Susan Jane Britsch 1
Susan Jane Britsch
Curriculum Vitae
January 2006
A.General Information
1.Personal Data
Susan Jane Britsch
1414 Adams
Lafayette, IN 47905
(765) 7420833
My specialty area of expertise is children’s early literacy development as multimodal communication. I work within a theoretical perspective that is both developmental and sociosemiotic, examining how children learn, how children learn about literacy, and the nature of the classroom as a learning environment. I also view my own teaching as a developmental process which is continually undergoing modification in order to better meet the needs of students. This approach is supported by the documentation below.
2.Academic Record
a.Institutions Attended
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (1992)
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
Master of Arts, Linguistics (With Distinction) (1980)
CaliforniaStateUniversity, Fresno
Fresno, CA 93740
Bachelor of Arts, French (Summa Cum Laude) (1977)
CaliforniaStateUniversity, Fresno
Fresno, CA 93740
b.Academic Appointments
Associate Professor of Literacy and Language
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
PurdueUniversity, West Lafayette, IN 479071442
(8/97 present)
Assistant Professor of Literacy and Language
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
PurdueUniversity, West Lafayette, IN 479071442
(8/92 8/97)
Visiting Assistant Professor
GraduateSchool of Education
Division of Language, Literacy and Culture
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720
(Summer 1996)
Nursery School Teacher
The GayAustinSchool
Berkeley, CA 94707
(9/87 6/92)
Interim Director
Skytown Preschool
Kensington, CA
(8/90)
Research Assistant
Comparative Dictionary of the Yuman Languages
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
(9/84 6/85)
Teaching Assistant
Department of French
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
(1/816/81)
Assistant Director
American English Institute
CaliforniaStateUniversity, Fresno
Fresno, CA
(9/79 5/80)
Instructor of English as a Second Language
American English Institute
CaliforniaStateUniversity
Fresno, Fresno, CA
(9/77 5/80)
c.Industrial, Business, and Government Positions
Curriculum Designer, Tachi as a Second Language Program, Santa Rosa Rancheria Head Start, near Lemoore, CA
(9/87 6/88)
3.Licenses, Registrations, and Certifications
Licensed preschool teacher
Title 22, Bay Area District
Alameda County, CA
4.Awards and Honors
a.Certificat d’HonneurMention Tres Bien (Magna cum laude), Universite de Provence, AixenProvence, France, 1976.
b.Certificate awarded for participation in Project Head Start, Tachi as a Second Language Program, 19871988.
c.PurdueUniversity, Department of Curriculum and Instruction Outstanding Teacher Award (Impact on Learners), 19951996.
5.Memberships in Academic, Professional, and Scholarly Societies
a.Alpha Upsilon Alpha: Honor Society of the International Reading Association.
b.The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi.
c.American Educational Research Association (AERA).
d.Hoosier Association of Science Teachers, Inc. (HASTI).
e.National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
f.National Council of Teachers of English Assembly for Research (NCTEAR).
g.Indiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (INTESOL).
h.Teachers and Writers Collaborative.
i.American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
j.International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA).
B.Excellence in Teaching
In Spring 2005, I taught EDCI 362 (Literacy in the Elementary School I). This is a 6credit course that I cotaught with Professor Font. To the extent possible, I incorporated my background in genre to class activity as well as my knowledge of second language acquisition, although this is not the primary focus of the course.
In Fall 2005 while pursing faculty study in a second discipline, I also taught EDCI 591A (L&L Instruction for Second Language Learners PreK12). I continually redesign the EDCI 591A course packet and course experiences to continue with current approaches in the field.
Note: I had one course release for Spring 2005 because of Children’s Literacy and Science Project (CLASP) funding and one course release for Fall 2005 because of my funding for the Faculty Program of Study in a Second Discipline.
1.Courses Taught
a.EDCI 310 Literacy and the Young Child (Fall 1992, 1993, 1994; Fall 1996 – Spring 1998; Summer 1998; Fall 1998, 2000, 2001; Spring 2002; Fall 2003; Spring 2004).
b.EDCI 362 Literacy in the Elementary School I (Spring 2005).
c.EDCI 402 Teaching Kindergarten: Issues and Methods (Fall 1992 – Fall 2000; Spring 2001; Fall 2001).
d.EDCI 466 Integrated Curriculum in the Elementary School (Fall 2002; Spring2003).
e.EDCI 490 Individual Research and Teaching Experience (Fall 1992).
f.EDCI 500 Foundations of Literacy (Spring 1993, 1996).
