Kari-Lynn Winters

Kari Winters, née Moore (born 1969) is a Canadian children's author and literacy researcher. She taught children's literature and drama at the University of British Columbia^[1] from 2004 to 2009. In January 2010 Winters assumed the post of Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Brock University (Ontario) and co-editor of Teaching and Learning.^[2]

Biography

Born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Winters has studied or taught in schools across North America. Her master's thesis "Developing an Arts-Integrated Narrative Reading Comprehension Program for Less Proficient Grade 3 and 4 Students," on exploring the efficacy of using the arts to strengthen less proficient students' reading comprehension, was selected as best Master's Thesis in Literacy in Canada, 2005.^[3] Winters completed her PhD in 2009 with a dissertation entitled "Authorship as Assemblage: Multimodal Literacies of Play, Literature, and Drama."^[4] She holds a teaching degree from the University of Toronto, in regular and special education for children ages 3–13. She is also a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, where she earned a certificate in technical theatre.^[5] Her dramatic work included writing scripts for and performing with Vancouver's theatre-for-literacy troupe Tickle Trunk Players.^[6]

Winters has published award-winning children's books,^[7][8] children's non-fiction articles, and academic articles. She says she didn't always consider herself a writer; many of her elementary school years were spent either resisting composition or struggling to write.^[9]

Her current work explores how she came to appreciate storytelling and children's literature and eventually became a writer herself, and ways to effect a similar transformation in her students.^[10] Winters has been featured in radio and newspaper interviews^[11] and her academic work has been cited by other literacy researchers.^[12][13][14]

From 2010-2012 Winters expanded her work to educational activism, from organizing an annual "Arts Matters" educational conference^[15] to raising funds for girls' education in Africa. Proceeds from her book Gift Days are being used to support the charity Because I am a Girl, a movement to "unleash" the power of girls and women in the developing world through education and women’s rights;^[16] at its book launch in November 2012, enough money was raised to send 10 girls to school in Uganda for a year.^[17]

Books

• Jeffrey and Sloth (Orca Book Publishers, 2007)
• When Chickens Fly (Gumboot Books, 2009)
• On My Walk (Tradewind Books, 2009)
• Runaway Alphabet (Simply Read Books, 2010)
• aRHYTHMetic: A book and a half of poetry about math, by K. Winters, T. Stone, and L. Sherritt-Fleming, ill by S. Ritchie (Gumboot Books, 2009; Tickle Trunk Publications, 2011)
• aRYTHMétique, adapted by Christine Jutras-Tarakdjian (Gumboot, 2009; Tickle Trunk Publications, 2011)
• Gift Days (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, November, 2012)
• Stinky Skunk Mel (Simply Read Books, Forthcoming, 2013)
• The Buzz about Bees (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Forthcoming, 2013)

Anthology contributions

• "Rumors," in Stephen Rogers (ed.), My First Year in the Classroom: 50 Stories That Celebrate the Good, the Bad, and the Most Unforgettable Moments (Cincinnati: Adams Media, 2009)
• "Rhyme or Reason," ill. by S. Ritchie, in World of Stories (Gumboot Books, 2008)

Journal articles (selected)

• Wager, A. & Winters, K. (2012). "Expanding Educators’ Awareness of Youth Homelessness through Critical Dramatic Inquiry." In Teaching and Learning 7(3).
• Winters, K. et al. (2010). “From image to ideology: analysing shifting identity positions of marginalized youth across the cultural sites of video production” In Pedagogies: An International Journal, 5(4), 298–312.
• Winters, K. (2010). “Quilts of authorship: A literature review of multimodal assemblage in the field of literacy education.” In Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education, 3(1).
• Winters, Kari-Lynn, Belliveau, George, & Sherritt-Fleming, Lori. (Spring, 2009). "Shifting identities, literacy, and a/r/t/ography: Exploring an educational theatre company." Language and Literacy, 11(1).^[18]
• Rogers, Theresa, Winters, Kari-Lynn, Bryan, G., Price, J., McCormick, F., House, L., Mezzarobba, D., & Sinclaire, C. (March, 2009). "Developing the IRIS: Toward Situated and Valid Assessment Measures in Collaborative Professional Development and School Reform in Literacy." The Reading Teacher, 59(6), 544–553.^[19]
• Winters, K. "Letting Arnold Lobel Pack My Luggage". (Spring 2006) The Dragon Lode: Journal of the Children's Literature and Reading Special Interest Group, International Reading Association, 24(2) 46–50.

Children's non-fiction articles (selected)

• "Honey, I Shrunk My Liver." Know Magazine, 6 (Nov/Dec 2006), p. 4.
• "A Scientist Lives in Our Kitchen." Know Magazine, 9 (May/June, 2007), p. 18.
• "Monkeying Around with Perfume." Know Magazine, 9 (May/June, 2007), p. 3.
• "Measure Me A Measurement." Know Magazine, 11 (September/October, 2007), p. 18.
• "Colorful Mistakes." Fandangle Magazine for Children, (September, 2007).

Children's fiction articles (selected)

• "Jeffrey's Wor(l)ds Meet Sloth," illustrated by Oana Capota. Chameleon Magazine, 2:1, 24-28 (2004).
• "Esper's Dream," illustrated by Tami Thirlwell. Chameleon Magazine, 3:1, 24-28 (2006).
• "Extreme Rollers." ChickaDEE Magazine, (January, 2008)
• "The Mightiest of All." Know Magazine, ( January, 2008)

Academic Books

• Winters, K. (2010). Beyond Words: Using the Arts to Enhance Early Reading Comprehension. Birmingham, AL: Look Again Press. Available online.

Academic book articles (selected)

• Winters, K. Rogers, T., Schofield, A (2006). "The Antigone Project: Exploring the Imaginative, Active, and Social Dimensions of Drama, Print Literacy, and Media." In Crumpler T., Schneider, J., and Rogers, T. (eds.). Process Drama: an Educational Tool for Developing Multiple Literacies. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
• Winters, K. and Rogers, T. (2010). "Textual Play, Satire, and Counter Discourses of Street Youth Zining Practices." In Alvermann, D. (ed.) Adolescents' Online Literacies: Connecting Classrooms, Digital Media, and Popular Culture (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies), pp. 91–108. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Conference papers cited in third-party publications

• Rogers, T. and Winters, K. (2008). "Within 14 blocks: Zining with street youth in the YouthCLAIM project." Presented at the National Reading Conference. Orlando, FL.^[12][20]
• Rogers, T., Winters, K., Perry, M., & LaMonde, A. (2009). "The YouthCLAIM project: Researching critical literacies and arts-integrated media production among youth in classroom and community sites." Presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA.^[21][22]

Education

• 1992: Honours Bachelor of Arts, Theatre, Brock University, St. Catharines Ontario
• 1994: Theatre Technician Certificate, National Theatre School, Montreal
• 1998: Diploma in Child Study (Master's equivalent), Institute of Child Study, University of Toronto (OISE/UT)
• 1998: Ontario Certificate of Qualification (Primary/Junior)
• 2004: Master of Arts, Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia
• 2009: Doctor of Philosophy, Language and Literacy Education, UBC

External links

• Brock University faculty page
• Kari-Lynn Winters personal website
• "Developing the IRIS: Toward Situated and Valid Assessment Measures in Collaborative Professional Development and School Reform in Literacy"
• "Esper's Dream"
• "Jeffrey's Wor(l)ds Meet Sloth"
• Orca Book Publishers' Jeffrey and Sloth page
• Tickle Trunk Players literacy drama troupe

Notes