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Roxanne Henkin

Professor Emeritus, Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching

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Bio

Dr. Roxanne Henkin is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning & Teaching at The University of Texas at San Antonio. Dr. Henkin’s research interests include multiliteracies and multimodal digital literacies, children’s literature, confronting bullying through literacy, critical literacy for social justice, writing process and instruction, and global in-service staff development in literacy. She has published many articles and two books, Who’s Invited to Share: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice and Confronting Bullying: Literacy as a Tool for Character Education, both published by Heinemann. Dr. Henkin is a Past-President of Literacies and Languages for All. She was also the lead co-editor of the journal Voices from the Middle (2006-2011). She has received many awards including the 2020 Literacies and Languages for All Lifetime Membership Award, the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award from Niles North High School in Skokie, Illinois, the 2020 NCTE LGBTQ+ Advocacy and Leadership Award, and the 2022 Literacies and Languages for All Service Award. Dr. Henkin created and is Director Emeritus of the San Antonio Writing Project. She has helped to create and teach writing projects in the US, South Africa, India, the Philippines, and Kazakhstan.

 

Teaching

  • Literacy Education
  • Writing Workshop

 

Research Interests

  • Critical Literacy
  • Cuentos
  • Teaching of Writing

 

Degrees

  • Ed.D., Curriculum and Instruction, Reading, Northern Illinois University, 1990
  • M.S.Ed. in Reading, Northern Illinois University, 1983
  • B.S.Ed. (Magna Cum Laude), Northern Illinois University, 1972

 

