Papers by Katherine Batchelor
Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 2024
The purpose of this qualitative participatory research study was to explore what happens when Eng... more The purpose of this qualitative participatory research study was to explore what happens when English language arts (ELA) preservice teachers collaborate to develop multimodal, intersectional, and critical feminist empowerment literacy curricula. This study centered on the following research question: How do ELA preservice teachers make sense of how pop-cultural, multimodal texts such as VSCO stickers frame girlhood and womanhood? Multiple data were collected: audio and video recording transcripts of monthly Saturday workshops, artifacts, such as curriculum writing and workshop photographs, researcher journals, analytic memos, and a shared Google Drive of written student thinking. The constant comparative method was used to analyze and triangulate the data. Analyses of data revealed that preservice teachers were able to critically analyze consumerism relating to VSCO stickers and girlhood and were able to notice how stickers typecast and reify individualism while also navigating authenticity during self-selection and categorizing stickers. Additionally, data analysis demonstrated how critical literacies played a role in the preservice teachers' understanding of how several groups, communities, and individual voices were not recognized in the marketing and consumption of VSCO sticker packaging as well as providing additional gender biases in society.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2024
In this discussion, we argue for those who are literacy educators to reframe gossip as a dialogic... more In this discussion, we argue for those who are literacy educators to reframe gossip as a dialogic, feminist act in their teaching and interpretation of gossip as framed in the literature they teach in secondary English language arts (ELA) classrooms. Reframing gossip as a feminist act invites meaning-makers to view those conversations and generative dialogues discursively gendered in deficit ways (or, gossip) as proactive, productive, and powerful tools of connection between and within societies and communities. We share how we centered and created through a critical feminist lens, an ELA curricula that supports gossip as a literary tool that drives narratives in plot formation, as well as a means to enhance characters’ positions, personalities, allies, and enemies within a story. Most importantly, we use gossip as an analytical tool to reframe and promote gender equity, guiding preservice teachers and adolescents in critical analysis of the innumerable ways systems and institutions of power and privilege - such as race, ethnicity, religion, and sexuality - intersect in the fight for gender equality. First, we will discuss our guiding theoretical framework of critical feminist pedagogy to examine ELA curriculum. Next, we share how the development of a curricular unit on reframing gossip in literature unfolded organically through a monthly Saturday workshop called “Writing Us In: Developing Critical Literacy Curriculum for ELA Classrooms.” Then, we showcase how one preservice ELA teacher applied the critical feminist lenses examined within the workshop space to develop a linked text set and subsequent ELA curricular unit with the aims of her future students to critically analyze, from a feminist lens, how gossip is portrayed in society and how it is framed in literature. We end with a discussion of how our spotlight student reflects on this project and her key takeaways.
Middle School Journal, 2022
Multimodal texts (composing and reading) deserve specific attention in our language arts curricul... more Multimodal texts (composing and reading) deserve specific attention in our language arts curriculum. This article aims to share a collaborative effort between 7th grade students and preservice teachers engaged in a digital writing unit centered on Choose Your Own Adventure stories. In particular, we emphasize how digital writing offers students flexibility, choice, and nonlinear thinking during writing. We provide details on how preservice teachers taught this digital writing unit virtually during Covid, offering student examples and a student-created rubric. We end by sharing our successes and potential concerns for both groups of students as well as our experiences facilitating.
Journal of Response to Writing, 2022
Although revision is essential to the writing process, it is often neglected
in schools. Research... more Although revision is essential to the writing process, it is often neglected
in schools. Research has shown that teaching revision through reflection, conferencing, positive teacher feedback, specific instruction linked to reading strategies, and built-in time between drafts for students to think about their writing can cause students not only to revise more but to revise at a deeper level by focusing on content rather than grammatical errors. This study investigates how middle school students’ writing drafts as well as attitudes and beliefs toward revision changed based on introducing a specific self-response and peer-response revision strategy called the “CARD” (change, add, rearrange, and delete) technique, named for the ways in which revision might occur in writing via holistic categories. Research questions included the following: How does middle school students’ writing change when
they are taught the CARD revision technique? and, In what ways, if any, does the CARD technique enhance middle school students’ thinking about revision, specifically regarding their attitudes and perceptions of revision? This research helps educators understand students’ perceptions and beliefs toward revision, in general, and a way to encourage revision via student-led decisions in their writing.
