College of Education and Human Development

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

People

Crystal Wise

  • Assistant Professor in Elementary Literacy Education

Dr. Wise’s work as a kindergarten and second-grade teacher informs her research and post-secondary teaching in early literacy, culturally responsive pedagogies, and historical and contemporary literacy practices of African Americans.

    DEGREES

    Indiana University Bloomington, BS Elementary Education 
    Indiana University Northwest, MS Educational Leadership 
    Harvard University, EdM Language and Literacy
    University of Michigan, PhD Educational Studies, Literacy, Language, and Culture, Graduate Certificate in African American Studies

      AREAS OF INTEREST

      Wise’s current research in early literacy is focused on better understanding how young children ascertain the meaning of unfamiliar words from context using culturally and linguistically responsive methods to develop vocabulary assessments and instructional approaches.

        BIOGRAPHY

        Dr. Wise’s work as a kindergarten and second-grade teacher informs her research and post-secondary teaching in early literacy, culturally responsive pedagogies, and historical and contemporary literacy practices of African Americans.

        Courses Taught

        CI 8461: Sociocultural Theory, Education, and Literacy

        Awards

        • Fellow, STAR Mentoring Program, Literacy Research Association, 2022 - 2024
        • Stanley E. and Ruth B. Dimond Best Dissertation Award, University of Michigan School of Education, 2019

        Associations/Memberships

        • American Educational Research Association
        • American Educational Studies Association
        • Children’s Literature Association
        • Literacy Research Association
        • National Council of Teachers of English
        • Society for the Scientific Study of Reading

        In the News

        Professor Nell Duke and SOE Alumnae Assess Reading Instruction for Right to Read Lawsuit, University of Michigan News, February, 2020

        Raising Info-Kids!: Using and Creating Informational Texts at Home, PBS Kids, July, 2019

          PUBLICATIONS

          Wright, T. S., Cervetti, G. N., Wise, C.N., & McClung, N. A. (2022). The impact of knowledge-building through conceptually-coherent read-alouds on vocabulary and listening comprehension. Reading Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2021.2020187

          Wise, C. N. (2020). (A) Political Prince: An analysis of Prince's political consciousness. Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, 7(2), 3-26.

          *Revelle, K. Z., *Wise, C. N., Duke, N. K., & Halvorsen, A-L. (2020). Realizing the promise of project-based learning. The Reading Teacher, 73(6), 697-710. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1874

          Wise, C. N. & Duke, N. K. (2019). Recipes to road maps: Fun ways to learn from everyday information. Teaching Young Children, 13(2), 26.

          Duke, N. K., Cervetti, G. N., & Wise, C. N. (2018). Learning from exemplary teachers of literacy. The Reading Teacher, 71(4), 395-400.

          Crystal Wise

          • Curriculum and Instruction
            125 Peik Hall
            159 Pillsbury Drive SE
            Minneapolis, MN 55455

          • cwise@umn.edu