Honors and Awards

  • Literacies and Languages for All Service Award
    • Year Awarded: 2022
  • National Council of Teachers of English LGBTQ+ Advocacy and Leadership Award
    • Year Awarded: 2020
  • Literacies and Languages for All Lifetime Membership Award
    • Year Awarded: 2020
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award, Niles North High School (Skokie, Il)
    • Year Awarded: 2020
  • Past President, Literacies, and Languages for All
    • Year Awarded: (Nov 2019-Nov 2020)
  • President, Literacies and Languages for All (formerly Whole Language Umbrella)
    • Year Awarded: (June-Nov) 2019
  • President, Whole Language Umbrella, an International Literacy Association
    • Year Awarded: 2017, 2018, 2019
  • National Council of Teachers of English Executive Committee
    • Year Awarded: 2017, 2018, 2019
  • President-Elect, Whole Language Umbrella, an International Literacy Association
    • Year Awarded: 2016-2017
  • Elected to President-Elect leading to President of the Whole Language Umbrella, an International Literacy Association
    • Year Awarded: 2016
  • Awarded the title Professor Emeritus from the University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2016
  • The Outstanding Literacy Alumni Award from the Department of Literacy and Elementary Education in the College of Education at Northern Illinois University
    • Year Awarded: 2015
  • Faculty Leave awarded by the University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2015
  • Faculty Row’s Super Professor
    • Year Awarded: 2015
  • Faculty Awards, Most Helpful to Students Award, University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2015
  • University nominee for the Regents Outstanding Teaching Award for Full Professors, University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Nominated: 2015
  • Nominated to run for Vice-President leading to President of the National Council of Teachers of English
    • Year Nominated: 2014
  • Top 25 Education Professors in Texas
    • Year Awarded: 2013
  • Headline Award for Excellence in Education, The Association for Woman in Communication San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2012
  • Award for significant contributions as the Coeditor of Voices from the Middle 2006-2011, The National Council of Teachers of English
    • Year Awarded: 2011
  • Top 50 Blogs for Education Professors
    • Year Awarded: 2011
  • Pi Lambda Theta: The Most Honorary of Honorary Societies
    • Year Awarded: 2010
  • The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International 2010 Eta Beta Local Chapter
    • Year Awarded: 2010
  • National Council of Teachers of English Richard Halle Award for Outstanding Contributions to Middle School Education
    • Year Awarded: 2009
  • President’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Excellence in Community Service, The University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2009
  • Distinguished Achievement Award—Excellence in Community Service, College of Education and Human Development, The University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2009
  • Distinguished Achievement Award--Teaching Excellence Award for Tenured Faculty, College of Education and Human Development, The University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2008
  • The Department of Interdisciplinary Learning & Teaching at UTSA, EC-6 Program received The International Reading Association’s Certificate of Distinction
    • Year Awarded: 2008
  • Certificate of Appreciation from the College of Education and Human Development, The University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2008
  • Distinguished Achievement Award--Teaching Excellence Award for Tenured Faculty, College of Education and Human Development, The University of Texas at San Antonio
    • Year Awarded: 2007
  • Director, San Antonio Writing Project
    • Year Awarded: 2006
  • Co-Editor (with Janis Harmon & Elizabeth Pate) of the NCTE Journal, Voices From the Middle.
    • Year Awarded: 2005-2011
  • Advisory Board Member, The Marco Polo Foundation, Read/write/think.org,
    • Year Awarded: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
  • Invited to advise The National Commission on Writing, US Government,
    • Year Awarded: 2004.
  • Elected to the NCTE Middle Level Steering Committee (Board of Directors)
    • Year Awarded: 2001-2005
  • Elected to the NCTE Middle Level Steering Committee Co-Assistant Chair
    • Year Awarded: 2001-2003 & 2003-2004
  • National-Louis University, Outstanding Teachers Award
    • Year Awarded: 2001
  • Chair, The NCTE Whole Language Umbrella Conference, Chicago
    • Year Awarded: 2001
  • Nominated for the 2000 James Britton Award for Outstanding Literacy Book: Henkin, R. (1998). Who’s Invited to Share: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
    • Year Nominated: 2000
  • Nominated for NLU's Outstanding Educator of the Year.
    • Year Nominated: 2000, 1995, 1993, 
  • Elected Board Member. CELT (Center for Expansion of Thinking and Learning) An International Literacy Think-Tank.
    • Year Awarded: 1998-2007
  • CELT Rejuvenation Conference Co-Chair with Sandra Wilde, Pushing the Boundaries of Diversity, Seaside, Oregon
    • Year Awarded: July 1997
  • National Council of Teachers of English Spring Conference Elementary Chair in Minneapolis
    • Year Awarded: 1995
  • Elected President of The Illinois Language & Literacy Council of The Illinois Reading Council
    • Year Awarded: 1995
  • Nominated to run for the National Council of Teachers of English Vice-President (leading to President)
    • Year Nominated: 1994
  • Elected into CELT (Center for Expansion of Thinking and Learning). An International Literacy Think-Tank
    • Year Awarded: 1993
  • Elected to the NCTE Elementary Section Steering Committee (Board of Directors)
    • Year Awarded: 1988-1992
  • Listed in Who's Who in the Midwest
    • Year Awarded: 1989
  • Listed in Who's Who of the Women in the World
    • Year Awarded: 1989
  • Elected to membership in Phi Delta Kappa
    • Year Awarded: 1989
  • Listed in Who's Who in American Education
    • Year Awarded: 1988
  • Elected to membership in Kappa Delta Pi: An Honor Society in Education
    • Year Awarded: 1987
  • Illinois Master Teacher Award: $1,000 cash award
    • Year Awarded: 1984

