Department of Education
Assistant Professor Lisa Zawilinski teaches literacy methods courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Zawilinski provides practical, research-based methods for helping young children develop literacy skills and strategies across various learning contexts. She embeds Internet technologies within instruction with a focus on student variability. Most importantly, Zawilinski helps pre-service teachers develop their teaching practice with an emphasis on demonstrating a love of reading, writing, and learning.
Zawilinski examines the skills and strategies necessary for elementary-grade students to communicate to share and gather information on the Internet. She also examines how best to support pre-service teachers as they explore and embed Internet technologies within their teaching. Her most recent study of elementary-grade students explores the use of a blog for sharing information between first and fifth graders. Her most recent study of pre-service teachers examines patterns that seem to emerge when Internet technologies like VoiceThread and Edmodo are used to expand Literature Circles conversations.