Vinz, Ruth (rav5)

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Ruth Vinz

Enid & Lester Morse Professor in Teacher Education
Professor of English Education
Founding Director of the Center for the Professional Education of Teachers (CPET)
212-678-3191

Office Location:

416A Zankel
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TC Affiliations:

Faculty Expertise:

Educational Background

B.S. in Secondary Education: Majors in English and Social Sciences, Montana State University; M.A. in Secondary Education: History and Russian Literatures, Boise State University; Ph.D. in English Education, New York University. Writer-in-Residencies: Johns Hopkins University and Universität zu Köln.

Scholarly Interests

  • ReThinking Literature Education For A Transnational World: Toward Ethical, Poetic, and Fictive Imaginaries 
  • Cultivating Alternative and Post Qualitative Research Practices: Research and Writing That Render Inquiry, Curiosity, Wonderment
  • Co-creating and Sustaining Professional Learning Environments With Teachers: Beyond Professional Development As (In)culturation 
  • Nurturing Critical Consciousness: Pedagogies of Possibility

Selected Publications

Books

  • Vinz, Ruth & Maya Pindyck (in preparation). Disrupting The Logics: 13 Reorientations for The Teaching of Poetry.
  • Choo, S. Sawch, D., Villanueva, A. & Ruth Vinz, eds. (2016). Educating for the 21st Century: Perspectives, Policies, and Practices. Springer.
  • Schaafsma, D. and Vinz, R. (2010). On Narrative Inquiry: Research in Literacy and Language. Teachers College Press.
  • Claggett, F., Reid, L., & Vinz, R. (2009) Daybook: Essential Strategies for Critical Reading and Wriing (3 volumes, 9-11) Wilmington, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co.
  • Claggett, F., Reid, L., & Vinz, R. (2007). Daybook: Essential Strategies for Critical Reading and Writing. (3 volumes, 6-8). Wilmington, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co.
  • Vinz, R. with Hamilton, G., Gordon, E., LaMontagne, J., & B. Lundgren. (2000). Becoming (Other)Wise: Enhancing critical reading perspectives. Portland, Maine: Calendar Island Press.
  • Claggett, F., Reid, L., & Vinz, R. (1999). Daybook of critical reading and writing. (4 vols). Wilmington, Mass: Great Source Education Group/Houghton Mifflin Co. Series 9-12th grades.
  • Clagget, F., Reid, L., & Vinz, R.. (1998). Daybook of critical reading and writing. (3 vols.) Series 6-8 th grades.
  • Ely, M., Vinz, R., Downing, M., & M. Anzul. (1997). Writing qualitative research: Living by words. Falmer Press.
  • Vinz, R. (1996). Composing a teaching life: Inquiry into the teaching of literature. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Vinz, R., Claggett, M. F., & Reid, L. (1996). Learning the landscapes. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Vinz, R., Claggett, M. F., & Reid, L. (1996). Recasting the text. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Kirby, D., Liner, T. & Vinz, R. (1988). Inside out: Developmental strategies for teaching writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook. [Selected in a National Council Teachers of English survey as the most highly recommended book on the teaching of writing for secondary teachers].
  • Vinz, R. (1987). Propositions. Idaho: Cold Drill Press. [Collected poetry of Ruth Vinz].

