Anne Haas Dyson
Eminent Scholar
Tracey Roden
RDG 692, Spring 2013
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Anne Haas
Dyson
Professor
Curriculum &
Instruction
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
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Educational Background
 Ph.D., Education, University of Texas,
Austin, 1981
 M.Ed., Education, University of Texas,
Austin, 1976
 B.S., Elementary Education (concentration:
English), University of Wisconsin, Madison,
1972
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Professional Appointments
 Professor, Curriculum & Instruction, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, 2006-present
 Professor, Department. of Teacher Education, Michigan State
University, 2002-2006
 Professor, Division of Language, Literacy, & Culture, University of
California, Berkeley, 1991-2002
 Associate Professor, Division of Language, Literacy, & Culture,
University of California, Berkeley, 1987-1991
 Assistant Professor, Division of Language, Literacy, & Culture,
University of California, Berkeley, 1985-1987
 Graduate Faculty, Graduate School, University of Georgia, 19841985
 Assistant Professor, Department of Language Education,
University of Georgia, 1981-1985
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Awards & Honors
 Fellow of the American Educational Research Association,
American Educational Research Association, 2012- present
 Vera Nofftz Early Childhood Education Fellow, Given for
"preeminence in the field of early childhood education",
College of Education, 2011- present
 John R. Hayes Award for Excellence in Writing Research, Award
given for best article in Written Communication during the
preceding year (2008), Written Communication, 2009
 Janet Emig Award, given by the Conference on English
Education of the National Council of Teachers of English,
National Council of Teachers of English, 2006 & 2002
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Awards & Honors
 Selection as Mary Lou Fulton Distinguished Lecturer, Selection
by Mary Lou Fulton Endowment Advisory Committee of the
College of Education, Arizona State University, 2006
 Purves Award, National Council of Teachers of English, 1999
 Distinguished Teaching Award, University of California-Berkeley,
1998
 David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the
Teaching of English, National Council of Teachers of English,
1994
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Statement of
Teaching Philosophy
 “As a teacher and a researcher, I think
intellectual, political, and moral issues of
teaching and learning are best understood—and
grappled with—when they are embodied in
everyday human experiences of teachers and
students, in and out of school; conversely, I think
teachers immersed in the very human context of
classroom life (which is not neat, not orderly, and
not predictable) must also see the larger issues
implicit in their daily decisions.”
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Statement of
Teaching Philosophy
 “Finally, my identities as a teacher of the young
and not-so-young merge in the kind of
engagement I require of my students. Having
struggled to help a 6-year-old realize that fish
starts with F, not God or water, I do not equate
lecturing with teaching. There is nothing lonelier
than standing in front of a class when I’m not sure
they are, intellectually, with me—and nothing is
more satisfying than when we are all making
progress together. Then teaching is its own
reward.”
http://teaching.berkeley.edu/dta-recipient/ann-haas-dyson
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Major Research Focus
related to the social and cultural processes of
schooling and literacy
 Immerses herself in ethnographic research that
examines children’s writing, in particular story
making
 Most of her projects include her study of primary
grade children in urban schools with culturally
diverse populations over the course of a year or
more
 Studies the influences of popular culture on young
children’s literacy development
 Studies the development and use of written
language in contemporary childhoods and crossculturally
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Current Research
Literacy
focuses on the intersection of:
+Institutional
expectations of
proper “childprepared-for” written
language
+Children’s
expectations for
each others’ use of
written language
+How children act
as agents &
construct their own
childhoods
+Ideologies of
language & of
appropriate
childhoods
+Translation into the
classroom
Childhood
+What is considered
basic & appropriate
+How society
arrange
“childhoods”
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Ethnographic Studies
 Ethnographic approach to research allowed her to explore
children’s language and literacy development as it occurs
naturally in sociocultural contexts
 Devoted days and weeks of observation in a new classroom
before deciding what would be the data for her study
 Stressed the importance of building trust and a rapport
between herself, as a researcher, and the classroom
members
 Wanted to observe how young children construct their
understandings of symbolic communication, including
learning to write
 Sought classroom teachers whose instruction allowed
children the freedom to construct their own understandings
of literacy in an accepting environment
The Brothers and
Sisters Learn to
Write
Popular Literacies in
Childhood and School
Cultures
2003
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Writing
Superheroes
Contemporary Childhood,
Popular Culture, and
Classroom Literacy
1997
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Social Worlds of
Children
Learning to Write
in an Urban Primary School
1993
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Multiple Worlds
of Child Writers
Friends Learning to Write
1989
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Contributions to the Study
of Literacy
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Children bring relevant
resources to school literacy.
