Faculty

David E. Kirkland

Assistant Professor of English Education

David E. Kirkland

Phone: 212-998-7391
Email:

David E. Kirkland's scholarship examines urban youth cultures and identities, adolescent literacies, and African American language and education.  His past research has focused on literacy in the lives of six young Black men, who learned and practiced literacy squarely within (r)evolutions in African American, Hip Hop, and urban youth cultures.  Based on this work, Dr. Kirkland has written substantially about the influences of Hip Hop and popular cultures on the educational experiences of urban youth.  He has used his understandings to push for a new vision for English Education, which he more clearly articulates in the English Journal (May 2008).  He also theorizes and contributes to New Literacy, critical pedagogy, and African-centered perspectives on language and literacy in the lives of urban youth, particularly of urban adolescent Black males. 

Currently, Dr. Kirkland's research seeks to understand the influence of digital media and new technologies on urban youth literacies.  He is seeking to understand the ways in which urban youth participate in online social networks such as Facebook and MySpace and use digital media to practice literacy.  By association, he asks, how can understanding literacies embedded in digital contexts help educators develop curricula and pedagogies capable of transforming English education and academic literacy achievement in urban contexts?

Crucial to Dr. Kirkland's work is the conception that students are not deficient, but enter classrooms with rich and diverse experiences, some of which raise serious questions about what counts as language and literacy in English education.  His work also seeks to move literacy scholarship in directions closer to resolving inequities in urban literacy education. In doing so, it seeks to contribute to existing knowledge by describing how urban youth practice literacy in sophisticated ways, specifically in the "hood" and increasingly in the digital underground of computer screens, cellular devices, and iPods--spaces that researchers and educators seldom venture.  At its heart, Dr. Kirkland's scholarship aims to provide an intellectual forum for a complex set of conversations, where urban students’ literacies, particularly those that take shape in nontraditonal and digital contexts, can find expression, relevance, and acceptance in formal settings.


Presentations

  • Kirkland, D. (2007). Exploring Literacy in Urban Cyberspace. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, New York, NY, November 17, 2007.
  • Kirkland, D. (2007). A Narrative of Reflection: A Teacher's Use of Hip Hop to Promote Social Justice in His Classroom. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, New York, NY, November 17, 2007.
  • Kirkland, D. (2007). Teachers as Radical Researchers: A Critical Perspective on Adolescent Literacy. Presented at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne New Teacher’s Workshop, Champagne/Urbana, IL, August 6, 2007. (Keynote)
  • Kirkland, D. (2007). Digital Underground: Urban Youth, New Technologies, and Composition. Presented the 20th Annual Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, College Station, PA, July 9, 2007. (Keynote)
  • Kirkland, D. (2007). Body Language: Tattooing as a Critical Literacy Practice. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Kirkland, D. (2006). Re-examining the effects of racism, sexism, and economic oppression in English education. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Nashville, TN.
  • Kirkland, D. (2006). Black boys and literacy: What we now know and how it can improve classrooms. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Nashville, TN.
  • Kirkland, D. (2006). Hustle and Flow: Hip Hop and the Politics of literacy. To be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
  • Kirkland, D. (2005). The Power of Their Texts: Using Hip Hop to Help Urban Students Meet National Standards for the English Language Arts. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Pittsburg, PA.
  • Kirkland, D. (2005). The Substance of Hope: Using African-centered Principles in the Education of Black Males. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, CA.
  • Kirkland, D. (2005). Literacy in the Lives of Urban Adolescent Black Boys. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, CA.
  • Kirkland, D. (2004). “We Real Cool:” Masculine Discourses and Urban Adolescent Composition. Presented at the annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Antonio, TX.
  • Kirkland, D. (2004). Using Hip-Hop to Foster Critical Conversations in the Secondary English Classroom. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Indianapolis, IN.
  • Kirkland, D. (2004). Black Teacher: Race-based Resistance to African American Instructors at Historically White Colleges and Universities. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
  • Kirkland, D. (2003). “The Rose that Grew from Concrete”: Postmodern Perspectives in the Hip Hop English Classroom. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, San Francisco, CA.
  • Kirkland, D. (2003). Critical Pedagogy and Critical Literacy Instruction in Secondary Classrooms. Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
  • Kirkland, D. (2002). Toward a Critical Language Pedagogy. Presented at the midwinter meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Kirkland, D. (2002). Conceptions of teaching, language and learning. Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Atlanta, GA.
  • Please see CV for complete list of presentations.

Degrees Held

  • Ph.D. Michigan State University 2006
    Language, Literacy, and Urban Education

