Jen Scott Curwood is a doctoral candidate in the department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Her major area of emphasis is Literacy Studies, with minors in Composition and Rhetoric, Qualitative Research, and Educational Psychology. She engages in research related to media, literacy, identity, and pedagogy. Recent projects have focused on counternarratives in youth-produced media, the multimodal aspects of children’s literature, and the role of professional development in effective technology integration.
Jen’s work has appeared in the International Journal of Learning and Media, The Reading Teacher, English Journal, and Literacy. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she was a public school teacher. Jen has taught middle school and high school language arts classes, and she is also licensed as a K-12 reading specialist. A former producer of educational videogames, Jen is a member of the Games, Learning, and Society research group. She also serves on the program committee for the Games, Learning, and Society Conference and the upcoming National Council of Teachers of English Assembly for Research’s Midwinter Conference.
Currently, Jen teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Wisconsin, focusing on literacy, language development, and young adult literature. Her dissertation research examines the role that professional learning communities can play in supporting digital media production and new literacies in high school English classrooms. Jen lives in Middleton, Wisconsin, with her husband, Michael Curwood, and their eleven year old son, Cole. When she’s not in the classroom or in the field, you’ll probably find her trail running, horseback riding, traveling, or curling up with a good book.