Janet Wicker, Ph.D.
Professor of Education
Office: 300 Stanton Street House
Phone: (618) 537-6880
Education
Ph.D., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
M.S.Ed., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
B.A., Concordia University
Personal Quote
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
Groucho Marx
Teaching Interest
My teaching interest lies in preparing teacher candidates to teach children how to
read and improve the reading abilities of older children. I am also interested in
assisting classroom teachers to improve or extend their abilities to teach reading
to the students in their charge.
Research Interest
The main focus of my research has been reading and language acquisition and beginning
reading. Recently however, I have begun to expand my research interests to include
vocabulary and comprehension strategies in the upper grades.
Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is an art form balancing the knowledge of content and the ability to impart
that knowledge to others in ways they understand. Teachers need to use multiple strategies
and methods to ensure their students not only learn information, but make it their
own.
Committees
Undergraduate Council (2009 - present)
Strategic Planning Committee
Presentations
July 3, 2008 Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education World Conference—Vienna,
Austria Metro-East Teleconferencing and Teaching Project: Using Web-conferencing to Partner
High-Needs Classrooms with Pre-Service Teachers in Teacher EducationPrograms w/ Julie Tonsing-Meyer
September 26, 2008 Associated Colleges of Illinois—Chicago, IL Arts & Sciences Colloquium—Science
and Math Gender Equity Grant presentation w/Sally Baltz, Jamie Conway, Martha Eggers,
Linda Hoffman and Julie Tonsing-Meyer
September 25, 2009 Associated Colleges of Illinois—Chicago, IL Arts & Sciences Colloquium—Science
and Math Gender Equity Grant presentation w/Sally Baltz, Jamie Conway, Martha Eggers,
Linda Hoffman and Julie Tonsing-Meyer
September 30, 2011 CID/SID Lutheran Teachers Conference--Springfield, IL--Playing
your Trump Cards wisely--using vocabulary and background knowledge strategies to enhance
content literacy
Memberships
International Reading Association
Illinois Reading Council
Kappa Delta Pi
Phi Delta Kappa
Phi Kappa Phi