g.EDCI 524 Bilingual/Bicultural Education (Fall 2004).
h.EDCI 590 Whole Language Critique (Spring 1994 with Elizabeth Alesse).
i.EDCI 590 Telecommunications and Children’s Writing (Spring 1996; Fall 1996).
j.EDCI 590 Electronic Mail Education (Fall 1997).
k.EDCI 590 Children’s Written Language Development (Fall 1998 with JamesMcDonald).
l.EDCI 591A [now EDCI 519] Literacy and Language Instruction for Second Language Learners PreK12 (Summer 2001; Spring 2002; Fall 2003, 2005).
m.EDCI 602 Language Arts in the Elementary School (Summer 1994, 1995).
n.EDCI 603 Reading in the Elementary School [Transition to Teaching (TTT) Program] (Fall 2004).
o.EDCI 612 Seminar in Literacy: Children’s Nonfiction Writing (Fall 1995, 1999).
p.EDCI 614 Emerging and Developing Literacy (Spring 1994, 1995, 2001, 2004).
q.CLASP Summer Institute (Summer 2002; Summer 2003).
r.CLASP Workshops (Fall 2002 – Spring 2003).
s.EDLL 240A Language Study for Educators (Summer 1996; University of California Berkeley).
t.EDLL 246A Teaching Linguistic and Cultural Minority Students (Summer 1996; University of California, Berkeley).
2.Courses With Administrative or Supervisory Responsibility
a.EDCI 310 Literacy and the Young Child (course coordinator); Fall 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996; Spring 1998; Fall 2000, 2001, 2002; Spring 2004.
b.EDCI 402 Teaching Kindergarten: Issues and Methods (course coordinator); Fall1992 – Fall 1998; Fall 2000.
c.EDCI 466 Integrated Curriculum in the Elementary School (course coordinator); Fall 2002.
d.CLASP Summer Institute and Teacher Workshops (cocourse coordinator) Summer 2002; Fall 2002.
3.Contributions to Course and Curriculum Development
a.EDCI 310, EDCI 402: Use of videotape compiled during the course of my longitudinal research in the Tachi Yokuts community in Central California as an illustration of language socialization practices in diverse community settings, and asan introduction to different learning styles as they affect children entering school (19921993).
b.EDCI 310, 402, 500: Development of course objectives for undergraduate courses in emergent literacy, kindergarten issues and methods, and for graduate course in foundations of literacy teaching and learning (19921993).
c.EDCI 310, EDCI 500: Incorporation of literacy artifacts and transcripts of literacyevents collected during my classroom research in children’s storytelling andemergent literacy (19921993).
d.EDCI 402: Incorporation of children’s literacy and artistic products into discussions of content areas of the kindergarten curriculum, as well as the relationship of the children’s activity in creating these products to my own practiceas a teacher of young children (19921993).
e.EDCI 310: Consulted with Barbara ShutzGruber, professional storyteller, todevelop materials and participation strategies to help teachers incorporate both children’s and teachers’ storytelling into the early childhood and elementary school curriculum (19921993).
f.Presentation to graduate students in EDCI 585, reporting original research on learning styles in Native American communities and the link with multicultural education for educational practitioners (Fall 1993).
g.EDCI 310, EDCI 402, EDCI 602, EDCI 614: Samples of data from my ongoing research on the role of literacy in the development of science understandings in akindergarten classroom are used to demonstrate the development of literacy in young children over time, as well as the variation that can be seen within a single group of children (19931994, 19941995, 19961998).
h.Redesigned EDCI 612 (Children’s Nonfiction Writing) to guide graduate students through the functions and forms of nonfiction genres for the purpose of teaching these genres to elementary school students. I developed a course of readings toguide students from function as a concept and practice to formal concepts. Iextended and helped students to make concrete these concepts through a set of participation tasks and assignments that extended and linked with course readings. These allowed the students to engage in the use of course concepts by analyzing children’s writing samples and using this information to develop nonfiction literacy curricula that they implemented in classrooms (1999). (Course rationale and materials are on file in “Contributions to Course and Curriculum Development” file.)
i.EDCI 591A: Piloted a new course entitled “Literacy and Language Instruction forEnglish Language Learners.” The course focuses specifically on literacy and language instruction for young children who are at the beginning or intermediate stages of English language acquisition. Designed for practicing professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, the course focuses on the research, current issues, and techniques needed to aid students in Grades K3 (2001).
