Julie Bryant

STATEMENT OF RESEARCH AND TEACHING

Research Statement

In 2002, I was taking my first graduate course in literacy. I was introduced to what has become
my passion. PROBE books, and integrated literacy experiences, grabbed my attention 12 years
ago. PROBE books are a style of integrating literacy into content area through utilizing the
writing process, researching, designing, and visually representing what is a topic of interest for
students. In the days of standards and Common Core State Standards in particular, this
integration of content area with literacy is even more critical. This is the core of my own research
agenda. I have waited many years to be able to take this model of integration and contextually
apply the strategies and research the processes and outcomes with teachers and students. I used
PROBE books in my own classroom and regret not practicing more teacher as researcher
principals while reflecting on my pedagogical practices in regards to them. PROBE books use a
form of literacy and content integration; I desire to continue to work in this area in collaboration
with colleagues, schools, teachers, and students.
As a doctoral student on a mission to graduate in 4 years, I focused my first two years on
excelling in my graduate courses and taught 2-3 undergraduate courses a semester. For the last
year and a half, I have enjoyed opportunities to collaborate on several research projects. I joined
an interdisciplinary research lab last fall and have been mentored not only by the professors who
sponsor the lab, but by more experienced graduate student researchers. In this lab, which focuses
on interdisciplinary research, research design, designing of learning opportunities and events,
and I have participated in research projects that are taking place in the community, within
schools, and throughout labs across the disciplines at the University of New Mexico. I copresented at the 2014 International Conference of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) in a poster
session on the opportunities and barriers that project based, integrated learning faces with
legislators and other policy makers. I also co-authored a chapter, which is in review, on STEM
practices in interdisciplinary classes both at the K12 level and at the university level.
As part of this research group, I have also been encouraged to conduct research in the courses I
am teaching. As a result of this, my research partner and I have had a paper accepted to the 2015
Conference on College Composition and Communication. This paper, titled Blogging Microbes
in a Learning Community examines how students use the writing strategies of rhetorical analysis
and argument to respond and show their understanding of science through the gathering of
popular news items. Students respond to each other and our analysis shows that through this
online interaction, their expressions of engagement, understanding, and connection to other
learning opportunities shows through their use of language, science knowledge sharing, and
rhetorical devices.
My research for the last several years has been varied. I spent many years as the Executive
Director of a non-profit that I created in Peru. Through this non-profit, which is focused on
children in a rural area who live in conditions related to poverty, I developed literacy programs
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STATEMENT OF RESEARCH AND TEACHING

in which children were introduced to authentic childrens literature for the first time in addition
to authentic writing opportunities. This is a project I have a great deal of passion for, and I intend
to continue my work there to research and develop authentic and contextualized literacy
opportunities for families and children. Using the framework of poverty and lack of access to
literature and authentic literacy practices, I feel that there is a great deal of work to be done.
I have also been captivated by integrated language arts and have been working with Dr. Sandra
Hurley at the University of Texas at El Paso with work that she and her graduate students
developed while working with elementary students in El Paso, Texas. My intention is to continue
Dr. Hurleys work, which integrates multiple subjects into a visual display of writing and
understanding of the subject matter. These PROBE books, as Dr. Hurley named them, involve
students researching and writing on topics that matter to them. This integration of subject matter
is more important than ever in the wake of the Common Core State Standards integration of
content areas focus. I would like to take these visual, multimodal writing projects into schools. I
particularly am interested in after school programs, family and community centers, and home
learning situations. I believe, as Dr. Hurley does, that these are particularly relevant to
linguistically and culturally diverse students.
My most current work is my doctoral dissertation. My dissertation work examines how teachers
experience policy reform in relation to English Language Arts. I have gathered and begun the
analysis of the data from in-depth qualitative interviews with a number of teachers across the
state of New Mexico. I focused in particular on the English Language Arts Common Core State
Standards in my interview questions due to the immediate nature of the standards. The teachers
were sampled from across disciplines, districts, and grade levels. I am creating individual
profiles as well as looking across the interview data for common themes within their
experiences. Through this work I can see several different research ideas and publication ideas
emerging. For example, through my grounding in sociocultural theory, I anticipate an extension
of my dissertation work by looking at how teachers work through the issues of isolation and fear
of retribution that they have expressed in their interviews. I also see some possibilities of
working with individual interviews and expanding that part of the study. For instance, I have
one teacher who expressed over and over again his feelings of the damage that standardization
does on children. Telling his story with his 30+ years of experience as a backdrop has grand
possibilities for scholarly work.
As you can see, I have many great ideas for future work and scholarship. I anticipate seeking out
funding opportunities in which my research with teachers and literacy practices, integrated
curriculum, and policy in literacy and education are supported. I have been part of a research
group that works through a collaborative model and have joined forces with a diverse group of
professors and colleagues. I expect that this will be a model I continue to use in my years as a
scholar.

