Current PhD Students
Olivia Coscarelli
Heeba Malik
Heeba Malik is a PhD student in the Curriculum and Pedagogy program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto. She holds a Master of Teaching from OISE and an Honours Bachelor of Applied Science in Early Childhood Studies from the University of Guelph-Humber. Her professional experiences span early childhood education, elementary teaching, post-secondary education, and educational research. Her research interests include equity, diversity, and inclusion in education, the integration of technology to support students with disabilities, and inclusive teaching practices. She is particularly interested in exploring how educational research, curriculum development, and innovative pedagogical approaches can contribute to more equitable and accessible learning environments for diverse learners.
Past MA & PhD Students
Leah Duncan
Leah Duncan is a part-time MA student in the Language and Literacies Education program at the University of Toronto. As an English and experiential education teacher with more than 10 years of experience, she is interested in elevating student voices in the classroom and fostering a learning environment in which her students' unique identities and multiliteracies are valued and enhanced. Her research interests include critical literacy, deficit discourse, and multimodal learning in academic secondary classrooms.
Paddy Watson
Paddy Watson is an educator, editor, coach, and writer. He is currently an MA student in the University of Toronto's CTL LLE program. He has taught in Manchester, Tokyo, and Vancouver. Paddy was the Vancouver Wave rugby team manager that won the 2021 Coastal Cup. He is interested in screenplay use in English classrooms and for English Language Learners connected to Critical Literacy approaches and frameworks. In his creative pursuits, Paddy has had several short stories published and is currently working on a novel manuscript. Contact him at paddy.watson@mail.utoronto.ca.
Riah Werner
Riah Werner is a Ph.D. candidate in Language and Literacies Education at the University of Toronto, where her research focuses on collaboratively developing arts-based language teaching pedagogies with Ivorian English teachers. She has taught and trained teachers in Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Ecuador, Thailand, and South Korea and has developed curricula for community action theatre and multimodal storytelling projects. She founded TESOL’s International’s Arts and Creativity Professional Learning Network.