j.I codeveloped a graduate level course in science and literacy for the Children’s Literacy and Science Project (CLASP Summer Institute) to enhance inservice teachers’ ability to integrate literacy into the elementary science curriculum. Ihelped to conceptualize four types of science journals and familiarize teachers with ways of linking these to classroom activity through my own demonstration teaching. I also instructed participants in the literacy analysis of children’s selfproduced science journals, the concept of scientific literacy, and the way in which this relates to genres of writing that are particular to science as a discipline (Summer 2002).
k.Codeveloped CLASP workshops for practicing teachers focusing on visual literacy in science, methods of conducting case studies to follow and assess children’s science and literacy learning, and preparation of scienceliteracy curriculum units based on the CLASP framework for conceptually based learning (Fall 2002).
l.EDCI 591A: Prepared course proposal for EDCI 591A (“Literacy and Language Instruction for English Language Learners”). The course was approved as a permanent addition to the L&Lprogram. The course addresses current needs in Indiana public schools foreffective ENL instruction (2003).
m.EDCI 310: Redesigned course curriculum to include a multimodal approach, showing how this broadens an emergent literacy approach. This keeps students current with new research that refocuses literacy as expression beyond the word asa representational resource. This redesign involved developing several new inclass experiences to reflect more current pedagogical perspectives (2003, 2004).
n.EDCI 524: In Fall 2004, I cotaught this course with Professor Font. Although on the books, the course had not been taught for many years. The course focuses on bilingual education (using two languages for instruction) as opposed to mainstream English Language Learning (employing onlyone language for instruction). Ispecifically designed the course material that focused on theories and issues of language learning as linked to the methods of instruction used in this approach (2004).
o.EDCI 603: In Fall 2004, I taught the first offering of this course for the Transition to Teaching Program. The course primarily enrolled nonteachers with little background in literacy. I designed both lectures and participatory experiences for the students to directly apply theory and research to the observation of children in longitudinal case study situations that involved observation followed by instructional planning based on that observation (2004)
p.In 2004, I began work in collaboration with Professors Elster and Berns to developa graduate program in English as a New Language in the Department ofCurriculum and Instruction. In 2005, I continued with my work to design aprogram that would grant students ENL teaching licensure; however, further development will require the involvement of another L&L faculty member with expertise in ENL. To that end, I cochaired the Literacy & Language Education Search Committee with Professor Hopkins (20042005).
q.I worked on the development of an undergraduate course in English as a New Language in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in cooperation with Professor Hopkins. EDCI 370, Teaching English as a New Language, will be implemented in Fall 2006. This course will focus on the information necessary forpreservice teachers to design materials and instructional strategies for English language learners PreK– Grade 12 in the content areas (2005).
4.Preparation of Instructional Materials
a.Prepared sets of course readings for EDCI 310, EDCI 402, EDCI 500, EDCI612, EDCI 614 (Fall 1992 through Fall 1996).
b.Developed study guides and inclass participation sheets for use in EDCI 402; EDCI 310, EDCI 612, EDCI 614, EDCI 602 (Fall 1992, Spring 1993, Fall 1993, Spring 1994, Fall 1994, Spring 1995, Fall 1995).
c.Developed series of participation sheets for exploration of readings and relevant theoretical issues for EDCI 500 (Spring 1993).
d.EDCI 310: Developed child observation assignment in order to guide students through the observation, documentation, and analysis of a childcentered literacy event (Fall 1992).
e.EDCI 402: Developed curriculum file project in order to provide students with anassignment which would familiarize them with available curriculum resources for kindergarten planning. The curriculum file, a collection of activities based on a content theme, served as input for a curriculum unit project, in which students select and assemble appropriate activities into an integrated, contentbased unit for the kindergarten (Fall 1992).
f.EDCI 490: Developed curriculum project centering on learning disabled children (for independent study in lieu of EDCI 402; Fall 1992).
g.EDCI 500: Developed book response assignment in order to address the needs ofstudents from diverse teaching backgrounds, students selected one of three books which addressed literacy teaching issues and practices at different levels: kindergarten, elementary school, and high school. Students’ written response elucidated the assumptions about language that undergird the book and the insights which helped students in their own educational situations (Spring 1993).
h.EDCI 402: As part of my research in classrooms in Kokomo Center Schools Head Start Center, I developed set of transparencies which allows students toevaluate and devise effective teacher response in classroom interactions. Suchresponses are linked to learning goals for young children.
i.EDCI 310: Developed weekly study questions to guide students’ reading of course material and to highlight focal points. These were used in conjunction with weekly papers written in class by small groups of students as they synthesized the readings independently (Fall 1993).
