Gertrude Marilyn Tinker Sachs

Ph.D., Department of Curriculum, University of Toronto, 1989
M.A., Department of Curriculum, University of Toronto, 1984
M.Sc., University of Miami, 1981
B.Ed., University of Miami, 1979;
Teachers Certificate, College of the Bahamas/University of the West Indies, 1974

Reading, Literacy, Language and English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESL/EFL), Teacher Professional Development

Gertrude Tinker Sachs is chair of the Department of Middle and Secondary Education in Georgia State University’s College of Education and Human Development. She is a professor of English as a Second Language (ESOL), language and literacy. As a critical teacher educator professor, Tinker Sachs’ research focuses on inquiry-oriented local and international teacher professional development through transformative, culturally-responsive literacy pedagogies in English as a first or additional language in low-income communities.

She is the author/co-editor of five books, including “Critical Mass in the Teacher Education Academy: Symbiosis and Diversity” (2014), “EFL/ESL Cases: Contexts for Teacher Professional Development” (2007) and “Action Research in English Language Teaching” (2002). Tinker Sachs is the founding editor of the forthcoming international interdisciplinary peer-refereed journal Tradewinds, senior editor of the state journal GATESOL in Action and editor of the Ubiquity – PRAXIS. She is concerned with community building through her partnerships in Atlanta with Refugee Family Services, Rainbow Housing Authority and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Children’s Choir, where she serves as co-director. She is the coordinator of the department’s M.A.T. program in reading, language and literacy – ESOL and the award-winning ESOL endorsement program.

Tinker Sachs sees herself as a critical international intercultural teacher educator. She has collaborative research projects with colleagues across the United States and in several countries, including the Bahamas, Canada, Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand. She is the project leader for several projects, including Fostering the Development of Dialogic Communities of Practice in the Bahamas (from 2009 to present). Tinker Sachs has an interest in activist research and community literacy practices as is evidenced by her recent work in the Atlanta Literacies Project with the People in the Parks. She was elected by faculty and appointed by the dean to serve as department chair, which she began on Jan. 5, 2015. She is the first person of color to serve as chair of a department in the College of Education and Human Development and is the second person of African descent to serve as chair at Georgia State University.