Sr. Justine Kane is an Associate Professor and serves as the director of the Literacy
Program and the Reading Clinic in the School of Education. She is a Dominican Sister
of Grand Rapids and an alumna of Aquinas College where she earned her bachelor's degree
in English, teacher certification in Elementary Education, and K-12 Reading Specialist
endorsement. She holds a master's degree in Language, Reading, and Culture from the
University of Arizona and a doctorate in Curriculum Studies from the University of
Illinois at Chicago. Sr. Kane taught in Catholic elementary classrooms in Michigan
and Illinois for more than 20 years and in higher education since 2009. Currently,
her professional and research interests focus on the intersection of teaching and
learning. She is interested in the ways in which classroom learning spaces influence
the development of understanding, but also social and academic identities. She explores
dialogue and performance within learning spaces from a sociocultural perspective focusing
on the experiences of learners and their membership in communities of practice that
foster a sense of identity, or becoming a person who sees themself as one who can
do or be a reader, a teacher, a learner, and so on. She is especially concerned about
those who have been marginalized because they are "other" or do not fit within the
accepted norms of the typical American school, including differences related to creativity,
ability, gender, race, and ethnolinguistic heritage. She is interested in developing
educators‚' understandings of the ways they can better shape classroom spaces for
more meaningful learning and becoming. Her work crosses disciplinary boundaries, including
literacy and science education, and connects her with other university-based researchers,
students, and classroom teachers to explore constructs that cut across pedagogical
approaches. Sr. Kane has published numerous articles and book chapters that focus
on student identities in integrated curricular contexts.