In the article by Katherine Batchelor, “The Russian Revolution: Events and Characters as Depicted... more In the article by Katherine Batchelor, “The Russian Revolution: Events and Characters as Depicted in U. S. Young Adult Literature”, the author examines a collection of 12 young adult novels centering on the Russian Revolution published within the last decade. She begins by defining historical fiction and young adult literature, noting the affordances that both bring in exploring the Russian Revolution. The scholar describes reader response theory, the theoretical framework she uses to analyze these novels. She analyzes how young adult authors in the United States portray Russian historical events leading up to the Russian Revolution, as well as how adaptations are made for the young adult audience, especially regarding the Romanov family execution. Batchelor concludes her analyses by discussing recurring characters that appear most frequently in the young adult literature plots, such as Rasputin, Anastasia, and Tsar Nicholas II, and ends with implications for readers, as wellas hist...
Educational research and innovation, 2019
Bias can affect beliefs teachers hold about students' achievements, behaviors, and backgrounds. T... more Bias can affect beliefs teachers hold about students' achievements, behaviors, and backgrounds. These beliefs, in turn, can influence teachers' subjective thinking regarding students' abilities and grades as well as reduce expectations of students, thereby expanding the existing achievement gap (Jacoby-Senghor, Sinclair, & Shelton, 2016; Peterson, Rubie-Davis, Osborne, & Sibley, 2016). When educators confront the implicit biases they carry, a deeper awareness emerges regarding their everyday decisions and behaviors based on these biases. Much research on implicit bias appears in fields such as criminal justice and health and to a lesser degree in education (Straats, Capatosto, Wright, & Jackson, 2016). For example, a few studies have been conducted with practicing teachers regarding anti-fat bias toward students in physical education (O'Brien, Hunter, & Banks, 2007). However, little research examines pre-service teachers' (PSTs') attitudes regarding implicit (Straats, Capatosto, Wright, & Jackson, 2016), especially when it comes to issues of racial
Voices from the middle, 2013
Bullying is the most prevalent form of school violence (Batsche, 2002), with approximately 3.2 mi... more Bullying is the most prevalent form of school violence (Batsche, 2002), with approximately 3.2 million students bullied yearly (Cohen & Canter, 2002). To address this, schools are implementing anti-bullying programs that often identify teachers as the first line of defense. But while students are instructed to seek out a teacher if bullying occurs, many teachers do not recognize bullying situations (Hazler, Miller, Carney, & Green, 2001).
English in Education, 2018
This article describes the results of a study that examined middle school students' writt... more This article describes the results of a study that examined middle school students' written revisions as well as attitudes and perceptions regarding revision when paired with transmediation. Existing research on revision is thin on transmediation's affordances and students' voices regarding revision. Situated within a social semiotic, multimodal literacy framework, this article addresses how students began to see revision's purpose and process as more meaningful and substantive as a result of transacting with their transmediated objects during a flash fiction unit of study.
US-China Foreign Language, Sep 28, 2017
In this comparative self-study, two English teachers, one English as a foreign language (EFL) tea... more In this comparative self-study, two English teachers, one English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher from China and one English language arts (ELA) teacher in the United States, examined their perceptions of English language learning and instruction. Through a set of documents, i.e., reflective teaching journals, written teaching philosophies, and peer interviews and talks, the narrative study explored and revealed the two teachers' perceptions of English learning process as a learner, English teaching process as a teacher, and how these experiences informed and affected their doctoral practices. Through their reflections on their examined experiences, the study found that the two teachers both used a theoretical lens of social constructivism to guide their perceptions or beliefs. The paper finally gave suggestions on how to improve English instruction from a sociocultural perspective.
