Professor Gillian McNamee is director of teacher education at Erikson and codirector of the Assessment for Teaching and Learning Project. She works closely with early childhood teacher candidates during their preparation for teaching and provides long-term consultation to teachers in schools, particularly those serving children and families in challenging social and economic situations.
Dr. McNamee is coauthor of two books: Early Literacy (Harvard University Press, 1990) and Bridging: Assessment for Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood Classrooms (Corwin Press, 2007). She has been a Spencer Fellow with the National Academy of Education. In 1998, she was one of the first recipients of the Sunny Days Award from Children’s Television Workshop/Sesame Street Magazine, which recognized her innovative work in arts infused teacher education.
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Areas of Expertise
Language development; curriculum for preschool and primary classrooms; early childhood teacher professional development (pre-service and in-service); methods of teaching reading and writing to young children in diverse and inclusive settings; after school programs; family literacy; the role of the arts in early education; assessment of children’s learning across the curriculum; cultural influences on teaching and learning.
Honors
- Fellowship from the University of Chicago Trustees' Unendowed Funds for three years of graduate study in Educational Psychology, 1974-1977
- Fellowship from the Institute for Comparative Human Development, Rockefeller University, New York, N.Y., Summer, 1976
- Paul A. Witty Fellowship, Northwestern University, for two years of graduate study in Reading and Language, 1977-79
- National Academy of Education, Spencer Fellow (1986-1988)
- Sunny Days Award, Children’s Television Workshop/Sesame Street Parents. October, 1998
- Taylor and Francis Most Distinguished JECTE Article of 2006 Award (with Jie-Qi Chen)