Heather Dunham

Assistant Professor

Office: 401B Old Main
Phone:
Email: hdunham@clemson.edu
Vita: Click Here

Educational Background

Ph.D. Language & Literacy Studies
The University of Texas at Austin 2023

M.Ed. English Language Learners
Vanderbilt University 2016

B.S. Early Childhood Education & Child Studies
Vanderbilt University 2013

Profile

Dr. Heather Dunham is a faculty member in the department of Education and Human Development within Clemson's College of Education. Prior to her work in a university setting, Heather was a second- and third-grade classroom teacher working with multilingual learners in Nashville, TN. Her work with multicultural and multilingual elementary students led to her interest in culturally sustaining pedagogies in the literacy classroom. Her research draws on critical, pluralistic approaches to literacy instruction that center multiple modes, multiple cultures, and multiple languages in the developmental process of learning to read and write. Her research, teaching, and coaching focuses on preparing preservice teachers to enact culturally sustaining literacy practices in classroom spaces.

Courses Taught

EDLT 4600: Foundations of Reading: Assessment and Instruction
EDLT 4620: Reading and Responding to Children's Literature in the Elementary Classroom
EDLT 8240: Practicum in ESOL
EDLT 9130: Critical Issues in Literacy, Language, and Culture
EDLT 9320: Literacy, Language, and Culture Doctoral Seminar II

Research Interests

culturally sustaining literacy practices
translanguaging
preservice teacher education
equity-focused teaching

Links