Mary Ann Cappiello
Professional Title: Associate Professor
Areas of Academic Focus and Expertise:
Multimodal, multigenre text sets in language arts and content areas; nonfiction literature for children and young adults; the history of children's and young adult literature; school transition to the Common Core; primary source materials as reading scaffolds in social studies and language arts
Area of Work and Concentration at Lesley: Children's literature; nonfiction; literacy
Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:
Literature for Children and Young Adults; Exploring Nonfiction in the Elementary and Middle School Classroom; Content Literacy; Advanced Children's Literature
Education: Ed.D., Ed. M., M.A., Teachers College, Columbia University; B.A., Haverford College
Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:
Recent Publications
- Cappiello, M.A., Dawes, E. (October 2012) Teaching with text sets. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.
- Cappiello, M.A., Dawes, E.T. & Enriquez, G. (2011). Children’s literature reviews: The right to not defend your tastes. Language Arts. 88 (3), 244-249.
- Cappiello, M.A. (Fall, 2009). 927 Fifth Avenue vs. Pale Male: A framework for building a nonfiction text set for a critical literacy curriculum. Dragon Lode: Journal of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group of the International Reading Association. 28 (1), 42-51.
Selected Recent Presentations
- “Reading and Writing Multigenre Texts.” Cambridge, MA. July, 2012. The Language of Teaching: Planning, Instructing, and Assessing Writing, K-8, Summer Institute, Lesley University Center for Reading Recovery & Literacy Collaborative.
- “Common Core and Your Library: 10 Critical Concepts.” April, 2012. Webinar, with Marc Aronson, Myra Zarnowski, and Capstone Press.
- “Nonfiction and the Common Core: Opportunities Abound.” Midway, UT. February 2012. For the Love of Reading Literacy Conference.
- "Lessons from Literature: Building the Teacher-Librarian Team.” Midway, UT. February 2012. For the Love of Reading Literacy Conference.
- “Nonfiction and the Common Core” Keynote Panel. San Juan, Puerto Rico. January 2012. Educational Book and Media Association Annual Meeting.
Mary Ann is passionate about providing children and young adults with authentic reading, writing, listening, and speaking opportunities. After spending over a decade teaching language arts and the humanities in public schools, Mary Ann transforms theory into practice in her literacy courses at Lesley, asking teachers to engage deeply with content, examine pedagogical choices, and consider a range of perspectives within and outside of the classroom. In collaboration with Lesley colleague and coauthor Erika Thulin Dawes, Mary Ann has created instructional models for strategically organizing children’s and young adult literature of all genres, along with multimodal digital texts, at center of classroom inquiry in language arts and the content areas.
As part of the “Uncommon Corps” with Marc Aronson of Rutgers University, and Myra Zarnowski of Queens College, City University of New York, Mary Ann has been speaking to children’s book publishers, policy makers, librarians, teachers, and teacher educators about the potential of nonfiction literature to transform classrooms and help schools meet the expectations of the Common Core State Standards.
Specialist Teacher of Reading Programs at Lesley
Literacy Programs at Lesley
mcappiel@lesley.edu