Dr. Cheryl Rosaen

Ph.D. Michigan State University

    Dr. Cheryl Rosaen taught middle school and high school English before becoming Program Director (1981-9) at a pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade Montessori school and returning to graduate school to become a teacher educator at Michigan State University (1987-present). She teaches undergraduate courses in methods of teaching English language arts and graduate courses in teacher education, teacher learning and disciplinary knowledge. She is active in the MSU five-year teacher certification program's collaboration with classroom teachers in surrounding schools where teacher candidates participate in field assignments and engage in a year-long internship.

    In a professional development school, Dr. Rosaen engages in collaborative teaching and research in language arts and writes about her findings in publications intended for teachers and researchers. This work includes collaborating to establish and teach a fifth grade writers' workshop while studying student and teacher learning, studying what it means for first-graders to be reflective about their writing, and developing approaches to assessing literacy learning in a multi-age (first and second grade) classroom.

    Dr. Rosaen also conducts and publishes research on preservice and beginning teachers' learning. One study, conducted in a professional development school, focused on the role inquiry might play in supporting first-year teachers' learning. Another study examined how preservice teachers learn to teach language arts within MSU's integrated teacher education program organized within a university-school partnership.

Under Dr. Rosaen's leadership as co-director of the Michigan English Language Arts Frameworks Project's (MELAF) Teacher Education Task Force, Guidelines for the Professional Development of Teachers of English Language Arts (July 1996) were developed. This resource document can be used by those involved in professional development (teacher educators, teachers, school administrators, staff development personnel) to plan and implement career-long inquiry-based learning opportunities for preservice, beginning and experienced teachers. The guidelines were disseminated and discussed at the July 1996 MELAF-sponsored Conference, "From Paper to Practice," where six representatives from 40 Michigan school districts assembled to learn about the English Language Arts Content Standards and make plans for ongoing professional development within and across school districts.