Other Relevant Coursework

Connections to Literacy and English in Other Doctoral Courses

Many of my courses in Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at the University of Texas at San Antonio included connections to Literacy and/or English Language Arts (ELA). To illustrate these connections, I share information about some of the readings and assignments that I completed in four non-literacy courses. Below, I provide a brief description of each of the four courses and a link to more detailed information.

ILT 7003: Exploration of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching

ILT 7003 emphasized interdisciplinary projects with connections to Language and Literacy. For one major assignment in this course, I read Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (Wolf, 2007) and worked with peers to write a formal book review (see image). For another major assignment, I researched and wrote about the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language and Literacy.

For additional information and excerpts from the aforementioned assignments, click here.

BBL 7113: Seminar in Cultural Studies Research

This course explored aspects of Hip Hop, such as rap music and aerosol art. Readings and discussions often centered on the context surrounding the birth of Hip Hop and the sociopolitical issues (e.g., blood diamonds, police brutality) featured in rap lyrics. My research paper for the course focused on the plausibility of using rap music to teach concepts and skills pertinent to English Language Arts.

For details and excerpts, click here.

ILT 7113: Research and Inquiry in Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching

Although interdisciplinary inquiry was the primary focus of the course, all of my inquiry-based projects centered on Literacy. These projects included 10 annotated bibliographies, a research paper, and a final presentation.

For details and excerpts, click here.

ILR 7873: Survey Research


The survey that I created for this course focused on the home-literacy practices of adults with young children. The survey drew on the ORIM framework, which highlights four ways that adults can promote literacy engagement at home: opportunities, recognition, involvement, and modeling. Literacy engagement, in this framework, includes the use of environmental print, books, writing, and oral language.

For details and excerpts, click here.