Dianna Townsend
Dr. Dianna Townsend’s research centers the language development of adolescents, with specific attention to vocabulary. She examines both the unique language demands of the disciplines and effective instructional strategies to help students understand and use the language of the disciplines. Her work has been published in Reading Research Quarterly, The Elementary School Journal, The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, and Topics in Language Disorders, as well as in other journals and multiple books. Her most recent book is Words Worth Using: Supporting Adolescents’ Power with Academic Vocabulary, published by Teachers College Press in 2022. Dr. Townsend’s research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation and the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. She is also a member of the Reading Standing Committee for the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). In Nevada, Dr. Townsend is the co-founder and President of the Nevada Adolescent Literacy Network (NALN) and a lead author of the Nevada State Literacy Plan. Dianna is a winner of the University of Nevada Reno’s Tibbetts Distinguished Teacher Award. She created the innovative Virtual Reading Clinic in the online M.Ed. Program in Reading Curriculum & Instruction to support remote and rural teachers in a graduate-level practicum experience. Within the College of Education and Human Development at UNR, Dr. Townsend is the Program Coordinator of the Literacy Studies Program.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Dianna's book - https://www.tcpress.com/words-worth-using-9780807767627
Dr. Maneka Deanna Brooks' website - https://brooksphd.com/
To cite this episode: Persohn, L. (Host). (2024, Nov. 14). A conversation with Dianna Townsend (Season 5, No. 4) [Audio podcast episode]. In Classroom Caffeine Podcast series. https://www.classroomcaffeine.com/guests. DOI: 10.5240/64F8-D0E5-AA9C-742F-3005-9