Dr. Valerie Walker

| Education

Welcome!

My K-12 teaching experience includes teaching elementary and middle school at the American International School of Bamako, Mali and the American International School in Vienna, Austria. I loved teaching in these settings because diversity was treated as an asset and resource for learning.

While I was at the American International School in Vienna, I also began working as the elementary school's coordinator of language arts. Although I still loved working with my fourth grade students, I realized that I also loved leading professional development with my colleagues. This led me to decide to pursue a Ph.D. in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy at Michigan State University.

At Michigan State University, I studied and taught courses ranging from "Issues of Diversity in Children's Literature" to "Sociopsychological Approaches to Reading" to "Elementary Literacy Methods". My research focused on how teacher candidates responded to children's literature which included characters with disabilities.

Currently I am teaching in the Education Department at Gustavus Adolphus College. My primary focus is on K-12 literacy, language arts methods, social studies methods, and supporting teacher candidates in their student teaching experiences.