Dr. Katrina Bartow Jacobs is an Associate Professor of Practice within the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leading at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a former elementary school teacher, and holds her M.Ed. and Ph.D. in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania.
Her research centers on the integration of sociocultural perspectives of literacy and practitioner research within teacher education programs and in educational contexts. She focuses on in-situ research, utilizing qualitative methodology, improvement science and teacher inquiry to highlight the learning that occurs within schools. Her current work focuses on the intersections of practice, theory, and policy; the ways that children take up issues of identity during the read-alouds; and the ways that teachers develop and enact professional identities.
Current projects include using improvement science/teacher inquiry as a driver of positive school culture; utilizing simulations as a space of learning within literacy teacher education; and understanding children’s perceptions of gender through read-aloud and class discussions.
- Department of Teaching, Learning, & Leading
- Secondary and Elementary English/Language Arts Methods
- Literacy Assessment
- Children’s and Young Adult Literature
- Narrative Analysis
- Critical Storytelling
- Literacy Teacher Education
*indicates work with doctoral student
- *Hill, T. (2019) & Jacobs, K. B. “The mouse looks like a boy”: Young children’s talk about gender across human and non-human characters in picture books. Early Childhood Education Journal 48(1), 93-102.
- Jacobs, K. B. (2019). “I believe in home language, but the tests don’t”: Literacy Teachers’ Perceptions of Tensions and Possibilities Addressing Linguistic Diversity in Assessments. Teachers College Record, 121(7).
- Jacobs, K. B. & Suzik, J. (2019). “A Princess boy – he’s still a boy!”: Using picture books to open discussions around gender with young children. Exchange Magazine, March/April 2019, 47-50.
- Jacobs, K. B. (2018). “So why is it OK here?”: Literacy candidates grappling with culture/culturally responsive pedagogy in urban fieldsites. Urban Education, online first.
- Jacobs, K. B. & Low, D. E. (2018). Literature circle roles for engaging graphic novels and comics in Language Arts classrooms. Language Arts, 95(5) 322-331.
- Co-PI: Using Simulations to Support Teacher Candidates’ Developing Professional Practice. (Dr. Michelle Sobolak, Co-PI) University of Pittsburgh: Central Research Development Fund (Awarded – $3,500)
- Co-PI: Utilizing Video Simulations to Support Teacher Candidates’ Developing Professional Practice. (Dr. Michelle Sobolak, Co-PI) University of Pittsburgh School of Education: Donna and Ian Mitroff Fund (Awarded – $2,500)
- PI: Using Picture Books to Promote Young Children’s Understanding of Gender Diversity and Gender Equity. University of Pittsburgh Research Council: Research in Diversity (Awarded – $3,000)
Awards and Honors:
- 2016 Presented the Outstanding Service Award for Urban Education Board Member
- 2014 Ralph C. Preston Award for Scholarship and Teaching Contributing to Social Justice and Educational Equity, Reading/Writing/Literacy, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania
- Chair, Literature Special Interest Group within AERA
- Advisory Board member and facilitator, PittEnrich tutoring program (with Pitt Homewood Community Engagement Center)
- Editorial Board Member, English Teaching: Practice and Critique
- Editorial Board Member, Urban Education