Publications

  • Kirkland, D. (under review). American Dream Deferred: The Problem of Educating Low SES Black Males in Urban Setting. Urban Education.
  • Kirkland, D. (under review). The Boys in the Hood: Exploring Literacy in the Lives of Six Young Black Men. Journal Adolescent and Adult Literacy.
  • Kirkland, D., & Jackson, A. (under review). We Real Cool: A Critical-linguistic Analysis of Black Males and Literacy. Reading Research Quarterly.
  • Kirkland, D. (forthcoming). Body Language: Conceptualizing Literacy as Human Practice. English Education.
  • Kirkland, D. (forthcoming). Critical Composition Practices of an Urban Youth in "MySpace. " In S. Selber (ed.), 20th Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition Proceeding. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
  • Kirkland, D., & Jackson, A. (in press). Beyond the Silence: Instructional Approaches and Students’ Attitudes. In J. Scott, D. Y. Straker, & L. Katz (eds.), Affirming Students’ Right to Their Own Language: Bridging Educational Policies and Language/Language Arts Teaching Practices. Champagne/Urbana, IL: NCTE/LEA.
  • Kirkland, D. (2008). “The Rose that Grew From Concrete”: Hip Hop and the New English Education. The English Journal, 97 (5), pp. 69-75. (view)
  • Miller, s. j., Beliveau, L. B., Kirkland, D., Rice, P., & Destigter, T. (2008). Narratives of Social Justice Teaching: How English Teachers Negotiate Theory and Practice between Preservice and Inservice Spaces. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
  • Zhao, Y., Zhang, G., Yang, W., Kirkland, D., Han, X., & Zhang, J. (2008). A comparative study of educational research in China and the U.S. Asian Pacific Journal of Education, 28 (1), pp. 1-17. (view)
  • Zhao, Y., Kirkland, D., & Lustick, D. (2007). Introduction. In Y. Zhao, D. Lustick, & W. Yang (eds.), Government, assessment and accountability in the United States: A primer for Chinese educational leaders. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press. English version is also available at: (link)
  • Kirkland, D. (2007). The Power of Their Text: Teaching Hip Hop in the Secondary English Classroom. In K. Keaton & P. R. Schmidt (eds.), Closing the Gap: English Educators Address the Tensions between Teacher Preparation and Teaching Writing in Secondary Schools. Language, Literacy, and Learning Series for Information Age Publishing, pp. 129-145. (view)
  • Kirkland, D. (2007). Foreword. In M. Diaz & M. Runnell (eds.), Hip Hop Education Guidebook, Volume One. New York: Hip Hop Association.
  • Kirkland, D. (2006). The Boys in the Hood: Exploring literacy in the lives of Six Urban Adolescent Black Males. Unpublished Dissertation, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
  • Kirkland, D. (2004). Rewriting School: Critical Writing Pedagogies for the Secondary English Classroom. Journal of Teaching of Writing 21(1&2), pp. 83-96. (view)
  • Kirkland, D., Robinson, J, Jackson, A., & Smitherman, G. (2004). From “The Lower Economic”: Three Young Brothas and an Old School Womanist Respond to Dr. Bill Cosby. The Black Scholar, 34(4), pp. 10-15. (view)
  • Kirkland, D., Jackson, A., & Smitherman, G. (March/April 2001). Leroy, Big D, and Big Daddy Speakin Ebonics on the Internet. American Language Review, pp. 22-26.
  • Please see attached CV for complete list of publications, presentations, and courses taught (view)

Courses

E11:2045: Hip Hop and the Teaching of English 

E11.1030: Literature Seminar for English Education

E11.1589: Teaching English in a Multidialectal Society 

E11.2049: Teaching English in the Inner City 

E11.2515: Linguistics, Society and the Teacher

E11.2577: Pluralistic Approaches to Cultural Literacy 

Current Research Projects

  • Principal Investigator, Digital Underground: Exploring the relationship between digital media and urban youth literacies
  • Principal Investigator, Language and Literacy Learning in Urban Contexts

Awards

  • 2008 : AERA Division G Dissertation Award
  • 2007 : Finalist-CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award
  • 2007 : Finalist-Spencer Foundation Exemplary Dissertation Award
  • 2006 : CNV Fellowship
  • 2006 : Summer Completion Fellowship Award
  • 2005 : AERA/IES Grant
  • 2005 : Black Graduate Student Association Award in Scholarhip
  • 2004 : Scholars for the Dream Travel Award
  • 2004 : Spencer Foundation Research Training Grant
  • 2003 : Dean's Competitive Enrichment Summer Fellowship Award
  • 2002 : Summer Enrichment Fellowship Award
  • 2001 : Competitive Doctoral Enrichment Fellowship Award
  • 2000 : Mid-Michigan Teacher of the Year

Professional Service (selected)

  • 2008-Present: Section Co-Chair, AERA Division K, Section 2
  • 2008-Present: Co-Chair, NCTE Conference on English Education Commission on Social Justice
  • 2008-Present: Acting Chair, NCTE/CCCC Black Caucus Communications Committee 
  • 2007-Present: Editorial Board Member, Research in the Teaching of English
  • 2006-2008: NCTE Annual Conference Program Planning Committee (Rainbow Strand)
  • 2004-2008: Member, NCTE Conference on English Education Commission on Social Justice
  • 2002-Present: Member, NCTE/CCCC Black Caucus
  • 2006: Conference on College Composition and Communication Scholars for the Dream Travel Award Selection Committee
  • 2004-2006: Member, Michigan Department of Education Bias Committee
  • Please refer to CV for complete list of service.

Areas of Specialization (in alphabetical order)

  1. African American Studies in Education
  2. Critical/Cultural Studies in Education
  3. Qualitative Research Methods/Methodologies (particularly Critical Discourse Analysis, the Ethnography of Discourse, and Critical Ethnography)
  4. Secondary English/Adolescent Literacy Education
  5. Urban Teacher Education

Workshops

  • Critical Language Instruction for Urban Adolescent Youth (with a particular focus on code managing and English Learners)  
  • Hip Hop Pedagogies
  • Using Digital Media and Pop Culture to Teach Secondary English
  • Writing Students into the Curriculum: Constructing Knowledge for the 21st Century