Disciplinary Literacy and Gamified Learning in Elementary Classrooms

Dr. Haas' experience in literacy education includes teaching at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Additional experiences include instructional coaching, professional development, curriculum design, and department administration. Opportunities in highly diverse settings have acted as both a catalyst and foundation for her focus on integrating and connecting literacy across disciplines through culturally and linguistically responsive instructional practices. She is particularly interested in technology-based literacy opportunities for underrepresented populations through engagement with popular culture, specifically online gaming and fanfiction.
Dr. Michelle Metzger's experiences include working as a classroom teacher, adjunct professor, professional development facilitator, research coordinator, and department chair. Her research interests include spatial thinking, problem solving, critical thinking, and STEM learning. As a National Ongoing Assessment Project Facilitator, Dr. Metzger believes in teaching math for understanding through modeling, which takes her to various places across the United States engaging teachers in deep mathematical thinking within a professional development setting. She believes students must hold math in their hands before they can hold it in their heads, hence the need for visualization and conceptual understanding.
Dr. Jill Tussey's career in literacy education has provided a variety of experiences in curriculum and instruction across K-12, undergraduate, and graduate courses. Her areas of interest include student engagement and motivation with targeted focus on digital literacy, poverty impacts, and social-emotional learning. Service leadership is important to Dr. Tussey and can be clearly seen in her current work as the Division Chair for Literacy, TESL, and Early Childhood at Buena Vista University. She has authored and edited books, chapters, and journal articles. Additionally, she has presented at local, state, national, and international settings over a variety of literacy topics.