Assistant Professor, MAT Teaching Program & Education Studies Minor, School of Education
Prof. Thompson teaches in the undergraduate education studies minor and the MAT program. She is interested in the social and political contexts that inform how we think about teaching and learning and the complex process of becoming a teacher.
As a former middle school teacher, a teacher educator, and a scholar of teachers’ work, Prof. Thompson is passionate about teaching – the contours of the profession, why people choose to be teachers, and the conditions that support and sustain powerful, culturally responsive, justice-centered teaching practices. Her research seeks to illuminate the role that working conditions – both local, school level conditions and larger more macro conditions – play in sustaining teachers’ commitments, contributing to their longevity in the profession and their success in the classroom.
As a teacher educator, her focus is on preparing teachers who are adept at inclusive and culturally responsive teaching practices, who recognize and challenge their positionalities for the benefit of their students, and who collaborate with others toward a more just, inclusive and equitable education system.
The courses Prof. Thompson teaches in the undergraduate minor mainly focus on the social, historical, and political contexts of education. Her goals for these courses is for students to situate their educational experience within a larger system of educational access and to reflect on issues of identity, positionality, and privilege in relation to course material.