I grew up in the rural southeastern United States. Like most children who grew up to be English teachers, I loved to read. And when I would tell my momma that I was bored, she replied, “go write.” So I did.

When I was eighteen-years-old and left my small town, I knew I wanted to be an English teacher. But leaving my rural world made me realize that I sounded different from other people. Strangers would point out my Southern accent and proceed to tell me who I was because of it. That same decade, when I started teaching, I heard others talk about who my students were because of the language they used. I wasn’t buying it.

I knew language was more complicated than simple stereotypes and dead rules in musty books. I just didn’t know how to tell people what my gut knew.

So I kept going to school to find the answers.

Over the years, I earned three degrees in English Education (bachelors, masters, and Ph.D.–the last degree from The University of Virginia). When I began my career in the university classroom where I prepare future secondary English teacher, I started my research on how grammar and linguistic instruction can help students become thoughtful creators and consumers of the English language. 

And over twenty years later, here we are.