Nicole is an assistant professor of urban teacher education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her teaching and research focuses on the intersections between critical literacy and civic engagement across multiple contexts, including urban secondary English classrooms, grassroots youth organizations, and digital learning communities. Prior to earning her Ph.D. in urban schooling from the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies in 2012, she taught English language arts at a public high school in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. This experience sparked her passion for English education, which continued to grow as she taught at another public high school in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles and coordinated the UCLA Council of Youth Research, a university/school partnership that engages young people in research in their schools and communities in pursuit of educational and social justice. She also advocates for teacher leadership and critical digital literacy as a Connected Learning Ambassador for the National Writing Project.
Nicole Mirra
Publications
Articles
August 25, 2016
The Contradiction of Borderless Technology in a Border-Filled World
As I am slowly making my way through an analysis of the mission statements and strategic technology plans of the United States’ largest K-12 public school districts, one thing is becomingly increasingly...
Categories: Critical Perspectives, Digital LearningJune 23, 2016
Addressing School Leaders’ Connected Learning Concerns
I recently had the opportunity to talk about technology, equity, and learning with a group of administrators, coaches, and support staff in an urban school district during their end-of-year leadership summit. My...
Category: Connected LearningMay 19, 2016
The Power of Debate as Form of Civic Communication
In the popular imagination, debate is usually perceived in one of two ways — as a stuffy academic exercise (think policy wonks) or a raucous shouting match (think recent Republican presidential debates). Urban...
Categories: Digital Learning, EquityApril 25, 2016
Equitable Connected Learning Requires Diverse Research Perspectives
As a former high school English teacher in two large, urban school districts, I completely understand how educators, parents and policymakers who are wrestling each day with the most pressing issues facing...
Categories: Connected Learning, EquityApril 4, 2016
Designing Youth Participatory Action Research Pathways: Bringing YPAR to DML
Sometimes when you are immersed in a community and surrounded by friends with like-minded interests, beliefs, and ideas, you begin to forget that an entire world that does not understand your lingo...
Category: Digital LearningFebruary 25, 2016
Amplifying the Teacher Perspective on Connected Learning
This is my third post in a series exploring my journey to develop and teach a graduate “Multimodal Literacies” course for pre-service and in-service teachers based on the connected learning framework. (Here...
Categories: Connected Learning, Educational PracticeJanuary 18, 2016
#SlaveryWithASmile: How Twitter Can Raise Social Consciousness
I love Twitter. I love Twitter because it makes silly questions about dog pants go so viral that the President feels the need to weigh in with his opinion. I love Twitter...
Category: Digital CitizenshipDecember 21, 2015
What the Connected Learning Research Community Can Learn from YPAR
Last month, the two of us (along with our mentor, Dr. Ernest Morrell) celebrated the release of our book, Doing Youth Participatory Action Research: Transforming Inquiry with Researchers, Educators, and Youth. The...
Categories: Connected Learning, Equity, ResearchNovember 26, 2015
Blended, Hybrid, Flipped, Online: Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
This is my second post in a series exploring my journey to develop and teach a graduate “Multimodal Literacies” course for pre-service and in-service teachers based on the connected learning framework. You...
Category: Educational PracticeOctober 15, 2015
Connected Learning and Teacher Education, Part 1: Choosing Texts
In my last post, I described my rationale for developing a “New and Multimodal Literacies” course for pre-service and in-service teachers grounded in the principles of connected learning. Even though the start...
Categories: Connected Learning, Educational Practice