George Newell, Ph.D.

Professor

Contact Info:

• E-mail: newell.2@osu.edu
• Office: 267 Arps
• Phone: (614) 292-1844
• Fax: (614) 292-7695

Mailing Address:

• 1945 N. High St.
• Columbus, OH 43210-1172

Biographical Information:

While teaching high school English, Dr. Newell completed a master's degree in English education at the University of Pittsburgh. These experiences led him to the then emerging field of written composition, an area of teaching and educational research that he has pursued throughout his academic life. As a graduate student, he worked as a research assistant for the National Study of Secondary School Writing, taught in the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP) and received his Ph.D. in Programs in Writing, Reading, and Language from Stanford University in 1983. Dr. Newell's first academic position was teaching college composition. He received tenure as an English education professor at the University of Kentucky, and then arrived at The Ohio State University where he has been an English education and Adolescent Literacies professor since 1989. He currently teaches courses in the English language arts teacher education program on topics such as the teaching of writing, the teaching of literature, and teacher-inquiry. He also co-directs (with Dr. David Bloome) the Columbus Area Writing Project (CAWP) for which he also serves as technology liaison with the National Writing Project. At the advanced graduate level, Dr. Newell offers courses on research and practice in written composition and academic literacy. He lives in northwest Columbus with his wife, Mary Jo. They have two sons, George Jr. and Michael.

Education

• 1983 Stanford University, Ph.D. (Programs in Writing, Reading and Language)
• 1978 University of Pittsburgh, M.Ed. (English Education)
• 1973 St. Vincent College, Latrobe, PA. (English)

Research Biography

Dr. Newell's research has focused generally on investigations of the contexts of schooling and the cognitive, linguistic, and semiotics demands of school tasks, especially composing (in multimodalities) and learning in English and the content areas; examining the kinds of instructional support provided in undertaking those tasks; and assessing the knowledge and skills that result. His other projects have included studies of teachers' conceptions of writing instruction and literature teaching and how such conceptions shape the construction of their classroom curricula. For a number of years he has used activity theory to examine the contexts for learning to teach secondary English, the development of early career English teachers, and the nature of the support and mentoring they receive for such development. More recently Dr. Newell has been conducting a study (with Dr. David Bloome) with the support of a grant from The Battelle Endowment for Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) titled, "Composing in a New Key: How Multimodality Shapes Teaching and Learning." Dr. Newell has published in English Journal, English Education, Research in the Teaching of English, The Journal of Literacy Research, and Written Communication.

Activities and Honors

• 1984 National Council of Teachers of English Promising Research Award.
• 1993 Recipient, National Council of Teachers of English Research Foundation Grant.
• 2005-2006 Battelle Endowment Award for the Project: "Composing in a New Key: How Multimodality Shapes Teaching and Learning."

Selected Publications

• Newell, G.E., Koukis, S. & Boster, S.  (2006). Best practices in writing to learn. In Best Practices in Writing Instruction. In MacArthur, C.A. Graham, S., & Fitzgerald, J. (eds.) Guilford Publications
• Newell, G.E. (2005). Writing to learn: How alternative theories of school writing account for student performance. In MacArthur, C.A. Graham, S., & Fitzgerald, J. (eds.) Handbook of Writing Research. Guilford Publications.
• Newell, G.E., Gingrich, R., & Beumer Johnson, A. (2001). Considering the contexts for appropriating theoretical and practical tools for teaching middle and secondary English. Research in the Teaching of English. 35, 302-343.
• Newell, G. E. (1998). How much are we the wiser? Continuity and change in writing and learning in the content areas. In Calfee, R. & Spivey, N. (Eds.). Reading and Writing: The Contextual Connection. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
• Newell, G.E. & Holt, R. (1997). Autonomy and obligation in the teaching of literature: Teachers' classroom curriculum and departmental consensus. English Education , 29, 18-37.
• Newell, G.E. (1996). Reader-based and teacher-centered instructional tasks: Writing and learning about a short story in middle-track classrooms. Journal of Literacy Research , 28, 147-172.
• Newell, G.E. & Winograd, P. (1995).  Writing about and learning from history texts: The effects of task and academic ability. Research in the Teaching of English , 29, 133-163.

Courses

• Teaching Literature in the Secondary School
• Advanced Summer Institute on Multimodal Composing
• English Curriculum: Language and Composition
• Reflective Inquiry on Pedagogy
• Research and Theory in Written Composition
• Writing Development and Instruction in Multiple Contexts

Links:

• Columbus-Area Writing Project