Dr. Kerry Alexander is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership at the University of Maryland College Park. As a teacher and researcher, she is committed to community-centered inquiry and supporting equitable literacy practices alongside families, teachers, and learners. Specific areas of study include responsive instructional design, justice-focused coaching, multimodal and critical literacies, and cultural-historical dimensions of literacy theory and practice. She has published her research with Harvard Education Press, NCTE’s English Education, Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, The Journal of Language and Literacy Education (JoLLE), The Texas Education Review, and The Journal of Education and Social Justice, among others. Dr. Alexander taught elementary English Language Arts and Reading for ten years prior to receiving her Ph.D. in Language and Literacy Studies from The University of Texas at Austin.
Mosley Wetzel, M., Holyoke, E.S., Alexander, K., Dunham, H., & Collins, C. (2023). Coaching in communities: Pursuing justice, teacher learning and transformation. Harvard Education Press.
Alexander, K., Taylor, V., and Trautman, K. (2024). “It feels like a safe place”: A (Re)Invitation to the Writer’s Notebook as Humanizing Pedagogy in Preservice Literacy Teacher Education. English Education, 56(3).
Dunham, H., Alexander, K., and McDonald, E. (2024). The Discursive Journey of Meta-Awareness: Literacy (Teacher) Identity within Preservice Teacher Preparation. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, in press.
Holyoke, E., Wetzel, M., Dunham, H., Alexander, K., Collins, C., & Hill, L. (2023). Creating equity-focused networks of support for teacher candidates through coaching: A design-development study. Educational Research & Development Journal, 26(2), 41-61.
Ries, Dunham, H., Corriston, K., Alexander, K., Taylor, V., & Mosley Wetzel, M. (2023). Look to the side: Peer partnerships in preservice literacy teacher education. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice. 1-20.
Mosley Wetzel, M., Maloch, B., Alexander, K., Murdter-Atkinson, J., Ries, E., Wright, A., and McLean, J. (2023). “Reading” into statistics: Systems analysis and action in an early career mentor community. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice. 1-22.
Alexander, K. & Collins, C. (2023). Whiteness boundaries in teacher education programming. The Journal of Thought, 56(3/4), 3-19.
Wiebe, M., Alexander, K., Hermosura, L., Silva, V., Jones, C., Brandes, E., Howell, S., and Watts, A. (2022). Restorative praxis: Evoking the ‘core self’ and the fluidity of ‘labors’. The Journal of Education and Social Justice, 8(1), 11-30.
Juárez, L., Mosley Wetzel, M., Brower, S., Sosa-Sánchez, P., Garcia, C., Estrada, V., Davila, D., Whiteside, E., and Alexander, K. (2022). Preparing teachers in clinical field experiences through improvement science: A conceptual analysis. Texas Association of Teacher Educators. 12(1), 21-36.
Dunham, H. & Alexander, K. (2022). Applying an intersectional framework to the literacy worlds of preservice teachers. The Journal of Language and Literacy Education. 18(1), 1-23.
McLean, J. & Alexander, K. (2020). Dear white colleagues: Disrupting white teacher education and scholarship. Texas Education Review, 8(2), 71-78.
Murdter-Atkinson, J., Ries, E., Maloch, B., Hernandez, L., Alexander, K., Wright, A., Mosley Wetzel, M. (in press). “I have been so gifted with the talent by which I am surrounded”: Growing a Professional Learning Community for Early Career Teacher Mentors. In A. Webb & M. Schoffner (Eds.), Entry into a brave new world: Teaching induction and care through/past COVID. Routledge.
Alexander, K. & McLean, J. (2022). Swords to Ploughshares: Toward a Pedagogy of Anti-Racist Professional Discernment. In D.A. Bender-Slack & F. Godwyll (Eds.), Towards anti-racist educational research: From radical moments to movements (pp. 35-56). The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. Lexington Books.
Sailors, M., Russell, K., Augustine, H., Alexander, K. (2014). Professional Learning with and from a Literacy Coach: A Poem in Two Voices. In N.K. Duke & B.M. Taylor (Eds.), Handbook of effective literacy instruction research-based practice K-8. (pp. 555-571). The Guilford Press.
Invited Contributions
Flores, T. & Fránquiz, M. (2023). Cultivating Young Multilingual Writers: Nurturing Voices and Stories in and beyond the Classroom Walls. Chapter Two: “Designing a Writing Community: Time, Space, and Material Culture.” National Council of Teachers of English. Focal teacher and writing participant.
Bomer, K. (2011). Starting with What Students Do Best: How to Improve Writing by Responding to Students’ Strengths, [Supplemental DVD]. Heinemann. Book study and video participant.
TLPL 343 Promoting Skilled and Motivated Readers in Elementary Classrooms (Part 2)
TLPL 344 Culturally Responsive Language and Literacy Teaching
TLPL 361 Principles and Methods of Teaching