Presentations

Invited &/Or Keynote Speaker

  • Invited Speaker and Workshop Leader with Aurelia de Silva
    • Location: Dreeben School of Education, Incarnate Word University, San Antonio, TX
    • Presentation Date: Fall, 2024
  • Invited Speaker, The Sciences of Reading
    • Location: University of Wisconsin Early Childhood Professors Writing Group
    • Presentation Date: July 2023
  • Invited Keynote Speaker, Teaching for Equity and Social Justice: My 50+ Year Career in Literacy, 2023. 
    • Location: Honors Convocation, Dreeben School of Education, Incarnate Word University, San Antonio, TX
    • Presentation Date: April 25, 2023.
  • Invited Speaker with Aurelia de Silva, Si Se Puede, Mini-Conference to Celebrate Cesar Chavez’s Birthday
    • Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico
    • Presentation Date: April 1, 2023
  • Invited Speaker and Workshop Leader with Aurelia de Silva
    • Location: Monte Del Sol Charter School, Santa Fe, New Mexico, (on Zoom and in person)
    • Presentation Date: February-April, 2023
  • Invited Speaker, Writing to Heal with Hanlie Dippenaar, Western Cape, South Africa Writing Project
    • Location: (Zoom)
    • Presentation Date: August 2021
  • Invited Speaker and Workshop Leader with Aurelia de Silva. Foothill College Memoir Writing Class, Creating Cuentos: If you don’t tell your story, who will?
    • Location: (Zoom full day workshop with participants from the San Francisco Bay Area and San Antonio, Texas)
    • Presentation Date:  July 2021
  • Invited Speaker, Right to Write
    • Location: Live-Streaming from China, (Philippines Platform on Kumu with Reeve Rivera)
    • Presentation Date: December 2020
  • Invited Speaker, The Cuentos Project, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan, (Zoom),
    • Presentation Date: November 2020
  • Invited Address, The Writing Workshop in English
    • Location: The National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan
    • Presentation Date: September 2019
  • Keynote Speaker, Emergent Literacy in English
    • Location: The 20th Annual Taiwan TAWL Conference, The National University of Tainan, Taiwan
    • Presentation Date: September 2019
  • Presidential Address, LLA Literacies for All Summer Institute
    • Location: Columbia, South Carolina
    • Presentation Date:  July 2019
  • Introduction of Peter and Paul Reynolds
    • Location: NCTE Annual Convention, Houston, TX
    • Presentation Date: November 2018
  • Presidential Address, WLU Literacies for All Summer Institute
    • Location: Baltimore, MD,
    • Presentation Date: July 2018
  • Living the Writing Workshop
    • Location: Northeast Lakeview College
    • Presentation Date: November 2017
  • Invited Speaker, Nazarbayev University
    • Location: Astana, Kazakhstan
    • Presentation Date: October 2017
  • Invited Speaker, National Eurasian National University
    •  Location: Astana, Kazakhstan
    • Presentation Date: October 2017
  • Invited Speaker, Nazarbayev University
    • Location: Astana, Kazakhstan (Skype)
    • Presentation Date: November 2016
  • Invited Speaker, Philippines Writing Project
    • Location: Manila, Philippines
    • Presentation Date: October 2016.
  • Invited Speaker, Gowri Iyengar's Bharatanatyam Arangetram, San Antonio, TX
    • Presentation Date: August 2016
  • Invited Speaker, The International Writing Projects of the San Antonio Writing Project
    • Location: Mahela Sammellan Annual Conference, San Antonio, Texas
    • Presentation Date:  July 2016
  • Invited Speaker, A Parent’s Guide to Confronting Bullying Through Literacy
    • Location: Igo Library, San Antonio, Texas,
    • Presentation Date: April 2016
  • Invited Speaker, Read Alouds, DR-TA’s, LEA & The 5 Steps to Word Identification—How Can We Build on Children’s Funds of Knowledge to Promote Literacy in Young Children?
    • Location: UTSA Early Childhood Conference
    • Presentation Date: April 2016
  • Invited Speaker, Bullying and Cyberbullying, Temple Beth El
    • Presentation Date: March 2016

 

