About Melody Zoch, Ph.D.

Melody Zoch is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) in the Teacher Education and Higher Education Department in the School of Education. She earned her Ph.D. at The University of Texas at Austin in Language and Literacy Studies. She is a former bilingual Spanish-English elementary school teacher and has worked with bilingual teachers as a literacy coach in Texas. She has served as lead-PI or co-PI on projects involving working with emergent bilinguals and their families funded by the Department of Education, the Junior League of Greensboro, Dollar General Literacy Foundation, and the UNCG Office of Research and Engagement. Her research focuses on how teachers respond to their educational contexts in their literacy teaching, including teachers’ responsiveness to culturally and linguistically diverse students and communities. Her work has been published in journals such as Journal of Literacy Research, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Urban Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, and Language Arts.

Show Highlights

• Being culturally responsive while preparing for high-stakes testing
• The importance of students knowing who they are and where they come from
• Culturally sustaining practices
• Practice 1: Social Justice Lens
• Practice 2: Incorporating text in the classroom that is relevant to students
• Practice 3: Facilitating pure and authentic dialog
• Tips for preparing students for high-stakes testing

Connect with Melody

Email: [email protected]

Additional Resources

It’s Important for Them to Know Who They Are: Teachers’ Efforts to Sustain Students’ Cultural Competence in an Age of High-States Testing

Connect with me on Twitter @sheldoneakins

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