Janet Wicker, Ph.D.

Professor of Education

Office: 300 Stanton Street House

Phone: (618) 537-6880

Education

Ph.D., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

M.S.Ed., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

B.A., Concordia University

Personal Quote

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” Groucho Marx

Teaching Interest

My teaching interest lies in preparing teacher candidates to teach children how to read and improve the reading abilities of older children. I am also interested in assisting classroom teachers to improve or extend their abilities to teach reading to the students in their charge.

Research Interest

The main focus of my research has been reading and language acquisition and beginning reading. Recently however, I have begun to expand my research interests to include vocabulary and comprehension strategies in the upper grades.

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching is an art form balancing the knowledge of content and the ability to impart that knowledge to others in ways they understand. Teachers need to use multiple strategies and methods to ensure their students not only learn information, but make it their own.

Committees

Undergraduate Council (2009 - present)

Strategic Planning Committee

Presentations

July 3, 2008 Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education World Conference—Vienna, Austria Metro-East Teleconferencing and Teaching Project: Using Web-conferencing to Partner High-Needs Classrooms with Pre-Service Teachers in Teacher EducationPrograms w/ Julie Tonsing-Meyer

September 26, 2008 Associated Colleges of Illinois—Chicago, IL Arts & Sciences Colloquium—Science and Math Gender Equity Grant presentation w/Sally Baltz, Jamie Conway, Martha Eggers, Linda Hoffman and Julie Tonsing-Meyer

September 25, 2009 Associated Colleges of Illinois—Chicago, IL Arts & Sciences Colloquium—Science and Math Gender Equity Grant presentation w/Sally Baltz, Jamie Conway, Martha Eggers, Linda Hoffman and Julie Tonsing-Meyer

September 30, 2011 CID/SID Lutheran Teachers Conference--Springfield, IL--Playing your Trump Cards wisely--using vocabulary and background knowledge strategies to enhance content literacy

Memberships

International Reading Association

Illinois Reading Council

Kappa Delta Pi

Phi Delta Kappa

Phi Kappa Phi