Book Chapters

  • Vinz, R. (2019). “Foreward: Attuning To The Possible.” In Trace Lahey, Designing Your Teaching Life. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Choo, Suzanne Vinz, R. (2017). Literature As Restless Cartography: Pedagogies for Cosmopolitan Ethical Explorations. In A. Goodwyn and Cal Durrant. International
  • Perspective on the Teaching of Literature in Schools: Global Principles and Practices. Routledge
  • Vinz, R. (2014). The fire within: Evocations toward a committed life. In D, Schaafsma T. De Stigter (Eds.) Jane Addams and Education. University of Illinois Press.
  • Vinz, R. (2011). Sit tight: The uneasy alliance between freedom and control in the middle school classroom. In K. Maul, (ed.). Voices from the Middle: Narratives For, By and About the Middle Level Community. Vol. 8 in The Handbook of Research in Middle Level Education Series. NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc..
  • Vinz, R. (2011). Longing and learning. In Reilly, M. and Gangi, J. Deepening Literacy Leaning: Art Literature Engagement in K-8 Classrooms. NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc. 
  • Vinz, R. (2008). If We Could Only, What? In Miller and Norris, Narratives of Social Justice Teaching: How English Teachers Negotiate Theory and Practice Between Preservice and Inservice Spaces. Series: Counterpoints/Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education. Peter Lang.
  • Vinz, R. (2004), Culturally Responsive Teaching. In Eugene Provenzo, Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education. Sage.
  • Vinz, R. (2000). Cautions against canonizing (An)Other literature. In Mahalingam, R. & McCarthy, C., Multicultural curriculum: New directions for social theory, practice, and policy (127-154). New York: Routledge.
  • Vinz, R. (1999). Learning from the blues: Beyond essentialist readings of cultural texts. In C. McCarthy. Sound identities: Popular music and the cultural politics of education. New York: Peter Lange.
  • Vinz. R. (1997). You can’t tale a polecate by caging it. In Joseph Trimmer (Ed.), Narration as inquiry (pp. 127-141). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Vinz, R. (1993). Entering the discourse: Learning the languages of literature. In B. Corcoran, M. Hayhoe G. Pradl (Eds.), Knowledge in the making: Challenging the text in the classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Vinz, R. (1992). In teachers'; hands. In J. L. Collins (Ed.), Vital signs, vol. 3 (150-173). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Vinz, R. Kirby, D. (1991). Landscapes: Readers encounter texts. In J. L. Collins (Ed.), Vital Signs, vol. 2 (97-108). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Vinz, R. (1991). Learning the landscapes: Regional literature in classrooms. In Writers; Northwest Handbook. Oregon: Media Weavers.
  • Vinz, R. (1990). Silences. In J. L. Collins (Ed.) Vital signs, vol. 1 (52-59). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Boynton/Cook.
  • Vinz, R. (1986). Thinking through dilemmas. In J. Golub (Ed.), Teaching thinking (107- 111). Urbana, Illinois: NCTE Press.

Articles

  • Vinz, R. & Schaafsma, D. (2019). Fifty Years of English Education. English Education. vol. 51, No. 3, April. 82-93.
  • Vinz, R. (2018). Provocateurs in History of the Field. English Education, vol. 49, No. 4. 23-35.
  •  Meier, T., Schillinger, T. & R. Vinz. (2010). Poetry Immersion: The Muses among us. English In Education, vol. 13, No. 2.
  • Vinz, R. (2006). Teachers New To the Profession: Creating Connectedness Amidst The Surprise of Difference. Democracy and Education. Vol. 16, No. 3.
  • Vinz, R. (2002). Changing conceptions: Toward a more multicultural literature education. RTE.
  • Vinz, R. (2000). The things we carry: Working ‘in relation’ to the past. EnglishEducation 33(1), 73-85.
  • Vinz, R.( 1997). First looks from a new landscape. Inland. 19(2), 8-13.
  • Vinz, R. (1997). Capturing a moving form: Dis-Positioning ourselves as teachers. English Education. 29(3), 76-98.
  • Vinz, R. (1996). Horrorscapes: (In)Forming adolescent identity and desire. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing. 12(4), 14-26.
  • Vinz, R. (1996). Shy on wisdom. English Education. 28(3), 203-204.
  • Vinz, R. (1995). Toward an understanding of the blues and beyond an essentialist reading of cultural texts. Discourse: Studies in Cultural Policies in Education. Carfax International, 347-363.
  • Vinz, R. (1995). Opening moves: Conversations on the first year of teaching. English Education 27(3), 158-206.
  • Vinz, R. (1993). The taste of lightning in your teeth. English Education 25(2).
  • Vinz, R. (1990). Where is the I in school? Inland Journal 13(2).
  • Vinz, R. (1990). The magic of sortilege. Boise Magazine.
  • Kirby, D., Latta, D., Vinz, R. (1988). Interior decorating in elementary school writing. Phi Delta Kappan 690(10), 718-724.
  • Vinz, R. & Kirby, D. (1988) Reader response research. English Journal 77(1), 90-92.
  • Vinz, R. (1986). Dilemmas in literature studies. In NCTE (Ed.), Notes Plus, 9-11).
  • Vinz, R. (1983). Intricate corridors within a barren world. English Journal 4(4), 39-41. (Awarded Outstanding Article for l983.)

