Kimberly Lenters

Dr. Kimberly Lenters

PhD
Pronouns: she/her

Positions

Canada Research Chair (Tier II)

Werklund School of Education, Specialization, Language and Literacy

Associate Professor

Werklund School of Education, Specialization, Language and Literacy

Contact information

Email

kalenter@ucalgary.ca

Web presence

Academia

Phone number

Office: 403.220.2989

Location

Office: EDT1042

Background

Educational Background

Doctor of Philosophy Language and Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, 2010

M.A. Literacy Education, University of British Columbia, 2004

Bachelor of Education Education - Reading Specialization, University of Calgary, 1984

Biography

Dr. Lenters is Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Language and Literacy Education. Her graduate work in literacy education (MA and PhD) was undertaken at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Language and Literacy Education.  In 2011, Dr. Lenters joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Calgary, where she currently teaches courses in the Bachelor of Education Program for pre-service teachers, post-graduate courses for in-service teachers, and graduate level courses. Prior to taking up her work in literacy research, Dr. Lenters lived and taught at the elementary school level in several areas of Canada, in addition to Namibia, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile.

Professional & Community Affiliations

Dr. Lenters is a book editor for the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy (JECL) and a board member of the British Educational Research Journal (BERJ). She is a member of the Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada, the United Kingdom Literacy Association, the Literacy Research Association, the National Council for Teachers of English, and the International Reading Association. She reviews manuscripts and proposals for these associations, in addition to publications in their journals, such as Research in the Teaching of English (RTE) and the Journal of Literacy Research (JLR), among others.

Research

Areas of Research

Scholarly Activity

Dr. Lenters’ work focuses primarily on ways in which socio-material perspectives of literacy may be utilized to understand and enhance children's literacy development across their terrains of home, community, and school.

Interests:
  • Literacy
  • Literacy and posthumanism
  • Socio-material literacies
  • Multimodal literacies
  • Elementary education
  • Family and community literacy
  • Case study research

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Human dynamics in a changing world

Courses

Course number Course title Semester
EDUC 520 SEC 05 Interdisciplinary Learning Fall 2020
EDUC 535 SEC 01 Specialization II: Elementary English Language Arts Fall 2020
EDUC 435 SEC 04 Literacy, Language, and Culture in the K-12 Classroom Fall 2021
EDUC 535 SEC 01 English Language Arts Specialization II Fall 2022
EDER 664 SEC 01 Teaching Reading, Listening, and Viewing Winter 2023

Projects

Conceptualizing Teachers’ Intercultural Learning for Social Action
  • Project: Conceptualizing Teachers' Intercultural Learning for Social Action
    • Lead investigator: Dr. Jean Kaya
      • Co-Investigators: Dr. Roswita Dressler and Dr. Kim Lenters
      • Funding Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant;
      • 2023 – 2025

                                                                                                                   

Playful(l) Literacies
  • Project: Playful(l) Literacies: Language and Literacy Learning in the Early Elementary Years
    • Lead Investigator: K. Lenters 
      • Co-Investigator: R. Mosher (UCalgary)
      • Funding Agencies: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant; and Alberta Advisory Committee for Educational Studies (AACES)
      • 2020-2023
Connecting Resilience to Space and Place in Adopted Homelands
  • Project: Connecting Resilience to Space and Place in Adopted Homelands
    • Lead Investigator: R. Zaidi (UCalgary)
      • Co-Investigators: K. Lenters, E. Spring, S. Bhowmik, S. Roy (UCalgary)
      • Sponsorship Details: Insight Grant
      • Funding Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Grant
      • Duration: 2022-2027
Critical Literacy in Action
  • Project: Critical Literacy in Action: Supporting Pre-Service Teachers to Promote Social Justice and Inclusion of Black Africans
    • Lead Investigator: Jean Kaya
      • Co-Investigators: Roswita Dressler and Kim Lenters;
      • Funding Agency: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Engage Grant
      • 2023 – 2025
Decolonizing the English Language Arts Classroom
  • Project: Decolonizing the ELA Classroom: Mobilizing Arts-based, Land-based, and Anti-Racist Critical Literacies
    • Lead Investigator: K. Lenters
      • Co-Investigator: T. Duchscher (Postdoctoral Associate, UCalgary)
      • Funding Agencies: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Connection Grant (Outreach); Calgary Public Library; and the Werklund School of Education
      • 2021-2022

 

Awards

  • Eyes High Postdoctoral Scholars Competition, University of Calgary. 2021
  • Canada Research Chair, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. 2020
  • Early Career Researcher Award, Werklund School of Education. 2019
  • Eyes High Postdoctoral Scholars Competition, University of Calgary. 2015
  • Teaching Award for Curriculum Development (Group award), University of Calgary . 2015