English Journal, 2021
Ninth graders, seniors, and college students found that playing video games enhanced their connec... more Ninth graders, seniors, and college students found that playing video games enhanced their connections to print-based texts they were reading in their classes.
Innovations in Science Teacher Education, 2020
The purpose of this paper is to exemplify how teacher candidates can be engaged in discussions ar... more The purpose of this paper is to exemplify how teacher candidates can be engaged in discussions around social justice and equity in science methods courses while also learning about and practicing essential science teaching strategies and skills. Our aim is that science teacher educators who do not feel confident enough to explicitly address these important issues in methods courses are encouraged to think creatively about how they can modify or alter their current practices in a way to prepare science teachers for the changing demographics of science classrooms. We present an engineering design activity that is coupled with critical literacy skills, called 'Build a Child." Upon identifying the problem, we introduce the context of the preservice teachers' science methods course and reason for this work, followed by defining critical literacy and how it pairs well in science education. We then share the "Build a Child" engineering project and how we asked preservice teachers to critique and reflect on their creations, thus bringing in a critical literacy framework to the curriculum. Next, we share three findings based on our data analysis, and we end with the importance of science methods courses implementing social justice education and suggestions on how to reexamine our science curriculum to make it more culturally relevant and equitable for all students.
Action in Teacher Education, 2021
In this article, we critically analyze our experiences in preparing pre-service
teachers (PSTs) t... more In this article, we critically analyze our experiences in preparing pre-service
teachers (PSTs) to teach for social justice. We utilized an intersectional lens to identify and validate our different positionalities and pedagogies. It is this interplay of validating our differences and commonalities that enabled us to form a sense of solidarity in our efforts to nurture our students’ critical consciousness. Through our collective engagement with intersectionality and self-study methodology, we co-constructed a common ground of what social justice teaching meant to us and how we navigated the highly personal, messy, and often contradictory experiences of engaging in this work with students. From this process, we uncovered three themes from our self study: 1) curriculum is a living entity; 2) teaching is personal and vulnerable, and 3) co-teaching and collaboration invigorates us to keep practicing our social justice orientation.
JoLLE, 2019
The purpose of this six-week, naturalistic inquiry study was to explore how middle school student... more The purpose of this six-week, naturalistic inquiry study was to explore how middle school students at an international school in Warsaw, Poland experienced embodied literacies in their drama elective and their experience with revision through students' creations of performance and puppetry vignettes that represented their fictional stories. This study centered on the following research questions: 1) How does drama stimulate revision in writing? and 2) How do students describe their experience with drama in the writing process? Multiple data were collected: writing drafts with revisions, photos, interviews, performance and rehearsal videos, and reflections. The constant comparative method was used to analyze and triangulate the data. Additionally, digital images were used to generate a multimodal analytic method that implemented a Semiotic Photo Response Protocol. Analyses of data revealed that acting out their writing stimulated additional ideas for students' stories, especially in how students embodied their stories. However, some students had concerns and difficulty in translating their flash fiction pieces from narrative to script format. Data analysis also demonstrated how aesthetics played a role in the translation of content from writing to drama, and how some students had challenges in collaborating with their performance groups but not during their writing groups.
The Reading Teacher, 2019
Fifth-and sixth-grade students provided six criteria for what teachers should do to give an effec... more Fifth-and sixth-grade students provided six criteria for what teachers should do to give an effective book talk that will inspire them to read.
Journal of Educational Research and Innovation, 2019
Although there is much research regarding implicit bias in numerous fields, such as criminal just... more Although there is much research regarding implicit bias in numerous fields, such as criminal justice, psychology, and health, little research has examined preservice teachers' attitudes and beliefs regarding implicit biases they carry, especially when it comes to race. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to fill the gap in qualitative research regarding how preservice teachers address, confront, and talk about biases. We begin by defining implicit bias. Next, we center our research within sociocultural theory with an emphasis on critical literacy practices. Then, we share our findings, which centered on the course environment, students’ reactions to their results of an implicit association test, and how their personal experiences and upbringing might have contributed to their results. We end with discussion of these findings as well as implications for future teachers and teacher educators.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2019
Preservice teachers self-selected print and nonprint texts, centering on a social justice theme, ... more Preservice teachers self-selected print and nonprint texts, centering on a social justice theme, and then critiqued their texts through a critical literacy lens.
