Areas of Expertise
English Language Arts and reading education; academic and social discourse processes; cultural and linguistic hegemony; urban education.
Personal Academic Webpage
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Colorado at Boulder, Literacy, 2004
Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, Curriculum & Instruction, English Education, 2003
M.A., Southern Methodist University, English, 1996
B.A., University of North Carolina at Greensboro, English, 1993
B.A., Wake Forest University, Political Science, 1990
Biography
I am a professor of literacy, secondary English methods, and the foundations of education at the University of North Florida. My research interests focus on language uses (discourse processes) and their connections to power, to metacognition, to social justice, and to access to and success in formal academic settings such as schools. I also use research and my teaching to encourage future English teachers to broaden their understanding of “what counts” as legitimate literature, language, and writing in the English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms. I posit that to reach and engage today’s secondary students in the ELA curricula, we must begin to embrace new literature, new literacies, and technology.
My teaching includes undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of secondary school English methods, reading methods, and the foundations of education (Introduction to Education, Multicultural Education, History and Philosophy of Education). I also work with graduate students on independent study projects and research in the areas described below. Some of my graduate students’ work has been been published and has been presented at regional and national educational conferences. I taught public high school at an inner-city school in Denver and spent a year directing a literacy program at an Elementary school in Colorado.
See also johnwesleywhite.net
Awards
Finalist, Undergraduate Excellence Teaching Award, UNF, 2011-2012 (decision Spring 2012)
Finalist, Undergraduate Excellence Teaching Award, UNF, 2010-2011
Ignatian Scholar, Regis University, 2007-2008
Colorado Political Leaders Fellowship, 2007-2008
Graduate Teaching Excellence Award Finalist, University of Colorado, 2002-3003
Education Scholarship, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1999-2002
Teaching Fellowship, Southern Methodist University, 1995-1996
Academic Scholarship in English, Southern Methodist University, 1994-1996
Affiliations
National Council of Teachers of English / International Reading Association (NCTE/IRA)
Conference on English Education (CEE)
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Sigma Tau Delta (National English Honor Society)
Florida Association of Teacher Educators (FATE)
United Faculty of Florida (UFF)
National Education Association (NEA)
Florida Educator Association (FEA)
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
Publications & Presentations
Publications
White, J.W. (2012). From textbooks to ‘managed instructional systems’: Corporate control of the English Language Arts. In H. Hickman and B. Porfilio (Eds.). The new politics of the textbook: A project of critical examination and resistance. Boston: Sense Publishers, 193-212.
White, J. (accepted for publication, 2012). The pedagogy of the Black church: Literacy, discourse, and implications for culturally relevant teaching. Journal of Languages and Culture
White, J. (2012). Round peg, square hole: Trying to bridge PDS models and nontraditional teacher education. School University Partnerships, 5(1), 40-56.
White, J. (2011). Resistance to classroom participation: Minority students, academic discourse, cultural conflicts, and issues of representation in whole class discussions. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 10(4).
White, J.W. (2011). De-centering English in the English classroom: Using texts to highlight the dynamic nature of the English language and to promote the teaching of code switching. English Journal 100(4), 44-49.
Black, K.L. & White, J.W. (2011). Musical theater as school-wide curriculum: Lessons learned from “Fiddler on the Roof.” Teaching Theater, 21(2), 12-20.
White, J.W., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2011, Winter). Minority college students and tacit “codes of power”: Developing academic discourses and identities. The Review of Higher Education, 34(2), 283-318.
White, J.W. (2009). Reading “The Word and the World”: The double-edged sword of teaching critical literacy. Voices from the Middle, 17(2), 55-57.
White, J.W., & Lowenthal, P. R. (2009, Spring). The cyclical rhetoric of education reform and the rationalization of a failed zeitgeist. eJournal of Educational Policy.
White, J.W. (2005). Sociolinguistic challenges to minority collegiate success: Entering the discourse community of the college. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 6 (4), 369-393.
McGinley, W., Conley, K., & White, J. (2000). Pedagogy for the few: Book club discussion guides and the modern book industry as literacy teacher. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 44(3), 204-214.
Lowenthal, P. R., & White, J.W. (2008, January). [Review of the book The Cognitive style of PowerPoint: Pitching out corrupts within]. Education Review.
Lowenthal, P. R., White, J.W., & Cooley, K. (2011). Remake / remodel: Using electronic portfolios and a system of gates to improve student assessment and program evaluation in a teacher education program. International Journal of ePortfolio, 1(1), 61-70.
Lowenthal, P. R., & White, J. W. (2009). Enterprise model. In P. Rogers, G. Berg, J. Boettcher, C. Howard, L. Justice, & K. Schenk (Eds.), Encyclopedia of distance and online learning (2nd Ed., pp 932-936). Hershey PA: IGI Global.
White, J. (2007). Sociolinguistic challenges to minority collegiate success: Entering the discourse community of the college. In A. Seidman (Ed.), Minority Student Retention: The Best of the Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice (pp. 271-295). Amityville, NY: Baywood Publishing Company. [Reprinted as Book Chapter].
