Melissa Mosley Wetzel is a Professor of Language and Literacy Studies in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Her scholarship focuses on the preparation of teachers in literacy for equity-focused practices and the development of justice-focused coaching and mentoring in preservice and in-service settings. She draws from critical race scholarship and culturally sustaining pedagogy frameworks to prepare teachers within field-based literacy teaching experiences. She is also interested in critical literacy learning across the lifespan, particularly how teachers and students together design literacy practices that are transformative. She draws on qualitative methods in her work, primarily critical discourse analysis and ethnography. Dr. Wetzel teaches courses in elementary literacy methods, reading development, coaching and mentoring, literacy leadership, sociolinguistics, teacher inquiry, and critical approaches to studying classroom discourse.
Literacy teacher preparation, coaching and mentoring, equity and justice in literacy instruction
Associate Chair, Curriculum & Instruction(2015 - Present)
Member, Early Career Award Committee, Literacy Research Association(2015 - Present)
Member, Teacher Education Committee, College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin(2015 - Present)
Mosley Wetzel, M., Daly-Lesch, A., LeeKeenan, K. & Svrcek, N.S.. (2021). Coaching Using Racial Literacy in Preservice Teacher Education. Journal of Literacy Research.
Nash, B., Mosley Wetzel, M., Dunham, H. & Murdter-Atkinson, J. (2021). Culturally sustaining pedagogy in a field-based reading methods course. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice.
Mosley Wetzel, M., Skerrett, A., Maloch, B., Flores, T., Murdter-Atkinson, J., Infante-Sheridan, M., Godfrey, V. & Duffy, A. (2021). Resisting Positionings of Struggle in Science of Teaching Reading Discourse: Counterstories of Teachers and Teacher Educators in Texas.. Reading Research Quarterly, 55(S1), S319–S330.
Mosley Wetzel, M., Hoffman, J.V. & Maloch, B. (2017). Coaching with CARE: A Model of Reflective Teacher Development. New York, NY: Routledge.
Mosley Wetzel, M., Maloch, B. & Hoffman, J.V. (2016). Retrospective Video Analysis: A Reflective Tool for Teachers and Teacher Educators. The Reading Teacher. doi:10.1002/trtr.1550.
Mosley Wetzel, M., Maloch, B., Hoffman, J.V., Taylor, L., Vlach, S.K. & Greeter, E. (2015). Developing Mentoring Practices Through Video-Focused Responsive Discourse Analysis. Literacy Research: Theory, Method and Practice, 64(1), 359378.
Hoffman, J.V., Mosley Wetzel, M., Maloch, B., Greeter, E., Taylor, L., DeJulio, S. & Vlach, S.K. (2015). What we can learn from studying the coaching interactions between cooperating teachers and preservice teachers around practice?: A literature review. Teaching and Teacher Education, 52, 99–112.
Rogers, R. & Mosley Wetzel, M. (2013). Designing Critical Literacy Education through Critical Discourse Analysis: Pedagogical and Research Tools for Teacher-Researchers. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kerry Alexander, Ph.D., expected 2023 (Supervisor)
Kerry is a PhD student in Language and Literacy Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research considers the pedagogical implications of, and alternatives to, white language ideologies in elementary writing instruction. She asks how teachers can expand critical linguistic consciousness by learning with and from their students in community and, in particular, how race, racism, and language are intertwined in neoliberal ethics of care and success.
Heather Dunham, Ph.D., expected 2023 (Supervisor)
Jessica Murdter-Atkinson, Ph.D., expected 2023 (Supervisor)
Elizabeth C Ries (Supervisor)
Liz is a doctoral student in the Curriculum and Instruction, Language and Literacy program at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to returning to graduate school, Liz was a first and second grade classroom teacher in both the Houston and Austin areas. While teaching, Liz served as a mentor teacher for UT student teachers. Liz earned both her Bachelor and Master's degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT, Liz has...