Refereed Paper Presentations

  • Conexiones: Communicating, Collaborating and Preserving our Family Stories through the Creation of Cuentos. NCTE Annual Convention, Columbus, Ohio, November 2023. With Alfredo Celedon Luhan and Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Engaging Writing and Literacy Experiences: Preserving Our Family Stories through the Creation of Cuentos. Literacies and Languages Summer Institute, Virtual Event, July 14th, 2023. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Preserving our Family Stories through the Creation of Cuentos. CELT Mini-Rejuvenation Virtual Event, June 23, 2023. With Aurelia Davila de Silva
  • Book Discussion in Memory of Dr. Sandra Wilde. CELT Mini-Rejuvenation Virtual Event, June 23, 2023. With Aurelia Davila de Silva
  • Cuentos: A Path to the Creative Processs for Discovering Our Suenos, the Light in Our Dreams. NCTE Annual Convention, Annaheim, CA, November 2022. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • A Conversation with author Russell Sanders, NCTE Annual Convention, Anaheim, CA, November 2022.
  • Cuentos: Discovering our Creative Process by Listening Intently, Learning from, and Creating Art with Community Artists, NCTE Homecoming, LLA Summer Institute, Louisville, KY, July 2022. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Cuentos: Uncovering Global Portraits of Equity, Justice and Anti-Racist Teaching. NCTE Annual Convention, Virtual Conference, November 2021. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Creating Cuentos with LGBTQ+ Youth. NCTE Annual Convention, Virtual Conference, November 2021. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Creating Cuentos as a Vehicle for Social Justice and Action, Literacies and Languages for All Summer Institute, Virtual Conference, July 2021. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Personal Cuentos in School, Local, National, and Global Communities: Lo Que Cuenta, What Counts?, NCTE Annual Convention, Virtual Conference, November 2020. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • The Story of LGBTQ+ Activism in NCTE, NCTE Annual Convention, Virtual Conference November 2020. With Debra Goodman.
  • Whole Language in the 21st Century, NCTE Annual Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, November 2019.
  • Changing the World Peacefully: Global Conversations, Insights, and Reflections from the San Antonio Writing Project, Literacies for All Summer Institute, Columbia, South Carolina, 2019. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Whole Language in the 21st Century, Literacies for All Summer Institute, Columbia, South Carolina, 2019.
  • Raising Students’ Voices about Bullying: Speaking Out for Equity and Justice, NCTE Annual Convention, Houston, TX, 2018. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Sustaining Hope When Encountering Bullying, Literacies for All Summer Institute, Baltimore, MD, 2018. With Aurelia Davila de Silva.
  • Recapturing Our Voices: Sharing Stories about Bullying and Using Literacy to Help our students reimagine and make change in the world, NCTE Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, 2017
  • Queering English Studies: Navigating Politics, Policies, and Practices in ELA Learning Spaces, NCTE Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, 2017
  • “…to do what has to be done, again and again (Marge Piercy),” NCTE Town Hall, NCTE Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, 2017 (Representing LGBTQ+ and Jewish issues)
  • Stonewall Award Winning Books: Perspectives from LGBTQ Youth (With Marcos Antuna & Janis Harmon), NCTE Annual Conference, St. Louis, MO, 2017
  • Global Conversations: Sharing Stories About Bullying and Using Literacy to Promote Change in Their Worlds, Literacies for All Conference, Tucson, Arizona, 2017
  • Advocating for Change: Challenging the Microaggressions Involved with Bullying, NCTE Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, 2016
  • But Does It Make a Difference? What High School and Preservice Teachers Say about Stonewall Award Winning Books, (With Marcos Antuna & Janis Harmon), NCTE Annual Conference, 2016
  • The Stonewall Award Winning Books: Reflections from High School Students and Preservice Teachers (with Marcos Antuna), Literacies for All Conference, St. Louis, 2016.

Grants, Patents and Clinical Trials

  • San Antonio Writing Project Write for Texas grant from Texas Education Agency
    • Total Amount: $100,000
    • Duration: 2016
  • Seed Invitational Leadership Institute to Invest in Developing New Teacher-Leaders, NWP
    • Total Amount: $15,000
    • Duration: 2016
  • Seed Advanced Institute to Scale Up the NWP College-Ready Writers Program grant (Lennie Irvin)
    • Total Amount: $20,000
    • Duration: 2016
  • Spurs Family Calendars Grant
    • Total Amount: $3500
    • Duration: 2016
  • North East ISD, contract
    • Total Amount: $68,000
    • Duration: 2015
  • San Antonio Writing Project Write for Texas grant from Texas Education Agency
    • Total Amount: $100,000
    • Duration: 2015
  • San Antonio Writing Project Professional Leadership grant from National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $10,000
    • Duration: 2015
  • San Antonio Writing Project Write for Texas Travel contract
    • Total Amount: $4000.00
    • Duration: 2015
  • San Antonio Writing Project, Uvalde ISD contract
    • Total Amount: $9,000.00
    • Duration: 2015
  • 2015 San Antonio Writing Project, Harlandale ISD contract
    • Total Amount: $2,200.00
    • Duration: 2015
  • Co-PI The San Antonio Pathway to the Health Professions or Health Careers Opportunity Program grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Roger Enriquez, PI
    • Total Amount: $1.86 million
    • Duration: 2015
  • San Antonio Writing Project Write for Texas grant from Texas Education Agency
    • Total Amount: $360,000
    • Duration: 2014
  • San Antonio Writing Project Professional Leadership grant from National Writing Project 
    • Total Amount: $10,000
    • Duration: 2014
  • San Antonio Writing Project Seed Grant for High Needs School from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $20, 000
    • Duration: 2013
  • San Antonio Writing Project Seed Grant for Professional Leadership from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $20,000
    • Duration: 2012
  • San Antonio Writing Project Seed Grant for High Needs School from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $20,000
    • Duration: 2012
  • San Antonio Writing Project grant from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $35, 000
    • Duration: 2011
  • Special Grant from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $1500.00
    • Duration: 2011
  • San Antonio Writing Project grant from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $46,000
    • Duration: 2010
  • San Antonio Writing Project grant from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $46,000
    • Duration: 2009
  • San Antonio Writing Project grant from The National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $43,000
    • Duration: 2008
  • Special Grant from the National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $1500
    • Duration: 2008
  • San Antonio Writing Project grant from The National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $45,000
    • Duration: 2007
  • San Antonio Writing Project grant from The National Writing Project
    • Total Amount: $30,000
    • Duration: 2006
  • Part of the team for the three-year, Teacher Quality Professional Development Reading Grant from the Department of Education. The title of the grant is “Teaching Teachers to Teach Critical Reading Skills (CREST) through an Intensive Professional Development Model.” Misty Sailors & Janis Harmon, co-principal investigators
    • Total Amount: $1.2 million
    • Duration: 2005
  • Grant from the Academy of Teacher Excellence (ATE), Concept Paper (with Leann Steinmetz)
    • Total Amount: $1000.00
    • Duration: 2004