Social Studies Education Review, 2018
The focus of this article provides support for teachers to incorporate authentic writing and prom... more The focus of this article provides support for teachers to incorporate authentic writing and promote historical thinking through a flash nonfiction unit-of-study. The author draws from her experiences teaching and researching flash nonfiction in a ninth grade social studies classroom. Mentor texts suggestions, student comments, and examples will be provided.
Pushing Boundaries and Crossing Borders: Self-Study as a Means for Researching Pedagogy, 2018
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Papers by Katherine Batchelor
in schools. Research has shown that teaching revision through reflection, conferencing, positive teacher feedback, specific instruction linked to reading strategies, and built-in time between drafts for students to think about their writing can cause students not only to revise more but to revise at a deeper level by focusing on content rather than grammatical errors. This study investigates how middle school students’ writing drafts as well as attitudes and beliefs toward revision changed based on introducing a specific self-response and peer-response revision strategy called the “CARD” (change, add, rearrange, and delete) technique, named for the ways in which revision might occur in writing via holistic categories. Research questions included the following: How does middle school students’ writing change when
they are taught the CARD revision technique? and, In what ways, if any, does the CARD technique enhance middle school students’ thinking about revision, specifically regarding their attitudes and perceptions of revision? This research helps educators understand students’ perceptions and beliefs toward revision, in general, and a way to encourage revision via student-led decisions in their writing.
teachers (PSTs) to teach for social justice. We utilized an intersectional lens to identify and validate our different positionalities and pedagogies. It is this interplay of validating our differences and commonalities that enabled us to form a sense of solidarity in our efforts to nurture our students’ critical consciousness. Through our collective engagement with intersectionality and self-study methodology, we co-constructed a common ground of what social justice teaching meant to us and how we navigated the highly personal, messy, and often contradictory experiences of engaging in this work with students. From this process, we uncovered three themes from our self study: 1) curriculum is a living entity; 2) teaching is personal and vulnerable, and 3) co-teaching and collaboration invigorates us to keep practicing our social justice orientation.
in schools. Research has shown that teaching revision through reflection, conferencing, positive teacher feedback, specific instruction linked to reading strategies, and built-in time between drafts for students to think about their writing can cause students not only to revise more but to revise at a deeper level by focusing on content rather than grammatical errors. This study investigates how middle school students’ writing drafts as well as attitudes and beliefs toward revision changed based on introducing a specific self-response and peer-response revision strategy called the “CARD” (change, add, rearrange, and delete) technique, named for the ways in which revision might occur in writing via holistic categories. Research questions included the following: How does middle school students’ writing change when
they are taught the CARD revision technique? and, In what ways, if any, does the CARD technique enhance middle school students’ thinking about revision, specifically regarding their attitudes and perceptions of revision? This research helps educators understand students’ perceptions and beliefs toward revision, in general, and a way to encourage revision via student-led decisions in their writing.
teachers (PSTs) to teach for social justice. We utilized an intersectional lens to identify and validate our different positionalities and pedagogies. It is this interplay of validating our differences and commonalities that enabled us to form a sense of solidarity in our efforts to nurture our students’ critical consciousness. Through our collective engagement with intersectionality and self-study methodology, we co-constructed a common ground of what social justice teaching meant to us and how we navigated the highly personal, messy, and often contradictory experiences of engaging in this work with students. From this process, we uncovered three themes from our self study: 1) curriculum is a living entity; 2) teaching is personal and vulnerable, and 3) co-teaching and collaboration invigorates us to keep practicing our social justice orientation.