Ruth Quiroa

Ruth Quiroa

Assistant Professor, Reading
National College of Education

Areas of Expertise

Multicultural Literature, especially Latino-themed literature for children and adolescents; ELL & Bilingual Education; Literacy & Culture—Culturally relevant pedagogy and foundations

Contact Info

Ruth Quiroa is currently accepting and scheduling areas of expertise interviews. Please use the information below to arrange a meeting.

Campus: Lisle

Email: RQuiroa@nl.edu

Phone: 630.874.4563

Need Help?

Contact NLU Public Relations to find and schedule an interview with the best source for your story.

Susan Barnett
Director of Communications
susan.barnett@nl.edu
312.261.3051

Biography

Ruth Quiroa is Associate Professor of Reading/Language Arts and Children's Literature at National-Louis University. A former kindergarten and bilingual (Spanish/English) second grade teacher, she has written articles focusing on the trends and issues in Mexican American-themed children's literature and on the use of Spanish in English-based Latino literature. Her research interests include investigating the responses of Latino students to children's literature with Latino themes, as well as the impact of teachers' cultural and linguistic awareness on literacy instruction for ELL students. Dr. Quiroa is currently the Program Coordinator for the Language & Literacy Education Program in the Reading & Language Department. She also serves on the review committee for the Américas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature of the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP).

Education

Ph.D. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Education: Curriculum & Instruction; Language & Literacy/ Bilingual Education & Linguistic Diversity; MED University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Publications

Quiroa, R. E. (in press, November 2010). The story of the Américas Collection: Gathering preK-12 Spanish-language books and resources. In J. C. Naidoo (Ed.). Celebrating cuentos: Promoting Latino children's literature and literacy into classrooms and libraries. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Quiroa, R. E. (in press, November 2010) Bailando ante el espejo literario / Dancing in front of the literary mirror: Responses to culturally familiar themes in picture storybooks. In J. C. Naidoo (Ed.). Celebrating cuentos: Promoting Latino children's literature and literacy into classrooms and libraries. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Yokota, J., Teale, W., & Quiroa, R. E. (2008). Literacy development for culturally diverse students. In S. B. Wepner & D. Strickland (Eds.) The Administration and Supervision of Reading Programs. Teachers College Press. Berne, J., Cummins, S., Degener, S., & Quiroa, R. (2009-2010) Professional development (quarterly column). Illinois Reading Council Journal. Barrerra, R. B. & Quiroa, R. (2003). The use of Spanish in Latino children's literature in English: what makes for cultural authenticity? In D. L. Fox & K. G. Short (Eds.). Stories matter: The complexity of cultural authenticity in children's literature. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English. Quiroa, R. E. (2000). The use and role of multiethnic children's literature in family literacy programs: Realities and possiblities. The New Advocate, 14(1), 43-52.

Presentations

"How DO We Implement Culturally Relevant Pedagogy? A Sampling of Experiences by a Professional Inquiry Group. "Partnered presentation with NLU Reading & Language Faculty, NLU Library Faculty, and Fox Valley Reading Council Executive Board members; International Reading Association's Annual Conference; Chicago, IL; May 2010 "Is the 'right book' enough? Instructional considerations for the use of multicultural literature." Keynote presentation; Western Suburban Reading Council Spring Meeting; Downer's Grove; April 2009. "Best practices required': Complicating and shifting a methods-only frame to ELL instruction." Partnered presentation with Dr. Jennifer Berne at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE); San José, TX; November; 2008. "Using Latino-Themed Literature as a Basis for Assessment-Driven Comprehension Instruction with ELL Children of Mexican Heritage." Partnered presentation with Dr. Sunday Cummins and Dr. Susan McMahon; International Reading Association's World Congress; San José, Costa Rica; July 2008. "Teaching with Latino-themed books: Creating safe spaces for literary conversations." Invited/feature presentation; Illinois Reading Council's (IRC) annual convention; Springfield, IL; April 2007.

Images

Ruth Quiroa

Video