2008), Written Communication, 2009 • Janet Emig Award, given by the Conference on English Education of the National Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of English, 2006 & 2002

Awards & Honors • Selection as Mary Lou Fulton Distinguished Lecturer, Selection by Mary Lou Fulton Endowment Advisory Committee of the College of Education, Arizona State University, 2006 • PurvesAward, National Council of Teachers of English, 1999 • Distinguished Teaching Award, University of California-Berkeley, 1998 • David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English, National Council of Teachers of English, 1994

Statement of Teaching Philosophy • “As a teacher and a researcher, I think intellectual, political, and moral issues of teaching and learning are best understood—and grappled with—when they are embodied in everyday human experiences of teachers and students, in and out of school; conversely, I think teachers immersed in the very human context of classroom life (which is not neat, not orderly, and not predictable) must also see the larger issues implicit in their daily decisions.”

Statement of Teaching Philosophy • “Finally, my identities as a teacher of the young and not-so-young merge in the kind of engagement I require of my students. Having struggled to help a 6-year-old realize that fish starts with F, not God or water, I do not equate lecturing with teaching. There is nothing lonelier than standing in front of a class when I’m not sure they are, intellectually, with me—and nothing is more satisfying than when we are all making progress together. Then teaching is its own reward.” http://teaching.berkeley.edu/dta-recipient/ann-haas-dyson

Major Research Focusrelated to the social and cultural processes of schooling and literacy • Immerses herself in ethnographic research that examines children’s writing, in particular story making • Most of her projects include her study of primary grade children in urban schools with culturally diverse populations over the course of a year or more • Studies the influences of popular culture on young children’s literacy development • Studies the development and use of written language in contemporary childhoods and cross-culturally

Current Researchfocuses on the intersection of:

Ethnographic Studies • Ethnographic approach to research allowed her to explore children’s language and literacy development as it occurs naturally in sociocultural contexts • Devoted days and weeks of observation in a new classroom before deciding what would be the data for her study • Stressed the importance of building trust and a rapport between herself, as a researcher, and the classroom members • Wanted to observe how young children construct their understandings of symbolic communication, including learning to write • Sought classroom teachers whose instruction allowed children the freedom to construct their own understandings of literacy in an accepting environment

The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write Popular Literacies in Childhood and School Cultures 2003

Writing Superheroes Contemporary Childhood, Popular Culture, and Classroom Literacy 1997

Social Worlds of Children Learning to Write in an Urban Primary School 1993

Multiple Worlds of Child Writers Friends Learning to Write 1989

Contributions to the Study of Literacy

Children bring relevant resources to school literacy. • Children come to school with several well-established ways of conveying meaning. • They use pretend play, draw, use gestures, and talk as nonacademic “textual” toys. • Children stretch & reorganize this material in order to enter “official school literacy”. • Many state-adopted reading programs are designed on the assumption that “all” children bring nothing to to school…usually referring to the diverse child. • “Serious error to assume that any child brings nothing to new experiences.”

Talk is an integral part of the early writing process. • Peer interaction can be as effective as teacher instruction. • Through talk writing becomes relevant to life…talk gives the printed graphic meaning. • Speech links spoken words to written ones. • Talk supports writing & writing supports talk. • Talk is a “social consequence” of writing. • The “basics” of spontaneous talk is critical in children’s early literacy development

Media informs children’s play & their early writing efforts. • Young children make extensive use of media in their storytelling and play. • Children form understandings of typical voice types or genres from media. • Media displays models of text structures & elements. • Media gives children potential characters, plots & themes. • Because of media’s role in children’s textual growth, educators should officially acknowledge it and open up their literacy curriculum.

“Children learn the way we all learn: through engagement, and through construction. They have to make sense of the world, and that’s what play or any other symbolic activity does for children.”Anne Haas Dyson

“Follow the child’s interests in people, objects, places, and activities, and talk with them. It’s social interaction that creates a link between the child and an ongoing activity. Help them learn how to articulate themselves and participate in the world.”Anne Haas Dyson

“All tests tell us is how many letters and how many sounds children know. I think there should be this grand societal conversation about what’s intellectually motivating and exciting for our children.”Anne Haas Dysonhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090212125137.htm

Major Works • Dyson, A. H. (2003). The brothers and sisters learn to write: Popular literacies in childhood and school cultures. New York: Teachers College Press. • Dyson, A. H. (1997). Writing superheroes: Contemporary childhood, popular culture, and classroom literacy. New York: Teachers College Press. • Dyson, A. H. (1993). Social words of children learning to write in an urban primary school. New York: Teachers College Press. • Dyson, A. H. (1989). Multiple worlds of child writers: Friends learning to write. New York: Teachers College Press.

Sample of Publications • Dyson, A. H. (1987). The value of "time off task": Young children's spontaneous talk and deliberate text. Harvard Educational Review, 57(4), 396-396. • Dyson, A. H. (1995). The courage to write: Child meaning making in a contested world. Language Arts, 72(5), 324-324. • Anne, H. D. (1998). Folk process and media creatures: Reflections on popular culture for literacy educators. The Reading Teacher,51(5), 392-402.

Sample of Publications • Anne, H. D. (2000). On reframing children's words: The perils, promises, and pleasures of writing children. Research in the Teaching of English, 34(3), 352-352. • Anne, H. D. (2001). Donkey kong in little bear country: A first grader's composing development in the media spotlight. The Elementary School Journal, 101(4), 417-433. • Anne, H. D. (2003). "Welcome to the jam": Popular culture, school literacy, and the making of childhoods1. Harvard Educational Review, 73(3), 328-361.

Sample of Publications • Anne, H. D., & Linda, D. L. (2003). Popular literacies and the "all" children: Rethinking literacy development for contemporary childhoods. Language Arts, 81(2), 100-109. • Anne, H. D. (2006). On saying it right (write): "fix-its" in the foundations of learning to write. Research in the Teaching of English,41(1), 8-17,19-42. • Anne, H. D. (2008). Staying in the (curricular) lines. Written Communication, 25(1), 119.

Anne Haas Dyson Eminent Scholar