Mandy Mcneil International
Casio Bauman
Laura developed an interest in the critical role language plays in education while teaching in an immigrant student inclusion classroom in Paris, France. She completed her B.A. in Anthropology, Spanish, French, and Arabic at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and proceeded to receive her M.Ed. with a specialization in ESL Instruction at SMU as well. Laura taught third grade at a dual language elementary school in Texas. She also received a Fulbright Award which allowed her to return to France and teach English at the high school level. Laura is now Ph.D. student in the Language, Literacy, and Culture Program in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She studies early language and literacy development of young linguistically diverse children. Her current research focuses on opportunities for language learning experienced by emergent bilingual learners in English-dominant classrooms.
Bethany is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Teaching and Learning. She received a B.A. in French and German and an M.A. in Second Language Teaching from Brigham Young University. She has worked and taught in a variety of K-12, university, and government settings, with an emphasis on designing learning environments to foster language proficiency development. Her research interests lie in understanding how dominant ideologies constrain equitable language learning in different learning environments. Her current work considers how ideologies influence teacher candidate sensemaking in elementary science and dual language immersion contexts.
As a doctoral student, Natalie thinks about what expansive forms of K-12 engineering and science learning looks like, and how to prepare secondary science teachers to engage in the sociopolitical dimensions of STEM learning. Prior to Vanderbilt, Natalie taught high school Physics and Engineering.
Laura Fittz (she/her) is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning. After earning her B.A. from Wheaton College (IL), she taught English Literature for seven years at Glencliff High School in Nashville, Tennessee. While teaching, she earned her M.Ed. in the Learning, Diversity, and Urban Studies program at Peabody and began coordinating Restorative Practices at GHS. In 2016, she started the Peace Team, a Restorative Student Leaders team whose model has spread through the district, region, and even nationally and internationally. She is interested in how the mindset and practices of working with students (rather than to them or for them) can bring about transformational change in schools and teacher preparation programs.
Abbey Gonzales is originally from Sugar Land, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and taught both rural China and the United States. She took a brief hiatus from education and worked as a data specialist for Global Whole Foods Market. Prior to Vanderbilt, Abbey was a high school assistant principal in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she developed a passion for ELL instruction and teacher training.
Micaela Y. Harris is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Mathematics and Science Education specialization in the Learning, Teaching and Diversity program at Vanderbilt University. She received her B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Mathematics from Spelman College, her post-baccalaureate certificate in Mathematics from Smith College, and her MAT in Math Education from Tufts University. Prior to her doctoral studies at Vanderbilt, Micaela leveraged her interdisciplinary background to teach secondary mathematics in Boston, MA and Houston, TX. At Peabody, Micaela centers her research on the intersectional experiences of Black women mathematics teachers and Black women undergraduates majoring in STEM.
Madison, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, received her Bachelor of Science degrees in Pure Mathematics and Chemistry in 2011 from the College of Charleston and her Masters in Secondary Mathematics Education in 2014 from Vanderbilt University. She has been a classroom math teacher for 7 years at international, public, and private secondary institutions. During this time learning math with students, she became interested in incorporating play as a platform for equitable mathematical inquiry in her classroom, and therefore is now currently working with Melissa Gresalfi on Mathematical play and learning environment design.
Specialization: Math and Science Education
Advisor: Luis Leyva
Email: reagin.t...@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: postsecondary math faculty engagement in equity-oriented instructional and departmental change
Lizi Metts is a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University Peabody College and a research assistant on Project TAU. Her research interests broadly revolve around mathematics education, data and statistics literacy, issues of equity and social justice, and teacher learning. Prior to graduate school, she was a high school math teacher in Tennessee for eight years. Returning to graduate studies at Vanderbilt, she is interested in exploring teacher learning around ambitious and equitable pedagogies and the teaching and learning of statistics, modeling, and data science drawing on socio-cultural, situative, and critical perspectives.
Rachel Siegman
Specialization: Language, Literacy, and Culture Advisor: Dr. Emily Phillips Galloway Email: Rachel.M...@vanderbilt.edu
Research Interests: English language learners, culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy, equitable teaching practices, multicultural education, learning sciences, international and comparative education
Website:
Jamie is a doctoral student in the Department of Teaching and Learning, specializing in Learning and Design. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, she received her B.A. in Anthropology and French from Transylvania University and her M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Vanderbilt University. She has taught in a variety of settings, including middle school French at a creative and performing arts school, kindergarten mathematics within a dual-language French immersion classroom, and high school English through the Fulbright Program in France. As both a former student and eventual educator within arts-integrated K-12 spaces, Jamie explores the role of creativity and play-based learning in expanding opportunities for participation, learning, and joy within primary mathematics classrooms.
Laura developed a commitment to culturally-sustaining instruction while teaching kindergarteners on the Pine Ridge Reservation. As a high school Spanish and Response-to-Intervention English teacher in her home state of Kentucky, she incorporated dramatic play, digital media, music, and storytelling into her language and literacy learning classroom. She recently earned her M.S. in Social and Philosophical Issues in Education from the University of Kentucky. Laura currently explores how the arts might create more engaging and equitable learning environments for culturally and linguistically diverse adolescents.
Kate Chapman is from Seattle, Washington. She holds a B.A. in Russian from Reed College, and an M.Ed. from Vanderbilt. As an academic tutor and later a field trip facilitator, she became interested in working to build better bridges between formal and informal learning environments. Her dissertation focuses on practices around STEM learning in informal spaces, as well as how different sociotechnical configurations can index and reanimate remote spaces, creating potential for negotiation of meaning and identity. With NSF support she has recently been working in curriculum development for informal spaces looking at both traditional STEM concepts and new ideas around place and mobility.
Nadav is a previous research assistant on project SIGMa (Supporting Instructional Growth in Mathematics) and a teaching assistant for Introduction to Mathematical Literacies. He studies what it means to support mid-career teachers in providing students with rich math learning experiences. Nadav taught math in pre-college and college programs, and facilitated teacher PD in southern Israel. He holds a BSc in Mathematics & Computer Science and an MSc in Mathematics (with focus on math education) from Ben Gurion University.
Sara Jones is from Simsbury, CT. She earned her B.A. in Elementary Education from Elon University and her M.Ed. in Urban and Minority Education from the University of Maryland. Sara taught for eight years in Washington, D.C. During the course of those years, she taught 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, but fell in love with and became passionate about 5th grade ELA. She served as the ELA department chair and grade level team lead for numerous years, which allowed her to gain experience in curriculum design, teacher training and leadership, and data analysis. Sara hopes to focus her work on practical, applicable strategies for classroom teachers. She is currently pursuing a mixed-methods research agenda focused on reading motivation as a collective, critical endeavor grounded in Literacy as a means of social justice
I investigate how embodied theories of learning, informed by the expressive and artistic practices of dancers and choreographers, can reframe what is learned in STEM environments; how it can be learned; who can participate; and to what ends. I pair ethnography with design-based research to support and study embodied and collaborative STEM learning. With deep roots in both dance and mathematics, I have always conceptualized the tools and ideas of these disciplines as mutually supportive, not conflicting. In my research, I design and study hybrid learning environments integrating dance and STEM. I explore how such hybridity can invite learners to draw upon resources typically left out of STEM contexts, contributing to their depth of engagement and understanding.
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