Kristine M. Schutz, PhD
Associate Professor
Co-Coordinator of MEd Language, Literacies, and Learning
Curriculum & Instruction
Pronouns: she/her
Contact
Building & Room:
1212 ETMSW
Address:
1040 W. Harrison St. (MC 147), Chicago, IL 60607
Office Phone:
Email:
Related Sites:
About
Dr. Kristine Schutz is an Associate Professor in Curriculum and Instruction and co-coordinator of the Language, Literacies, and Learning MEd program at UIC. Dr. Schutz’s research focuses on improving literacy instruction in elementary classrooms, particularly for children from historically marginalized communities. Her scholarship examines the design of teacher education experiences that aim to disrupt the long-standing theory-practice binary and normative practices in schooling while honoring the complexity of literacy instruction. She investigates how to create learning opportunities situated in the context of teaching that prepare educators to design and adapt engaging instruction in which children are viewed as sense-makers who draw from diverse linguistic and cultural assets. Prior to coming to UIC, Dr. Schutz spent three years as the lead literacy research and design specialist at TeachingWorks at the University of Michigan. In this role, she developed materials to support literacy teacher educators’ implementation of a practice-based curriculum for teacher education. She continues to explore these topics in her scholarship and teaching. Dr. Schutz is a former dual language teacher and brings experience working with emergent bilingual children to her research and work with teachers.
Selected Grants
UIC Community Engagement Grant, From Page to Stage: Reading, Adapting, and Performing Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Children's Literature, Primary Investigator
UIC Learning Sciences Research Institute-College of Education Synergy Grant, Incorporating the Humanities into Elementary Science Curricula to Support Climate Justice Inquiry, Co-Primary Investigator
Selected Publications
Woodard, R., & Schutz, K. M. (2024). Teaching Climate Change to Children: Literacy Pedagogy That Cultivates Sustainable Futures. Teachers College Press.
Diaz, A., Schutz, K. M., & Woodard, R. (2021). “I didn’t want to be ignorant”: An exploration of why pre-service teachers sometimes choose silence in critical conversations about texts with elementary children. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice, XX, 1-19. DOI: 10.1177/23813377211030503
Schutz, K. M., & Rainey, E. C. (2020). Making sense of modeling in elementary literacy instruction. The Reading Teacher, 73(4), 443-451. DOI: 10.1002/trtr.1863
Schutz, K. M., Woodard, R., Diaz, A., & Peek. W. (2019). The disruptive potential of humanizing literacy pedagogies in elementary teacher education. The SoJo Journal: Educational Foundations and Social Justice Education, 5(1), 43-60. excerpt
Schutz, K. M., & Danielson, K. A. (2019). (Re)shaping representations of practice inside rehearsals of interactive read alouds: The complex work of teacher educators. Literacy Research and Instruction, 1-21. DOI: 10.1080/19388071.2019.1638472
Schutz, K. M., Danielson, K. A., & Cohen, J.J. (2019). Approximations in English language arts: Scaffolding a shared teaching practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 81, 100-111. DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2019.01.004
Schutz, K. M., & Woodard, R. (2019). “The super moon didn’t have a cape!”: Seeing and positioning young literacy learners as sense-makers. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 47(2), 2-16. Link to article
Schutz, K. M., Shaughnessy, M., & Grossman, P. (2018). Approximations of practice in teacher education. In P. Grossman (Ed.), Teaching core practices in teacher education (pp. 57-83). Boston, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Schutz, K. M., & Hoffman, J. V. (2017). I practice teaching: Transforming our professional identities as literacy teachers through action research. The Reading Teacher, 71(1), 7-12. DOI: 10.1002/trtr.1592
Palincsar, A.S. & Schutz, K. M. (2011). Reconnecting strategy instruction with its theoretical roots. Theory into Practice: New and Critical Perspectives of Reading Comprehension and Strategy Instruction, 50(2), 85-92. DOI: 0.1080/00405841.2011.558432
Publication Aggregators
Professional Leadership
Area Chair, Pre-Service Teacher Education in Literacy, Literacy Research Association (LRA)
Committee Member, William S. Gray Citation of Merit Award, International Literacy Association (ILA)
Notable Honors
2024-2025; 2018-2019, Teaching Recognition Program Award for Outstanding University Teaching, University of Illinois-Chicago
2021, Teaching Sustainability Initiative Fellowship, University of Illinois-Chicago
Education
PhD, University of Michigan, Educational Studies: Literacy, Language & Culture
MSEd, Northwestern University, Education & Social Policy
BA, University of Michigan, Spanish & Organizational Studies