KMH

Language. Education. Identity.

II Areas of Work

From the question
to the classroom.

Policy research, course design, teacher preparation and community language teaching offer different views of the educational questions running through her work. Read across the projects to see how questions about knowledge and identity meet the practical choices of teaching.

  1. CurriculumSyllabi, materials and course proposals
  2. TeachingLesson planning, observation and reflection
  3. Student experienceLanguage learning in a community context
  4. ResearchPolicy, textbooks and teacher interviews

Spanish teaching & curriculum

Writing syllabi. Teaching Spanish.

Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) · Santiago, Dominican Republic · 2016

Dr. Harrison’s work with the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) brought together two distinct contributions: teaching visiting U.S. university students and developing syllabi for an English-language liberal arts program at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM).

Syllabus development
Wrote and revised 23 syllabi for liberal arts courses focused on Spanish language, history and Hispanic Caribbean culture. The commission involved developing course content and selecting readings in English.
Intensive Spanish teaching
Taught a three-week intensive intermediate Spanish course in January 2016 for U.S. university students on the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) / University of St. Thomas exchange program.

Curriculum & collaboration

Building the conditions for learning.

As a freelance instructional designer for Deep Institute in 2017–2018, Dr. Harrison developed course and program proposals in English teacher education, language education policy, academic writing and Caribbean studies.

Her Teaching English for Practical Purposes certificate proposal outlined a course sequence for English teachers, with work on lesson planning, evaluating curriculum materials and adapting standards to classroom contexts.

Dr. Harrison presented “The Eco-Linguistic Link to Schools” at a 2017 bi-continental language education policy conference in Madison and Paris with François Victor Tochon. Dr. Harrison was Co-PI in writing the grant. The conference’s focus on displaced and refugee learners connects with her subsequent editorial work on plurilingual education—education that draws on learners’ multiple languages.

Teacher education

Making practice a subject of inquiry.

University of Wisconsin–Whitewater · August 2019–January 2022

As a field-placement supervisor, Dr. Harrison supported teacher candidates in world languages, English as a second language and elementary education. She observed lessons, gave feedback, met with cooperating teachers and led biweekly cohort meetings alongside individual mentoring.

She also served as an adjunct instructor, teaching Methods of Teaching World Languages in Fall 2019. Candidates planned thematic units, practiced lessons with peers and built portfolios connecting language pedagogy, assessment and the needs of diverse classrooms.

  1. Plan with purpose

    Backward planning connected learning goals with thematic units, classroom activities and assessment.

  2. Examine materials

    Candidates adapted textbooks, selected authentic texts and considered how lessons represent language and culture.

  3. Learn from teaching

    Written and video reflections, lesson portfolios and observation conferences made classroom practice open to discussion.

Community language teaching

Learning a language.
Keeping a world.

Madison, Wisconsin · Summer 2018

With Lynet Uttal at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Dr. Harrison co-designed and taught Learning English and Living Biculturally, a community-based ESL course for Muslim immigrant and refugee women.

Lessons were shaped around participants’ interests and cultural contexts, making room for their first languages alongside English. The project brought questions from multilingual education into the practical work of planning and teaching a course.

Research

Whose knowledge belongs in school?

Puerto Rico · Doctoral research, 2013–2015

In her doctoral research, Dr. Harrison examined how language and education policies shape the representation of Indigenous history and identity in Puerto Rican schools.

She brought together policy analysis, a study of fourth- and seventh-grade Spanish and Social Studies materials, and interviews with teachers in rural mountain communities. The study followed a question from the language of policy to the textbooks teachers use and the choices they make.

Her analysis argued for closer attention to community knowledge, the integration of language and history teaching, and better resources for teachers. This work became the basis of her book Educational Imperialism.

  • Interpretive policy analysis
  • Curriculum & textbook research
  • Teacher interviews
The book