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Teaching Statement

I fully imagined the experience of teaching at the university level would be completely different
from the familiarity of best practices in the elementary classroom; but it has not been. Learning
with and from others happens at all levels of education. Whether a student is 2 or 92, I truly
believe and practice the idea that talking, moving, being, and engaging in learning is dependent
on a students ability to see the purpose, authenticity, and outcome of the learning experience.
Teaching in a way that reaches each student at a personal level is what has been important to me
from the first time I set foot in a classroom. I believe that students want a well-structured course,
consistency, and the ability to engage in their learning so that they contextualize each learning
opportunity. I have learned from amazing people in the field throughout my graduate
experiences and teaching experiences. This year I am focusing on online instruction through
pedagogical practices. I am taking a graduate course in developing and implementing online
instruction while simultaneously teaching an online composition course. I have also been
contracted by the UNMs English Language instruction department to design and teach an online
ESL Writing course. Fortunately, I have had teaching and learning experiences that have allowed
me to appreciate and learn from the diversity of learners. My experience in both my years in K12, and as an instructor of record as a Teaching Assistant at UNM have allowed me to enrich my
knowledge and pedagogical skills in both teaching and reflecting on best practices for
linguistically and culturally diverse student populations.
For the past 4 years I have worked at an accelerated pace to finish my Ph.D. in Language,
Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies (LLSS) within a time frame that would allow me to begin
work as an assistant, or associate professor, as soon as possible. While doing this, I have been the
instructor of record of 2-3 courses each semester. Fortunately, I have had an amazingly diverse
experience in the courses I have not only taught, but frequently designed as well. As a Graduate
Teaching Assistant in the English Department, I have had incredible opportunities for research
and teaching, course design, and professional development. Remarkably, this department has
supported my desire to combine my field of education with composition. The opportunity to
design courses such as the 200 level expository writing courses I titled Critical Literacy in the
Study of Education Inequality challenged me in every way. Students commented on their
evaluation forms that I didnt know there were issues of inequality in education. This course
changed the way I think about how children are educated. I am not an education major, but I
am really interested in education now that I took this course. The English Department gave me
a great deal of choice and independence in the design and implementation of this enlightening
course filled with non-education majors.
I was also granted the rare opportunity to teach a course in the LLSS Department. I designed and
taught a Childrens Literature course for several semesters to pre-service teaching candidates. I
also worked as an intern with Dr. Don Zancanella in designing and teaching an online Childrens
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STATEMENT OF RESEARCH AND TEACHING

Literature course. Working with such a leader in the field was enlightening and a learning
experience I will not soon forget. These courses helped me work with pre-service teachers in a
way that combined my own skills in literacy development and knowledge of childrens literature
with my experience in pre-K through 6 classrooms. I incorporated a great deal of reflective
practice in my own teaching and the projects and teaching experiences of my students. This
concept of reflection in learning is one that I have focused on for the last several years of my
teaching experience here at the University of New Mexico. I think being a reflective learner will
guide future learning in a way that is informed by experiences. With reflective learning, and
teaching, experiences can be truly transformative.
I imagine teaching a diversity of courses at Salisbury University. I have had graduate courses and
experience in teaching, and giving teacher workshops across the literacy spectrum. I can teach
reading and writing methods courses, assessment and evaluation courses in literacy, social justice
courses in education, critical literacy courses, any type of childrens literature courses, content
area literacy courses, technology in education courses, literacy policy and practices, reflective
teacher practices, and any other course in which my skills and experience are needed. I look
forward to mentoring pre-service teachers and working collaboratively with colleagues.

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