I firmly believe that when our schools are successful, then our communities thrive, and literacy is the key to that success.
Part-Time Assistant Professor
My career has given me opportunities to serve in K-12 classrooms across all content areas. I am passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences that positively influence students’ literate lives in the classroom and beyond. I firmly believe that when our schools are successful, then our communities thrive, and literacy is the key to that success.
My current work explores the intersections between all things literacy, multimodality, teacher/leader development, rural education, and intentional classroom practices with digital tools.
My great mentor, Dr. Donna Alvermann, once said, “Become a teacher and wake up every day to a world that needs you and your students.” It is such an honor to work with incredible people who are doing real work that makes a difference in their classrooms and communities every day. To me, teaching success is found when we see our students go into the world and do amazing things.
From our work together, I hope my students recognize their potential to be powerful literacy leaders and the tremendous influence they have in shaping future generations of critical thinkers and readers in the world around them.
My commitment to developing future teachers is evident in my continued mentorship of preservice and early-career teachers. I also developed the Future Educators Literacy Conference for nearly 200 young people to create a “grow your own” approach for high school students across my geographically isolated region to learn more about teaching and literacy.
I am extremely honored to be the recipient of several grants and publication awards, the UGA Mary Frances Early College of Education Alumni Award: Early Career- Practitioner (2023), the UGA Department of Language and Literacy Education’s Carol J. Fisher Award for Excellence in Research (2017), and the UGA Macagnoni Qualitative Research Award (2017). I have been recognized for my teaching, scholarship, and leadership locally, nationally, and internationally. My scholarship has appeared in Writing and Pedagogy, Journal of Media Literacy Education, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and several books, including the upcoming International Handbook of Research in Digital Literacies.
In my free time, I enjoy traveling from the coast to the mountains and spending time with my loved ones, including my dogs. (I love Bulldogs!)