j.EDCI 614: Tailored set of readings to needs of practitioners and researchoriented graduate students in the course. Developed sets of course materials including samples of children’s early literacy products and questions guiding analysis linked with course readings (Spring 1994; Spring 1995).
k.EDCI 614: Developed set of “observation notebook” assignments as a way of guiding students through child observations and parent/teacher interviews; the aim is to help students to make concrete their understandings about emergent literacy and to practice data collection techniques (Spring 1994).
l.EDCI 402: Designed a set of projects for students to prepare and present classroom activities appropriate for kindergartners, accompanied by a full lesson plan which is ready to use. Students’ assessments of these Workjobs projects indicate that these preservice teachers “get a better grasp” of what to expect in kindergarten, and gain ideas for classroom activity, which are used in class as aspringboard for discussion of appropriate cognitive, socioemotional, physical, and expressive objectives for kindergarten (Spring 1994; Fall 1995).
m.EDCI 402: Developed 2page handout to acquaint students with the notion of familyasculture through exploration and questioning of a case study child (Spring1994).
n.EDCI 602: Developed assignment for the construction of conceptually based language arts curriculum units, inviting a reexamination of the starting point forchildren’s language arts experiences and working with the definition of the “Whole Language” approach (Summer 1994).
o.EDCI 602: Developed a handout delineating criteria for examining classroom practice, aimed at focusing students on questions to be answered as teachers organizing language arts programs (Summer 1994).
p.EDCI 602: Developed a handout for discussion delineating scientific, literate, andartistic criteria for the assessment of childproduced science journals (Summer1994).
q.EDCI 590: Developed graduate research project centering on a critique of the Whole Language approach to teaching (for independent study, Spring 1994)
r.EDCI 612: Developed series of assignments to focus and guide graduate students’ qualitative analysis of written data obtained through email correspondence with third grade children (Fall 1995).
s.EDCI 402: Developed sets of “What Will You Do?” participation sheets for preservice teachers to examine real situations and possibilities for teacher response in kindergarten experiences, drawn from their own practice teaching inclassrooms (Fall 1995).
t.EDCI 402: Developed two sets of guidelines for students’ observation and smallgroup teaching in kindergarten classrooms at MurdockSchool. These materials provide guidelines for students to observe children’s responses to activities, assess the effectiveness of the lesson plans they have developed (19941995). (See item “l” above.)
u.EDCI 402: Developed sets of guidelines along with assignment sheet for students to implement and evaluate kindergartenlevel computer software purchased forEDCI, assessing the benefits and shortcomings of the software as well as its contribution to children’s learning and to the construction of curriculum units (Fall1995).
v.EDCI 500: Developed sets of guidelines for analysis of student writing using email, correlated with samples of thirdgraders’ email samples (collected via myresearch on telecommunications and children’s writing) for use in seminar analysis of children’s writing in this genre (1996).
w.EDCI 310: Developed class handouts and inclass activities to help students investigate the structure and teaching of nonfiction writing as part of a literacy program for young children (19971998).
x.EDCI 310: Developed child observation assignments to help students assess one child’s literacy learning and develop a subsequent literacy learning experience for the child based on that assessment. These were integrated with two lesson plan assignments based on adapting literacy activities from Bear’s Words Their Way for appropriate use with the student’s observed child (1998).
y.EDCI 310: Designed tasks in which students document the writing and readingactivities and strategies used over the course of four months by the two focal children in Solsken (1993; see Fall 1998 course packet). Students use anassessment rubric to derive a “score” for both children using a single set of criteria derived from the Solsken article and from the background of “tools” theyhave accumulated through readings and inclass activities over the course ofthe semester (1998).
z.EDCI 310: To explore the structure of nonfiction genres, my students use a set ofresearch data I collected for my work with childproduced science journals. Using the criteria presented by Green (1992) and by Moss, Leone & Dipillo (1997; see Fall 1998 course packet), they examine the materials to decide whether the produced writing corresponds to an appropriate structure for the children’s science task. To help my students acquire this knowledge, I provide additional selfdeveloped information sheets about the structure and characteristics of both fiction and nonfiction. I use lecture, discussion, analysis of my research data to prepare students design and assess the literacy tasks they complete with their own focal children (1998).
aa.EDCI 310: Constructed materials for two tasks focusing on (a) oral language useby a child (from my research data) and (b) a child’s drawing, two forms thatstudents often discount when observing, designing, and assessing children’s literacy (1998).