Publications

  • Henkin, R. (2005). Confronting Bullying: Literacy as a Tool for Character Education, Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
  • Henkin, R. (1998). Who’s Invited to Share: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. (Nominated for the 2000 James Britton Award for Outstanding Literacy Book). Refereed Publications Iyengar, K., & Henkin, R. (2019). Mohan's Mesosystem. South Asian Review special issue on Asian American Children: Growing Up in the Diaspora.
  • Antuna, M., Harmon, J., Henkin, R., Wood, K & Kester, K. (2018). The Stonewall books: LGBTQ-themed young adult novels as semiotic beacons. Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy (5,2).
  • Harmon, J., & Henkin, R. L. (2016). The Power of Books: Using Young Adult Literature to Teach Social Justice. Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy (3,2).
  • Dippenaar, H., Henkin, R., Logan, C., Ralfe, L. & Benn, M. (2016). Exploring writing institutes for teachers in South Africa. Journal for language teaching 50:1.
  • Iyengar, K., Henkin, R., & Chauhan, M. (2016). High school students’ creative writing texts: Culture, travel, relationships, life incidents, and Asian Indian epistemology. Researcher: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2(7), 31-58.
  • Henkin, R., Wilson, T., Paloma, R., Bippert, K., & Cataldo, R. (2016). Reflections and insights on the teaching of writing. Dev Sanskriti International Journal.
  • Harmon, J. & Henkin, R. (2016). The stonewall book awards for children and young adult literature 2010-2014: Memorable characters, current directions. The Alan Review.
  • Henkin, R., de Silva, A., CohenMiller, A., Alimzhanova, D. and Zhakupova, A. (2024). Cuentos: Uncovering Global Portraits of Equity, Justice and Anti-Racist Teaching. In Smith, H.L. and K. M. Iyengar (Eds.) Multilingual Language Arts for Multicultural Classrooms. San Diego, CA: Cognella Press.
  • Henkin, R. (2023). Vulnerability. In A. Cohen-Miller (Ed.) Life Changing Moments in Qualitative Social Justice Research: Transformational Learning, Vulnerability and Critical Self-Reflection.
  • Henkin, R. & K.M. Iyengar. (2023). Writing workshop: A model for students and educators. In K.M. Iyengar & Smith H.L. (Eds.) Teaching English writing: Approaches and support for classrooms: Young adults and mature learners. New York, NY: Sterling publishers.
  • Henkin, R., Mashala, M., Krishna Sharma, G., Gopal Sharma, P. (2022). Working across disciplinary and multicultural contexts. In CohenMiller, A. (Ed). Questions in qualitative social justice research in multicultural contexts. Milton Park, England, UK: Routledge.
  • Henkin, R. (2020). What teachers need to know about bullying and harassment especially with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students. In Smith, H.L. and K. M. Iyengar (Eds.) Diversity in society and schools. San Diego, CA: Cognella Press.
  • Blady, S. & Henkin, R. (2014). Padlets, weeblies & twitter: Incorporating multimodal digital literacies in the San Antonio writing project and in a 7th grade language arts classroom. In Fitzgerald, P. (ed.) Digital Tools for Writing Instruction in K-12 Settings: Student Perception and Experience. IGI-Global.
  • Blady, S. & Henkin, R. (2014). Reclaiming the joy of writing through wikis in Whitmore, K. & Meyer, R. (Eds.) Reclaiming Writing. New York, NY: Routledge