College of Education and Human Development

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Abby Boehm-Turner

  • Pronouns: she, her, hers

  • Lecturer & Secondary English Licensure Program Lead

  • Office Hours

    Please email abt@umn.edu to schedule an appointment

Areas of interest

Teacher education, English education, critical literacies, antiracist/anti-oppressive pedagogies, critical writing pedagogies, middle school education, narrative inquiry, qualitative/post-qualitative research

Degrees

Ph.D. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Curriculum & Instruction: Literacy Education, 2020
M.A. Hamline University, Education, 2004
B.A. Grinnell College, English, 1998

Biography

Abby Boehm-Turner is a lecturer in English education and the Licensure Program Lead for the secondary English education licensure program. Before coming to the University of Minnesota, Abby worked for Saint Paul Public Schools for almost twenty years. In that time, she taught middle and high school English/Language Arts, taught and coached debate, worked as an instructional and peer coach, developed English curricula, delivered professional development, worked on equity teams, and mentored beginning teachers. She brings these experiences to her current work with aspiring secondary English teachers.

Abby’s doctoral research focused on using narrative inquiry to explore identity crises experienced by new and student teachers who are committed to antiracist, anti-oppressive education, but feel that they cannot enact the values they hold for all of the reasons: institutional, structural, emotional, and embodied. Abby is especially interested in writing as a research method: writing to learn, writing as collaborative problem solving, writing about the things that are hardest to say, and interrogating the silences in the stories we write about students and teaching. She is curious about the ways beginning teachers might use writing and story-sharing to combat feelings of powerlessness and to move towards radical action in transforming white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist educational spaces.

What students can expect from me?

Advising and working closely with aspiring teachers is one of the highlights of my job. Becoming a teacher can be an overwhelming endeavor, and my students can expect me to be responsive and supportive as they journey through our program. I encourage students to email or text with any questions or concerns, and to meet face-to-face or over zoom to discuss any complicated issues or big picture questions that arise. Prompt communication and full transparency are two values I hold dear--my students can expect these from me, and I appreciate them in return. In addition to advising M.Ed. students, I also teacher undergraduate courses in literature and education; again, I prioritize communication and transparency in these relationships.

Courses Taught

CI 1124: Global Stories of Education: Literature for Young Adults

CI 5441: Teaching Literature in the Secondary School

CI 5461: Teaching Composition in the Secondary School

CI 5471: Clinical Experience in Teaching Secondary English

CI 5496: Directed Experiences in Teaching English

Associations/Memberships

  • Professional Affiliations: National Council of Teachers of English
  • International Institute of Qualitative Inquiry
  • Literacy Research Association
  • AERA, American Educational Research Association
Publications

Toedt, E., Schick, A., & Boehm-Turner, A. (in review). Leaving mother at home: Extending collective memory methodology to examine mother scholar identities. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.

Boehm-Turner, A. & Toedt, E. (2021). Social class and whiteness. In Z. Casey (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical whiteness studies in education. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

Toedt, E. & Boehm-Turner, A. (2021). Shame. In Z. Casey (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical whiteness studies in education. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

Boehm-Turner, A. (2020). Rereading and rewriting teachers’ stories of felt impossibilities. (Dissertation). Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/217793.

Sterner, S. K., Shopa, A. C., Fisher, L. C., & Boehm-Turner, A. (2018). “Finding layers in our stories: Using collective memory work to negotiate the self.” In E. R. Lyle (Ed.), Fostering a relational pedagogy: Self-study as transformative praxis. Boston, MA: Brill Publishing.