![Photo of Christy Wessel Powell]()
Steven C. Beering Hall of Liberal Arts and Education 100 N. University Street West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2098 BRNG 4170work
Work Email: cwesselp@purdue.eduINTERNET
Christy Wessel Powell
Associate Professor
Literacy and Language EducationCurriculum and Instruction
Dr. Wessel-Powell’s scholarship focuses on literacy and equity. Her research is rooted in a commitment to understanding and enacting equity in classrooms and communities, through literacy. This scholarship focuses on two intersecting strands of inquiry: (1) elementary literacy: particularly, she studies literacy teacher education, and how teachers use approaches in reading and writing instruction and media-infused “playshops” in schools as a vehicle for richer curricula; and (2) equity: particularly, she studies the intersections of education reform, media and advocacy, and how these are leveraged to support teacher and community action toward school equity. These two strands connect because without equitable resources and supportive conditions, rich literacy curriculum is more difficult for teachers to deliver. Dr. Wessel-Powell’s research is qualitative, often participatory, and informed by critical, sociocultural, and spatial theories on discourse, multimodality, texts writ broadly, and literacy as meaning-making.
Dr. Wessel-Powell is the Director of the Center for Literacy and Language Education and Research (CL2EAR).
- Ph.D. — Literacy, Culture and Language Education, Indiana University
- M.A. — Teaching, Elementary Education, Dominican University
- B.A. — Humanities, Literature and Int’l Studies, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
- 2023 – present
Associate Professor, Literacy and Language Education,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- 2017 – 2023
Assistant Professor, Literacy and Language Education,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
- 2016 – 2017
Visiting Faculty & Course/Field Coordinator
Purdue University
- 2016
Student Teaching Supervisor
Ball State University
- 2015 – 2016
Graduate Instructor and Literacy Clinic Coordinator
University of Missouri, St. Louis
- 2014 – 2015
K-5 Literacy Support Coach
Normandy School District
- 2011- 2015
Associate Instructor, Literacy, Culture and Language Education
Indiana University
- 2010 – 2015
Research Assistant, School of Education and Creativity Labs
Indiana University
- Seed for Success Acorn Award recognition of funded scholarship above $1M
- Dean’s Award for Outstanding Faculty Scholarship
- Intercultural Pedagogy Grant Fellow
- Service Learning Fellow
- Teaching Leadership Fellow
- Dean’s nomination for “excellent professor”
Selected Publications
- Wessel-Powell, C. Panos, A., and Weir, G. (2023). Advocacy stories: Equity literacy practices of white low income mothers navigating school reform. American Educational Research Journal, 60(6).
- Wessel-Powell, C., Buchholz, B., DeHart, J., Frye, B. Ward, D., Vander Zanden, S., and Campbell, E. (2023). @Home collective(ly): Opening doors and doing books with Literacy-Cast. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 23(1), 102–140.
- Wessel-Powell, C. (2021). Show, don’t tell: Play-based multimodal story feedback in a K-1 classroom. Teachers College Record, 123(3), 1-24.
- Wessel-Powell, C., Panos, A., & Weir, R. (2021). A year of equity literacy: Community actions and invitations. Literacy, 55(1), 62-76.
- Panos, A., Wessel-Powell, C., Weir, R. & Pennington, C. (2021). Waypoints for literacy researchers: Boundary tracing, historicizing, and enacting critical equity literacies. International Studies in Sociology of Education, special issue on Literacy, 31(1-2), 80-103.
- Wessel-Powell, C., Buchholz, B., Rust, J., Husbye, N.E., and Vander Zanden, S. (2020). The promise of slow reading: Five ways to foster mindful, immersive reading through daily classroom practice. Educational Leadership special issue: “Rooted in Reading,” 77(5), 32-37.
- Wessel-Powell, C., Buchholz, B., and Brownell, C. (2019). Polic(y)ing time and curriculum: How teachers critically negotiate restrictive policies. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 18(2), 170-187.
- Husbye, N.E., Buchholz, B., Wessel-Powell, C., & Vander Zanden, S. (2019). “Death didn’t come up at center time”: Sharing books about death and grief in elementary literacy classrooms. Language Arts, 96(6), 347-357.
- Wessel-Powell, C., Liu, Y., and Wohlwend, K.E. (2018). Walking Dead Literacies: Zombies, Boys, and (Re)Animated Storytelling. The Reading Teacher, 72(3), 313-324.
- Husbye, N. E., Wessel-Powell, C., Vander Zanden, S., and Karalis, T. (2018). Coaching in Practice-Based Literacy Education Courses: Insights from Three Literacy Education Programs. The Reading Teacher, 72(2), 191-200.
- Wessel-Powell, C., Kargin, T. and Wohlwend, K. E. (2016). Enriching and Assessing Young Children’s Storytelling. The Reading Teacher, 70(2), 167-178.
- Wessel-Powell, C. (2014). School, Education and Social Action at the Movies: Audience Reactions to Waiting for “Superman”. Teachers College Record 116(3), 1-28.
- Peppler, K., Wessel-Powell, C., Thompson, N., and Catterall, J. (2014). Positive Impact of Arts Integration on Student Academic Achievement in English Language Arts. The Educational Forum 78(4), 364-377.
- Wessel-Powell, C., and Husbye, N.E. (2013). Mediation Levels in a Preschool Playshop. In K. E. Wohlwend, Literacy Playshop: Playing with New Literacies and Popular Media in the Early Childhood Classroom (44-76). New York: Teachers College Press.
- Husbye, N.E., Buchholz, B.A., Coggin, L.S., Wessel-Powell, C., and Wohlwend, K. E. (2012). “Do you know they’re playing with Legos?” Critical lessons and playful literacies: digital media in PK-2 classrooms. Language Arts, 90(2), 82-92.