Editorials and Responses

  •  Vinz, R. & Schaafsma, D. (1996). Senses of the past. English Education 28(3), 171-173.
  •  Vinz, R. & Schaafsma, D. (1996). “Well, we appreciate you trying.” English Education 28(4). 263-267.
  • Schaafsma, D., & Vinz, R. (1997). The politics of letters: The continuing saga. English Education 29(1). 3-6.
  • Schaafsma, D. & Vinz, R. (1997). Guidelines and pluralism. English Education 29(2). 75-76.
  • Vinz, R. & Schaafsma, D. (1997). Looking beyond our horizons to other worlds of possibility. English Education 29(3). 155-157.
  • Vinz, R. (1997). Cat's cradles: A web of literary relations. English Education 29(4), 243-245.
  • Vinz, R. (1997). (Re)membering others and ourselves. English Education 29(4), 295-297.
  • Schaafsma, D. & vinz, R. (1998). Thirteen ways of looking at ‘to read.’ English Education 30(1). 3-4.
  • Vinz, R. ((1998). A veil thin enough. English Education 31(1). 3.
  • Schaafsma, D. & Vinz, R. (1999). Beyond reflection. English Education 31(3). 175-176.
  • Vinz, R. & Schaafsma, D. (1999). Unheard messages. English Education 31(4). 263-264.
  • Vinz, R. & Schaafsma, D. (2000). A theory of crossed destinies. English Education 32(3). 179-181.
  • Schaafsma, D. & Vinz, R. (2000). Mapping differences, telling tales. English Education 32(4). 243-245.

Ruth Vinz is a Professor in English Education and the Enid and Lester Morse Endowed Professor in Teacher Education, Teachers College Columbia University. She is also Founding Director of the Center for the Professional Education of Teachers ( http://cpet.tc.columbia.edu/). The Center serves as an incubator for project-based initiatives to support teacher and student learning and provides doctoral students with opportunities to design, implement, and research the effectiveness of various pedagogical initiatives. Student Press Initiative, Literacy Consortium, Studies in Educational Innovations, Literacy Unbound, and The Global Learning Alliance are among the programs within the seventeen-year-old Center. Before coming to Teachers College in 1992, Vinz taught high school Literature and Humanities courses for twenty-three years. She is the author or co-author of 14 books and numerous articles on teacher learning and knowledge, literacy pedagogies for literature and writing instruction, and two books that focus on writing qualitative and narrative research. Her book, Composing a Teaching Life, received the CEE Richard Meade Award for Outstanding Research in English Education and she co-authored the award-winning literature/writing series, 6-12 grade, Daybooks of Critical Reading and Writing published by Houghton Mifflin. She served for five years as co-editor of English Education. English Education is the journal of the Conference on English Education (CEE), a constituent organization of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The journal serves teachers who are engaged in the preparation, support, and continuing education of teachers of English language arts/literacy at all levels of instruction. Her current research interests and writing include inquiry into teachers’ narratives as examples of living educational theories and pedagogies, the development of narrative inquiry methodologies, and ethical inquiry in a transnational world. Vinz has held key leadership roles at Teachers College, serving as English Education Program Director, Chair of the Department of Arts and Humanities, and Interim Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs.

T 7:00 - 8:30
W 3:00 - 4:30

416A Zankel


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