1993-1997: My formative years were spent at Boston College and the University of Calgary, where I embarked on an exploration of philosophy and intellectual history. I was especially focused on Plato and the ancient Greek language. My undergraduate thesis explored the semantic evolution of physical terms to describe cognitive states in Homer's works. In my leisure time, I indulged in my love for the Grateful Dead and the joy of touring.
1997: Faced with the harsh realities of limited job opportunities for itinerant philosophers, I set off for Taiwan, to teach English, study Mandarin, found an educational company, savor tea, and delve into the ancient Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism. My company, Taiwan Teachers, recruited and trained teachers from Canada and the US and helped raise the professional standards of teaching in our local market.
我仍然喜歡學習中國語言和哲學。
2000: I moved to Massachusetts and landed a job in the Boston Public Schools, and enrolled in the Masters in Teaching ESL from Salem State University. As a teacher at Timilty Middle School, I was mentored by outstanding urban educators who taught me the importance of community, teacher leadership, and high standards. I have collaborated on several notable projects in my teaching career, including:
- Collaborating with the Museum of Fine Arts to provide students with an immersive learning experience about the ancient world through the study of art.
- Implementing a service literacy project, where students read to children in their families and communities, which earned recognition in the form of the Celtics Community Assist award. This opportunity allowed thirty students to visit the White House and meet Senator Kennedy.
- Developing a hybrid course that utilized a self-hosted, fully customized open-source bulletin board, providing students with a unique and innovative learning experience.
2004: I began my pursuit of an Ed.D. at Boston University in the Department of Developmental Studies and Counseling, under the guidance of the Jeanne Paratore. I was captivated by the world of quantitative methods, thanks to a class in biostatistics. I also had the privilege of participating in a doctoral class, led by Catherine Snow, which brought together students from across Boston to contemplate the nexus of research and practice. Concurrently, I assumed the role of general lackey for the Boston field site of the Strategic Educational Research Partnership, while also fulfilling my duties as an instructional coach at Timilty Middle School. My thesis examined in-school and out-of-school predictors of adolescent student's vocabulary development.
2008: I graduated and began a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I wrote an application to the Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) to evaluate a curriculum that teaches academic vocabulary, in large part to ensure the fiscal stability of my position. I also taught classes about adolescent literacy development at Harvard and took courses on longitudinal growth modeling with John Willett. To my surprise, the IES grant application was funded, and I was able to linger in Cambridge for a few years and lead the randomized trial. The greatest pleasure during these years was collaborating with Catherine Snow across a range of projects including the Word Generation evaluation and the development of SERP field site. It would be hard to overstate Catherine’s support and generosity as a mentor and friend.
1993-1997: My formative years were spent at Boston College and the University of Calgary, where I embarked on an exploration of philosophy and intellectual history. I was especially focused on Plato and the ancient Greek language. My undergraduate thesis explored the semantic evolution of physical terms to describe cognitive states in Homer's works. In my leisure time, I indulged in my love for the Grateful Dead and the joy of touring.
1997: Faced with the harsh realities of limited job opportunities for itinerant philosophers, I set off for Taiwan, to teach English, study Mandarin, found an educational company, savor tea, and delve into ancient Chinese philosophy, particularly Taoism. My company, Taiwan Teachers, recruited and trained teachers from Canada and the US and helped raise the professional standards of teaching in our local market.
2000: I moved to Massachusetts and landed a job in the Boston Public Schools, and enrolled in the Masters in Teaching ESL from Salem State University. As a teacher at Timilty Middle School, I was mentored by outstanding urban educators who taught me the importance of community, teacher leadership, and high standards. I have collaborated on several notable projects in my teaching career, including:
- Collaborating with the Museum of Fine Arts to provide students with an immersive learning experience about the ancient world through the study of art.
- Implementing a service literacy project, where students read to children in their families and communities, which earned recognition in the form of the Celtics Community Assist award. This opportunity allowed thirty students to visit the White House and meet Senator Kennedy.
- Developing a hybrid course that utilized a self-hosted, fully customized open-source bulletin board, providing students with a unique and innovative learning experience.
2004: I began my pursuit of an Ed.D. at Boston University in the Department of Developmental Studies and Counseling, under the guidance of the Jeanne Paratore. I was captivated by the world of quantitative methods, thanks to a class in biostatistics. I also had the privilege of participating in a doctoral class, led by Catherine Snow, which brought together students from across Boston to contemplate the nexus of research and practice. Concurrently, I assumed the role of general lackey for the Boston field site of the Strategic Educational Research Partnership, while also fulfilling my duties as an instructional coach at Timilty Middle School. My thesis examined in-school and out-of-school predictors of adolescent student's vocabulary development.
2008: I graduated and began a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I wrote an application to the Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) to evaluate a curriculum that teaches academic vocabulary, in large part to ensure the fiscal stability of my position. I also taught classes about adolescent literacy development at Harvard and took courses on longitudinal growth modeling with John Willett. To my surprise, the IES grant application was funded, and I was able to linger in Cambridge for a few years and lead the randomized trial. The greatest pleasure during these years was collaborating with Catherine Snow across a range of projects including the Word Generation evaluation and the development of SERP field site. It would be hard to overstate Catherine’s support and generosity as a mentor and friend.
2010: The University of California made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and I took an assistant professor position at UC Irvine. I continued to collaborate closely with colleagues at Harvard, SERP, and increasingly, David Francis at the University of Houston, who has continued to be a collaborator and mentor. Some of the many high points of my time at UCI include the opportunity to study online collaborative writing with Mark Warschauer, analyze argumentative writing with Carol Connor, and the chair PhD committees of amazing scholars like Alex Lin, Jin Kyoung Hwang, and Karen Taylor. The School of Education was transformed into a national powerhouse through no fault of my own under the leadership of Deborah Vandell.
2016: I accepted an offer at the University of Oslo (UiO) to teach quantitative research methods in the the Faculty of Educational Sciences. At UiO I continue to explore issues of literacy and language development with my wife Åste Hagen and great colleagues like Arne Lervåg, Vibeke Grøver, Monica Melby-Lervåg, Athanasios Protopapas, Henrik Daae Zachrisson, and. I currently co-supervise two amazing Ph.D. students, Junyi Yang and Rebecca Knoph. Family life in Norway is active and we are regularly visited by colleagues family and friends.
Next steps: "The future is not a place we are going to, but one we are creating." Let's do this.
