Chair

Open

Program Chair

John Burrell

University of Connecticut

john.burrell@uconn.edu

John Burrell is a fifth-year doctoral candidate at the Renzulli Center for Creativity, Giftedness, and Talent Development at the University of Connecticut. He has ten years of experience teaching middle school and high school math, science, and study skills, including three years with twice-exceptional students. His research interests involve seeing students and systems that have been historically misunderstood more clearly. John currently serves as a research assistant on Project EAGLE, a $2.9 million project developing equitable approaches to identifying gifted English Learners (ELs), and his dissertation explores contextual predictors of attention and learning among gifted-identified students with ADHD. He looks forward to supporting the SIG’s digital presence and engagement.

Secretary / Treasurer

Dr. Lisa Johnson

Old Dominion University

johnsonlisarose@gmail.com

Dr. Johnson is an assistant teaching professor at Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia. Before transitioning to higher education, she spent nearly 20 years working as an ESL and Special Education classroom teacher at the elementary and middle school levels in southern New Jersey and in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. At ODU, she serves as the program coordinator for the Adaptive Curriculum Certification track, where she advises graduate students seeking an endorsement or master’s degree in special education. She is the advisor for the Student Council for Exceptional Children and is the Virginia TESOL Blog editor and Virginia Council for Exceptional Children Treasurer. Dr. Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Loyola College in Maryland, a Master of Education degree in Elementary Education, and a second M.A. degree in Educational Psychology from Louisiana Tech University. She earned her Ed.D. in Special Education from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Additionally, while she was working in the classroom, she earned her ESL and Supervisor endorsements from Stockton University in Pomona, NJ. Dr. Johnson currently serves as the treasurer/secretary of the Constructivist Research Theory and Practice SIG of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Her work focuses on asset-based language, asset mapping of communities related to transition special education services, social-emotional learning, and creating inclusive spaces that meet the needs of students with disabilities and multilingual learners.

Immediate Past Chair

Dr. Annemarie Kaczmarczyk

Mercer University

kaczmarczyk_ab@mercer.edu

Dr. Annemarie Kaczmarczyk is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at Mercer University. She earned her Ph.D. in Education with a certificate in Urban Education, as well as an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and a B.S. in Elementary Education, all from the University of Central Florida. Her teaching focuses on preparing preservice and in-service teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse learners and to integrate literacy across content areas. Passionate about student growth, she emphasizes reflection and discussion in her courses. Her research explores teacher preparation, teacher identity, and critical issues in education, with a focus on social justice in children’s literature.

Webmaster

Johna Wright

Mercer University

wright_ja@mercer.edu

Johna Wright is a Ph.D. student in Educational Leadership at Mercer University and an instructor of integrative studies. Her research explores disability in higher education, playful and constructivist learning, belonging, and self-advocacy. As a blind and autistic educator-scholar, she is especially interested in how learning environments can move beyond access as compliance to foster agency, joy, and meaningful participation. Her work connects play, exploration, and socially constructed learning to teaching and learning across the lifespan. She serves as Webmaster for AERA’s Constructivist Research Theory and Practice SIG.

Social Media Manager

Ming Chen

University of Bristol

ming.chen@bristol.ac.uk

Ming Chen is a PhD candidate at the University of Bristol. His research focuses on technology-enhanced learning, with particular interests in computer-assisted language learning and learning design from a constructivist perspective. He is happy to support communication within the SIG and to help connect with a broader international academic community.