The Literacy Research Centre
Research Background and Interests
Robin Bright's teaching career began in January 1981 when she accepted her first position with the Lethbridge School District. While she was a Modern Languages major at university, her first teaching job found her in a grade one classroom populated mostly by English-as-a-second-language six-year-olds. She quickly developed an interest in and a love for how children view the exhilarating yet often confusing world of print. Robin learned much from her elementary school teaching colleagues including the understanding that, “teachers at all levels of education have more in common than we think” (Palmer, 1998, p. 6).
Robin's passion for how children develop as readers and writers drew her to research and later, after teaching school for 10 years, to choose a life as a researcher, writer and teacher working with preservice teachers, practicing teachers, parents, children and colleagues. Robin was presented with the University of Lethbridge Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005 and knows that such recognition is only possible with the care, passion and support of colleagues, students and my family.
Current Work / Publications
Being a member of the Faculty of Education, “committed to preparing learners and teachers for the present world and for a better world in the future” (University of Lethbridge Calendar, 2000, p. 137), her career provides her with opportunities to engage preservice teachers in language and literacy education in multiple and diverse ways. Specifically, she researches and teaches in the areas of Early Childhood/Elementary Education, Teacher Professional Development, Writing, Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Teens’ Use and Understanding of New Literacies and Technology.
Robin's current work, as a co-researcher with Dr. Mary Dyck, focuses on the online technology use and cyberbullying among teens in rural Alberta and findings are posted on www.cybertalk.ca. In addition, she is involved in a project related to teens’ reading habits and perceptions of traditional and new literacies to further their literacy development.
Recent Publications:
- Tompkins, G., Bright, R., Pollard, M., & Winsor, P. (2011). Language Arts: Content and Teaching Strategies (5th Ed.). Scarborough, ON: Pearson Education.
- Bright, R. (2007). Write Through the Grades: Teaching Writing in Secondary School (What Research, Teens and Teachers Tell Us). Winnipeg, MB: Portage & Main Press.
- Bright R. (2002). Write from the Start: Writer's Workshop in the Primary Grades. Winnipeg, MB: Portage & Main Press.
- Bright, R. (2006). Literacy Backpacks in teacher education: Launching support for family literacy. Journal of Reading Education, Vol. 3 1(2), 24-34. (Winner of the Outstanding Article Award 2006-2007.