Rob Martinelle joins URI as an associate professor of secondary social studies and teacher education in the Feinstein College of Education. Martinelle completed his Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching at Boston University. Prior to becoming a teacher educator, Martinelle worked as a secondary history teacher in several Boston Public Schools, where he also mentored beginning history teachers as a curriculum coach and supervising practitioner.
Martinelle’s research interests lie at the intersection of reflective practice and critical social studies teacher education, with his scholarship having been featured in outlets such as Theory & Research in Social Education, Action in Teacher Education, and Educational Leadership.
If you were explaining your research to someone outside the field of education, how would you describe it?
Right now, I would describe my work as focused on understanding how social studies teachers make sense of and teach about/against far-right messaging in their classrooms.
What sparked your interest in this research? And what drives your passion for it?
After the January 6, 2021, insurrection and the near-immediate effort by far-right politicians and media outlets/personalities to mythologize the event (efforts that continue to this day), I have strongly felt that social studies (teacher) educators have an obligation to not only accurately discuss the event with students, but more broadly, the (history of the) far-right disinformation machine that enabled it.
What questions are you most eager to explore in your research?
Right now, I’m most eager to understand how social studies teachers themselves make sense of historical and contemporary far-right messaging to better understand the knowledge and professional supports they need to elevate and critique it within their respective contexts.
What will you be teaching at URI? What are you most excited to teach?
I will be teaching Social Studies Methods, the Seminar for Social Studies Student Teaching, and Education and Social Justice. Not a cop-out, but I’m most excited to teach all of these classes, truly.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to lately, and outside of work, what are some of your other hobbies and passions?
I try to allow myself at least 1 fictional book a summer to read, and this year, after seeing it on almost every top 10 list, I chose to read Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. Just brilliant! I think I read it in a week. It reads like a great Black Mirror episode.
Outside of my work, I enjoy writing music and am a die-hard Patriots fan!
Is there anything else you’d like the URI community to know about you?
Coffee is my vice, so the easiest way to chat with me is to say we’ll do it over coffee.