Publications

  • Unsettling childhood literacies: Contamination as collaboration in transmedia encounters. Kim Lenters, Ronna Mosher, & Stacey Hanzel. English Teaching: Practice and Critique. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-08-2022-0123 . (2023)
  • Theorizing Literacies as Affective Flows: Attuning to the Otherwise Possibilities of Hip Hop’s “in the Red Frequencies”. Dernikos, B., Nightengale-Lee, B., Thiel, J.J., Lenters, K., Bailey, E. . Journal of Literacy Research (JLR). (2023)
  • Playing the story: Learning with young children's in/visible composing collaborations in outdoor narrative play. Kim Lenters, Ronna Mosher, & Jennifer MacDonald. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy (JECL). https://doi.org/10.1177/14687984221144231 . (2023)
  • Attuning to In-the-Red Frequencies with/in Readers Workshop. Dernikos, B., Nightengale-Lee, B., Thiel, J.J., Lenters, K., Bailey, E. Literacy. (2023)
  • Critical literacy in Canada: A systematic review of curricula and literature. Jean Kaya, Roswita Dressler, & Kim Lenters. Language & Literacy. 25-61. (2022)
  • Play and literacy learning in grades 1 and 2: An exploratory study of teacher perspectives. Mosher, R., Lenters, K., Boss, H.. Alberta Journal of Educational Research. (2023)
  • Making macaroni: Classroom improv for transformative embodied critical literacy. Kim Lenters. English Teaching: Practice & Critique (19)4. (2020)
  • Youth reassembling difficult topics through humour as boundary play. Mairi McDermott and Kim Lenters. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(1). (2020)
  • Extemporaneous lessons on place, space, and identity: Graffiti as pedagogical disruption. Kaela Jubas and Kim Lenters. Engaged Scholar Journal, 5(2). (2019)
  • Nerdisms, Almina, and the petsitter: Becoming social commentary composers. . Kim Lenters. Research in the Teaching of English, 53(4). (2019)
  • Multimodal becoming: Literacy in and beyond the classroom. Kim Lenters. The Reading Teacher, 71(6). (2018)
  • Assembling improv and collaborative story building in language arts class. Kim Lenters and Cam Smith. The Reading Teacher 72(2). (2018)
  • Failing with grace: Kids, improv, and embodied literacies. Kim Lenters and Alec Whitford. Literacy 52(3). (2018)
  • Riding the lines and overwriting in the margins: Affect and multimodal literacy practices. Kim Lenters. Journal of Literacy Research, 48(2). (2016)
  • Telling “a story of somebody" through digital scrapbooking: A fourth grade multiliteracies project takes an affective turn. . Kim Lenters. Literacy Research and Instruction, 55(3). (2016)
  • Feedback loops: Assembling students, stories, and devices for multimodal feedback in a writer’s workshop. Kim Lenters and Kim Grant. Language Arts, 93(3). (2016)
  • Word on the street: Investigating linguistic landscapes with urban Canadian youth.. Catherine Burwell and Kim Lenters. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 10(3). (2015)
  • Working with Different Cultural Patterns and Beliefs: Teachers and Families Learning Together.. Purcell-Gates, V., Lenters, K., McTavish, M. & Anderson, J. . Multicultural Education, School, Family, Community Engagement and Partnerships special issue, 21(3/4). (2014)
  • Just doing our jobs: Literacy-in-action in a fifth grade classroom. Kim Lenters. Language & Literacy: A Canadian E-Journal, 16(1). (2014)
  • Fracturing writing spaces: Multimodal storytelling ignites process writing. Kim Lenters and Kari-Lynn Winters. The Reading Teacher, 67(3). (2013)
  • Student planners in-school and out-of-school: Who’s managing whom? . Kim Lenters and Marianne McTavish. Literacy 47(2). (2013)
  • Measuring situated literacy activity: Challenges and promises. Purcell-Gates, V., Anderson, J., Gagne, M., Jang, K., Lenters, K., & McTavish, M., . Journal of Literacy Research 44(4). (2012)
  • Real-world literacy activity in pre-school. Anderson, J., Purcell-Gates, V., Lenters, K., & McTavish, M. . Community Literacy Journal, 6(2). (2012)
  • Enhancing and displacing literacy practices: Examining publishing in a writer’s workshop. Kim Lenters. Language & Literacy: A Canadian E-Journal, 14(1). (2012)
  • Programming family literacy: Tensions and directions. Kim Lenters. Community Literacy Journal, 2(2). (2008)
  • Constructing families, constructing literacy: A critical analysis of family literacy websites. Anderson, J., Lenters, K., & McTavish, M. . The School Community Journal, 18(1). (2008)
  • From storybooks to games, comics, bands and chapter books: A young boy's appropriation of literacy practices. Kim Lenters. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(1). (2007)
  • Resistance, struggle and the adolescent reader. Kim Lenters. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 50(2). (2006)
  • No half-measures: Reading instruction for young second language learners. Kim Lenters. The Reading Teacher, 58(4). (2005)