Kim Gomez, an associate professor of education in the Urban School Division of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, has been honored with the Harold A. and Lois Haytin Faculty Award. This award grants $2,500 in recognition of a GSE&IS faculty member or faculty members whose research promises to positively impact classroom practice not only at UCLA Lab School but at other elementary schools as well.
Gomez was awarded the grant for her leadership on a project that applies educational techniques and developmental models to support classroom disciplinary literacy in reading, writing and discussion. Such techniques include work circles — meetings where educators can collaboratively plan and implement classroom lessons and activities.
"I am humbled, and grateful to have been singled out for this honor, especially to be recognized alongside faculty who have done such important work with teachers and students at UCLA's Lab School," Gomez said. "Our work circle collaborative activities are providing teachers and researchers with an opportunity to design writing and assessment of writing tasks, across the disciplines, that have great potential, as we extend the work to other schools, to bring ELL and low-literacy students up to their best skill level."
This post was adapted from a longer article in Ampersand, the online publication of the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.
