Research Interests

My Ph.D. is in Curriculum and Instruction and I specialized in the areas of literacy and multicultural education. My Ph.D. minor is in Literature and Composition, although I don't do active scholarship in those areas. My areas of research interest are multiple. Most of my work pertains to multicultural education. I am specifically interested in the areas of institutionalized racism, power relationships, and structural inequity, as they relate to schools, teaching and learning. Some call this progressive multicultural education or critical multicultural education. One descriptor that I believe is accurate is social justice education--but this phrase is becoming so overused as to lose its power. While in graduate school, I became interested in Critical White Studies and how racism affects White teachers. This interest has intensified while working in a setting where nearly all of the preservice teachers with whom I work self- identify as White.

Additional areas of study are literacy and narrative. I am very interested in how culture and identity impact the reading and writing of students. I am also interested in how literary theory impacts the teaching of the English Language Arts and wrote about this briefly in my dissertation. My most recent work has focused more on narrative, as a research methodology, a data source, and a reporting format.

In Progress

I am currently working on a project with my friend and colleague, Mary Curran, of Rutgers. This paper began as a professional development project wherein we sought to examine our own prejudices, "blind spots", and opportunities as teacher educators. We told stories about our teaching and then analyzed those stories, solicited feedback on the stories, and framed them in a theoretical context of transformative multicultural education. This paper will soon be under review.

In addition, I have been gathering data regarding how my preservice teachers consider privilege and race and how students respond to a curriculum rooted in ideas about White privilege. This is a project that I will be working on in the upcoming semesters.

Finally, I am working on a paper regarding the intersections of socioeconomic class and identity.

Selected Papers and Publications

Page, M. L. (2004). Going beyond the book: Being a multicultural educator in the English Language Arts classroom. Accepted for publication, to appear September 2004 in Voices from the Middle.

Page, M. L., Rudney, G. L., and Marxen, C. E. (2004). Leading preservice teachers to water…and helping them drink: How candidate teachability affects the gatekeeping and advocacy roles of teacher educators. TeacherEducation Quarterly (31)2, 25-41.

Page, M. L. (2003). Race, culture, and the supervisory relationship: A review of literature and call to action, Journal of Curriculum and Supervision (18)2, 161-174.

Page, M. L. (2002). Notions of difference, identity, and the teaching of multicultural literature, Transformations 13(1), 21-47.

Gomez, M.L., Walker, A.B., and Page, M. L. (2000). Personal experience as a guide to teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education 16(7), 731-747.

Coomber, J., Page, M.L., and Dovre, S. (1992). Rhetorical Reading. Teaching at Concordia (15), 3.

Coomber, J., Page, M.L., and Dovre, S. (1991). Rhetorical Reading: becoming involved in texts. Faculty Development, 4, (3), 7-8.

Gomez, M.L., Page, M.L., and Walker, A.B. (2000). Returning to learn: A second-career prospective teacher struggles with personal experience as a guide for teaching. In D.M. Byrd and D.J. McIntyre (Eds.). Teacher Education Yearbook VIII: Research as Effective Models for Teacher Education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc.

Page, M. L. (2004). Invited review-[Rural Voices: Place-Conscious Education and the Teaching of Writing]. Teachers College Record (106)3, pp. 973-976. Also appeared in electronic version, July 25, 2003.

Selected Presentations

Page, M. L. and Curran, M. E. (2004, April). Telling our stories, challenging our words. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Page, M. L. (2002, November). Advancing the agenda or stealing the spotlight? Understandings of whiteness in multicultural education. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Multicultural Education, Arlington VA.

Page, M. L. and Umber, R. (2002, April). New faculty in teacher education: Making the journey from student to colleague. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.

Page, M. L., Rudney, G. L., and Marxen, C. E. (2002, April). Preparing successful beginning teachers: advocacy, gatekeeping, and teachability. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.

Page, M. L. (2001, November). Multicultural literature and standards-driven pedagogy. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Multicultural Education, Las Vegas.

Page, M. L. (2001, April). Lessons from Kim: Multicultural literature, identity, pedagogy, and privilege. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, Washington.

Page, M. L. (2000, November). Teaching as struggle: Multicultural literature and the quest for social justice. Paper presented at the 10th Annual Meeting of the National Association for Multicultural Education, Kissimmee, Florida.

Page, M. L. (2000, February). Understanding resistance to curricular change: Theoretical issues, potential solutions. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Chicago, IL.

Page, M. L. (2000, April). Rethinking the writer's workshop: Linking theory and practice. Paper presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, Minneapolis, MN.

Page, M. L. and Umber, R. (2000, May). Where do I go from here? Issues of selection, curriculum, and pedagogy using multicultural literature. Workshop presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association, Indianapolis, IN.

Gomez, M. L., Page, M. L., and Burda, A. C. (1998, April). Returning to learn, returning to teach: meanings of multiculturalism for second-degree teacher candidates. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association, San Diego.

Gomez, M. L., Burda, A. C., and Page, M. L. (1998, April). Composing teaching stories: reflecting on and reconceptualizing teaching practices. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Conference on College Communication and Composition, Chicago, IL.

Gomez, M. L., Page, M. L., and Burda, A. C. (1998, April). Discourses they desired: prospective teachers negotiate meanings of multicultural practices. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego.

Page, M. L. and Marxen, C. E. (2002, September). "Preparing preservice teachers: teachability, advocacy, and gatekeeping". Thursday Afternoon Faculty Seminar, UMM.

Page, M. L. and Kroener, M. (2000, April). Navigating the job market. Workshop presented at the School of Education Research Symposium, Madison, WI.

Coomber, J. Dovre, S. and Page, M. L. (1992, February). Rhetorical reading: text and reader variables. Paper presented for the Bush Lecture Series, Moorhead, MN.

Coomber, J., Page, M. L., and Dovre, S. (1991, February). Rhetorical reading: acquiring knowledge or creating meaning? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Bush Faculty Development Conference, Minneapolis.