- Associate Dean for Teacher Education; Professor
- Email: amy.broemmel@uri.edu
Biography
Amy Broemmel started her career as a second grade teacher at a multi-generational elementary school in a quickly growing community in northern Illinois. She left the classroom hoping to find a way to more broadly impact the preparation of teachers, and earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, with an emphasis on literacy and language learning at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Dr. Broemmel worked at Eastern Illinois University and the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, before spending over 20 years at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she annually led a cohort of graduate teaching interns, teaching their coursework and helping them navigate the challenges and joys of induction into the profession.
While at UTK, she also served as chair of the Graduate Council and on a number of committees for the institution, as well as an associate department head and director of graduate studies for her department. Professionally, she has served in roles for both the International Literacy Association and the Literacy Research Association, in addition to a three-year term as President of the American Reading Forum.
Research
Dr. Broemmel’s motivation to leave her elementary classroom to pursue a Ph.D. was to investigate how to better prepare and support preservice and inservice teachers. As such, supporting the practice and voice of teachers has remained the underlying purpose of her scholarship. Though not all-encompassing of her research contributions, her work generally falls under the broad umbrella which investigates how we prepare, develop, and sustain critically thinking teachers. While most of Dr. Broemmel’s research centers primarily on preservice and inservice teacher voices as related to their own learning and development, another strand involves the more practice-oriented work of integrating science and literacy through the use of high-quality picture books in elementary classrooms.
Education
- Ph.D., Southern Illinois University, 2000
- M.S., Southern Illinois University, 1993
- B.S., Eastern Illinois University, 1992
Selected Publications
Broemmel, A.D., Jordan, J.J., Rearden, K.T., & Rigell, A. (2023). “It was natural and real life:” Book clubs for professional development for preservice teachers. Teacher Development, 27(1), 1-18.
Bentley, K., Broemmel, A.D., & Douglass, M.C. (2023). What makes you unique?: Valuing classroom diversity within writing instruction. In R. Savitz, L. Roberts, & J. DeHart (Eds.), Teaching challenged and challenging topics in diverse and inclusive literature: Addressing the taboo in the English classroom (pp.17-31). Routledge. DOI 10.4324/9781003302216-3
Broemmel, A.D., Rigell, A., & Swafford, K. J. (2022). “It took someone telling me that I could do it:” Teacher perceptions of a year-long literacy professional development program. Elementary School Journal, 123(2), 228-252.
Broemmel, A.D., & Vines, N.A (2022). Teacher Reflections on Transitioning from K-12 to Higher Education Classrooms. IGI Global.
Rigell, A., Banack, A., Maples, A., Laughter, J., Broemmel, A., Vines, N., Jordan, J. (2022). Overwhelming whiteness: A critical analysis of race in a scripted reading program. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 54, 852-870
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Broemmel, A.D., Swaggerty, E.A., Rigell, A., & Blanton, E. (2021) “I felt like my practice was catching up with my beliefs:” A longitudinal study of seven early career teachers’ perceptions of literacy instruction. Action in Teacher Education, 43(3), 285-300. doi: 10.1080/01626620.2020.1756528
Broemmel, A.D., Rearden, K., & Buckner, C. (2021). Teachers Choices: The right books for science instruction. The Reading Teacher, 75(1), 7-16.
Martinez, J. & Broemmel, A.D. (2021). Pencils down: Educators respond to uncertainty amidst COVID-19 school closures. International Studies in Educational Administration, 49(1), 109-132.
Blanton, E., Broemmel, A.D., & Rigell, A. (2020). Speaking volumes: Professional development through book studies. American Educational Research Journal, 57, 1014-1044. doi: 10.3102/0002831219867327
Broemmel, A.D., Jordan, J. J., & Whitsett, B. M. (2016). Learning to be teacher leaders: A framework for assessment, planning, and instruction. Routledge.