 Children come to school with several wellestablished ways of conveying meaning.
 They use pretend play, draw, use gestures, and
talk as nonacademic “textual” toys.
 Children stretch & reorganize this material in
order to enter “official school literacy”.
 Many state-adopted reading programs are
designed on the assumption that “all” children
bring nothing to to school…usually referring to
the diverse child.
 “Serious error to assume that any child brings
nothing to new experiences.”
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Talk is an integral part of the
early writing process.
 Peer interaction can be as effective as teacher
instruction.
 Through talk writing becomes relevant to
life…talk gives the printed graphic meaning.
 Speech links spoken words to written ones.
 Talk supports writing & writing supports talk.
 Talk is a “social consequence” of writing.
 The “basics” of spontaneous talk is critical in
children’s early literacy development
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Media informs children’s play
& their early writing efforts.
 Young children make extensive use of media in
their storytelling and play.
 Children form understandings of typical voice
types or genres from media.
 Media displays models of text structures &
elements.
 Media gives children potential characters, plots
& themes.
 Because of media’s role in children’s textual
growth, educators should officially acknowledge
it and open up their literacy curriculum.
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“Children learn the way we all
learn: through engagement,
and through construction.
They have to make sense of
the world, and that’s what
play or any other symbolic
activity does for children.”
Anne Haas Dyson
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“Follow the child’s interests in
people, objects, places, and
activities, and talk with them. It’s
social interaction that creates a
link between the child and an
ongoing activity. Help them learn
how to articulate themselves and
participate in the world.”
Anne Haas Dyson
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“All tests tell us is how many letters
and how many sounds children
know. I think there should be this
grand societal conversation
about what’s intellectually
motivating and exciting for our
children.”
Anne Haas Dyson
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090212125137.htm
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Major Works
 Dyson, A. H. (2003). The brothers and sisters learn to
write: Popular literacies in childhood and school
cultures. New York: Teachers College Press.
 Dyson, A. H. (1997). Writing superheroes:
Contemporary childhood, popular culture, and
classroom literacy. New York: Teachers College
Press.
 Dyson, A. H. (1993). Social words of children learning
to write in an urban primary school. New York:
Teachers College Press.
 Dyson, A. H. (1989). Multiple worlds of child writers:
Friends learning to write. New York: Teachers
College Press.
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Sample of Publications
 Dyson, A. H. (1987). The value of "time off task":
Young children's spontaneous talk and
deliberate text. Harvard Educational
Review, 57(4), 396-396.
 Dyson, A. H. (1995). The courage to write: Child
meaning making in a contested
world. Language Arts, 72(5), 324-324.
 Anne, H. D. (1998). Folk process and media
creatures: Reflections on popular culture for
literacy educators. The Reading Teacher,51(5),
392-402.
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Sample of Publications
 Anne, H. D. (2000). On reframing children's words:
The perils, promises, and pleasures of writing
children. Research in the Teaching of
English, 34(3), 352-352.
 Anne, H. D. (2001). Donkey kong in little bear
country: A first grader's composing development
in the media spotlight. The Elementary School
Journal, 101(4), 417-433.
 Anne, H. D. (2003). "Welcome to the jam":
Popular culture, school literacy, and the making
of childhoods1. Harvard Educational
Review, 73(3), 328-361.
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Sample of Publications
 Anne, H. D., & Linda, D. L. (2003). Popular
literacies and the "all" children: Rethinking literacy
development for contemporary
childhoods. Language Arts, 81(2), 100-109.
 Anne, H. D. (2006). On saying it right (write): "fixits" in the foundations of learning to
write. Research in the Teaching of English,41(1),
8-17,19-42.
 Anne, H. D. (2008). Staying in the (curricular)
lines. Written Communication, 25(1), 119.