Tara Gutshall Rucker

Tara Gutshall Rucker is in her 9th year as an elementary teacher in Columbia Public Schools, Columbia, Missouri. Tara has taught 1st, 2nd, and 5th grades. She received her MA in curriculum and instruction through the Teaching Fellows program at the University of Missouri and recently finished an Elementary Mathematics Specialist Certificate at the University of Missouri. Through the Fellows program Tara began her journey as a teacher researcher. Topics of research studies have included literacy learning through partnerships, talk in the curriculum, and student-centered inquiry. Publications by Candace and Tara appear in Talking Points; National Council of Teachers of English’s Early Childhood Education Assembly Yearbook (Perspectives and Provocations in Early Childhood Education); Language Arts; and Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.