Penn State's College of Education is regularly ranked among the nation's best graduate schools, according to U.S. News & World Report, and the online courses for the master of education degree in curriculum and instruction—children's literature and the graduate certificate in children's literature are taught by the same nationally recognized faculty.
Debra Freedman, Ph.D.
Dr. Freedman is a former middle school teacher. Her research interests include curriculum theory, supervisory practices, and cultural studies. In addition, Dr. Freedman is interested in teacher education—specifically, critical pedagogical strategies and mentoring practices of cooperating teachers with preservice teachers. She teaches undergraduate courses in secondary education and graduate courses in curriculum, supervision, and research.
Dan Hade, Ph.D.
Dr. Hade is an associate professor of language and literacy education, specializing in literature for children and young adults. He has lectured across the country and in Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, and South Korea. He is a former editor of the Journal of Children's Literature and serves on the editorial board of The Lion and the Unicorn. Prior to university teaching, he worked in schools in Iowa and Minnesota, where he taught fifth grade and was an elementary school library/media specialist, a gifted and talented teacher, and a junior high school basketball and track and field coach.
Lisa Hopkins, Ph.D.
Dr. Hopkins is an assistant professor of education specializing in literature for children and teaches full time in the World Campus children’s literature program. She joined the faculty at Penn State in 2007. Prior to her doctoral work at Penn State, she taught English, served as an academic adviser, and directed a reading/writing center at North Florida Community College in Madison, Florida. As a graduate teaching assistant at Florida State University, she taught freshman English composition and tutored in the reading/writing center. She has also worked as a technical writer for software development companies. Her research interests include multicultural poetry for children and the development of critical consciousness.
