Our Team.
The Reading in the Gutter podcast is a labor of love and fandom. We are all educators and scholars who, through various avenues and experiences, developed an appreciation for comics, graphic novels, and multimodal texts. Here, we aim to share our knowledge, experiences, and appreciation with other educators to help them find ways to bring these rich and complex texts into classroom spaces.
Hi! I’m Dani,
High School English Teacher & Literacy Researcher
I accidentally discovered comics in the local library when I found the Elf-Quest series. Unfortunately, comics were not considered "real reading" by my teachers, so when I became a high school English teacher, I did my best to value comics and other types of media in my classroom. This led me to pursue a doctorate at Arizona State University specializing in visual and multimodal literacy. I spent four years as an Assistant Professor and literacy researcher at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi before returning to Arizona for family reasons. Currently, I teach Sophomore English, AP Research, and Comics & Sequential Art at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, Arizona.
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You can follow my research and teaching by visiting my website
www.readeverythingtwice.com. I casually post on Instagram about all things literacy related as @readeverythingtwice and about what I'm currently reading as @danisinferno.
Art by Jason LaBret
Hi! I’m Ashley,
Assistant Professor of Literacy & Language Arts
I was first introduced to comics by my husband, who hooked me on Jeff Smith’s Bone series. This is a series I shared with my fifth graders as a teacher in Ohio. Before earning my doctorate at The Ohio State University, I taught fifth grade for seven magical years. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the land of enchantment at University of New Mexico. I work closely with teachers and young adults, supporting the integration of new texts (especially comics!) and literacy practices into school spaces.
Hi! I’m Laura,
Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
I am the Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. I teach children’s literature courses that focus on both the reader and the text by using an explicit intersectional lens. I encourage teachers to read critically and widely.
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My work spans both literature and literacy, with a special interest in graphic novel reading comprehension and issues of representation in young adult literature. My scholarship appears in The Reading Teacher, Journal of Lesbian Studies, Teaching and Teacher Education, and the Journal of Literacy Research.
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My graphic novel reviews, and calls for social justice in children’s literature can be found on my blog, https://booktoss.blog/ and on my frequent Tweets @booktoss.
Art by Thien Pham
Hi! I’m Stephanie,
Assistant Professor of Literacy & Second Language Studies
I am an Assistant Professor in the Literacy and Second Language Studies program in the School of Education. I am a first-generation college student from an industrial and historic town in Kent, England. I studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge (BA and MA) and then secondary English education at the University of Oxford. I achieved my MA in Education and K-12 Reading Teacher endorsement at Hamline University and my doctoral degree in Learning, Literacies, and Technologies at Arizona State University (2020). Prior to pursuing my doctorate, I was a middle school Language Arts and/or Reading teacher for 15 years in both England and the US. I earned national, state, and local recognition for my teaching excellence. I have published my scholarship across various venues, including The Reading Teacher, Visual Communication, Written Communication, the Journal of Language and Literacy, the Theory and Research in Social Education journal, and Voices from the Middle.
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Art by Pinon