This post was written by member Catherine Compton-Lilly.

The 2019 NCRLL Business Meeting at LRA provided a wonderful opportunity to hear from a most recently inducted NCRLL Distinguished Scholar. On Wednesday, December 4th of 2019 we hosted a powerful talk by Dr. Cynthia Greenleaf.

Reflecting on her career, Dr. Greenleaf explained that “We made the road by walking” and noted that she first heard that phrase from the Horton Highlander Center describing their leadership in support of civil and workers’ rights. The path Dr. Greenleaf has taken involves research in the company of teachers and promotes the possibility of building knowledge that addresses problems of practice.

Specifically, Dr. Greenleaf shared her experiences with Project READI, a literacy initiative that focuses on argumentation and middle and high school students’ use of evidence from multiple sources they read. Children engaged in activities involving literary argumentation, history, and science. Throughout these activities, Greenleaf notes that teachers were essential and their expertise was crucial in creating learning opportunities for students.

In short, Dr. Greenleaf presented a theory of action and change around the possibilities of disciplinary evidence-based argumentation. The designs and practices that resulted from this work refine instructional approaches, present instructional models, and propose assessment tools. While Dr, Greenleaf notes that this has been a “meandering trail” complicated by the real worlds of classrooms, she is pleased that she has been able to systematically build knowledge in the company of teachers, re-socializing students to new ways of learning, interrupting low expectations, disrupting habitual practices and providing opportunities for explicit and intentional work on the part of the teacher.

These collaborations and design principles have led to the creation of modules that entail text-rich investigations and honor the contributions of teachers. NCRLL is thrilled to honor Dr. Greenleaf as a 2019 Distinguished Scholar.

Dr. Cynthia Greenleaf along with Dr. Arnetha Ball and Dr. Denny Taylor are the 2019 NCRLL Distinguished Scholars.

Catherine Compton-Lilly is the John C. Hungerpiller Professor at the University of South Carolina. Among the books she has edited or authored are: Reading Families: The Literate Lives of Urban Children (2003), Rereading Families (2007), Reading Time: The literate lives of urban secondary students and their families (2012), and Reading students’ lives: Literacy learning across time (2016).