Mike Rose (educator)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mike Rose (born 1941) is a nationally recognized American education scholar and is noted for his significant contribution to the study of literacy and for his insights into the struggles of working-class America. Currently, Rose is Professor of Social Research Methodology in the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.
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[edit] Early Life
Mike Rose was born in 1941 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, to Italian immigrants Tommy Rose and Rose Meraglio. At the age of seven, Rose’s family relocated to a working-class neighborhood in south Los Angeles. Labeled early on as a mediocre student, Rose drifted uneventfully through most of his early education. However, an excellent score on a high school placement exam and a group of dedicated teachers soon pushed Rose to reevaluate himself. This change in perspective proved to be a turning point for Rose who would then go on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University and win a graduate fellowship in English at UCLA.
[edit] Career as a Teacher
In time Rose become disaffected with academia and left graduate study to embark on a series of jobs teaching writing to underprivileged and underprepared students in inner-city L.A. Over the next several years Rose would teach everything from elementary writing to basic adult literacy. In time, Rose accepted a position as a director at UCLA’s tutoring center where he was instrumental in shaping tutor training and policy. In 1981 Rose received his PhD in education from UCLA and was hired as a faculty member in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Mike Rose has been teaching for over twenty-five years.
[edit] Contributions to the Field of Education
Arguably Rose’s most significant contribution is his reevaluation of remedial writers. In his bestselling book, Lives on the Boundary, Rose argues that remedial students lack literacy skills not through a shortage of intelligence but through want of supportive social and economic conditions. Rose challenges educators to have increased confidence in such students and calls for greater equality in educational opportunities.
In addition, Rose’s work has questioned prevailing methods of teaching literacy to underprepared students. Rose questions the effectiveness of curriculums that are primarily focused on grammar and usage. Instead, Rose argues that basic writers should be pushed to engage in meaningful composition that draws on critical thinking.
[edit] Awards
Rose’s research has been widely recognized and he is the recipient of the National Council of Teachers of English David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English, UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grawemeyer Award in Education, and the Commonwealth Club of California Award for Literary Excellence in Nonfiction.
[edit] Books
An Open Language: Selected Writing on Literacy, Learning, and Opportunity (2006)—a collection of essays exploring various subjects on education
The Mind At Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker (2004)—a study exploring the complex thinking involved in common labor
Literacy a Critical Sourcebook, with Ellen Cushman, Barry Kroll, and Eugene R. Kintgen (2001)—a collection of essays exploring the use and acquisition of reading and writing
Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America (1999)—an exploration into the problems and potential of education in America
Critical Strategies for Academic Thinking and Writing, with Malcolm Kiniry (Third Edition, 1997)—a college textbook that outlines six effective strategies for thinking and writing
Lives on the Boundary (1989)—a semi-autobiographical account detailing the struggles and challenges of educationally underprepared students
Perspectives on Literacy, editor, with Eugene R. Kintgen and Barry M. Kroll (1988)—a collection of essays focused on writing and its larger dimensions
When a Writer Can’t Write: Studies in Writer’s Block and Other Composing Problems (1985)—an examination of the social and mental barriers that impede writing
Writer’s Block: The Cognitive Dimension (1984)—study exploring thought patterns that hinder composition
[edit] References
Mike Rose, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
Rose, Mike. Lives on the Boundary. New York: Penguin Books, 2005
