Jennifer Sanders received her PhD in 2006 from the University of Florida in curriculum and instruction with a specialization in language, literacy, and culture. She is currently an associate professor of literacy education in the College of Education at Oklahoma State University and specializes in K–12 writing instruction. Jennifer has been a member of the OSU Writing Project for 9 years and completed the Summer Institute in 2015. Her academic passions are developing teachers’ knowledge of effective writing instruction and supporting the literacy learning of underserved students in high-needs communities. Her interest in high-needs educational settings stems from experience teaching in rural, high-poverty schools in Florida and working with urban schools in Oklahoma and Belize. Her research interests include writing and writing center pedagogy, writing-teacher education, teacher professional development, and representations of multiculturalism in children’s literature. Jennifer’s work in multicultural children’s literature includes service as former chair of the Notable Books for a Global Society 2013 awards. Her previous work on the relationship between artistic and written composing processes of children is presented in her co-edited book titled Literacies, the Arts, and Multimodality.
