Assistant Professor
Room: 558 COE
Phone: (404) 413-8243
Email: lauramay@gsu.edu
Department of Early Childhood Education
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3980
Atlanta, GA. 30302-3980
EDUCATION:
MAJOR AREAS OF INTEREST:
Bio
Dr. Laura May’s research investigates how literacy teachers use talk and texts in ways that increase students’ educational opportunities and how pre-service teachers develop more equitable ways with words and texts. Guiding her research is the understanding that, first, student learning often occurs through classroom interactions (i.e., talk). In elementary classrooms, these interactions often surround printed texts (e.g., picture books, textbooks). As a result, the teacher often determines which classroom texts are used and mediates how they are interpreted. An awareness of these understandings yields tremendous potential for addressing the achievement gap when juxtaposed with the facts that language is interrelated with culture and that the vast majority of students from historically disadvantaged groups do not share a socio-cultural background with their elementary teacher. Consequently, Dr. May’s research focuses on culturally relevant teachers as they use talk and texts in classroom literacy instruction. Her work follows three strands: the teacher, the talk, and the texts.