Dr. Mark LaCelle-Peterson

Courses taught

You majored in what?

Scandinavian Studies was my first major at the University of Minnesota, after I competed that, I added an English major and a history minor as well. That’s why I spend my spare time studying medieval life and literature in northern Europe. I love learning about the past and reading sagas and stories written by people who lived long ago and who saw a different world from the one I know. I enjoy thinking with students and teachers about what we can gain from listening to the past, what we can see through others’ eyes.

How did you end up in education?

As an undergraduate student, I worked in a writing center, tutoring people in writing and working with students for who were learning English as a second or third language.  I was hooked on education in no time.  Nothing beats watching people develop confidence, abilities, and deeper awareness and appreciation of themselves and the world.  I became particularly interested in the relationships between culture and learning, language use and assessment, and cultural pluralism and institutional structure.  Wanting to understand more about what role education plays in both individual and societal development, I completed an M.A. degree in international development education.

What’s your favorite ‘academic’ question?

‘Why do I need to know this?’  Curriculum theory is one of my main areas of interest.  Students often wonder why the have to study the things they do, and I encourage them to ask that question.  Why Shakespeare?  Why history? Why algebra?  Those are great questions, and ‘because they are on the test’ is never a good enough answer.  The field of curriculum studies is about figuring out why we think some things are important enough to teach, and what good they do us, as individuals and as a society.  The answers to these questions get really interesting!  Studying about Anglo-Saxon England (NEH Summer Institute, 2004) and presentations on medieval studies in education have all grown out of this interest.

 Is that the only thing you are interested in?

No, I’m also interested in how language and culture make a difference in education, and in how education can help disparate groups of people (like the population of New York, or the US, for example) live together in a society that is fair and friendly.  I’m really into democratic theory in education, and into thinking about how Christian faith makes a difference in educational thought and practice.  Because of these interests, I am a big fan of historical figures like John Amos Comenius, John Wesley, N.S.F Grundtvig, Jane Addams, John Dewey, and Paulo Freire.  I do like some writers who are still alive, like Nel Noddings, Jane Roland Martin, Jonathan Kozol, Alfie Kohn, and David Smith.

What about fun?

Reading, cooking, and traveling are big interests, and long walks with the dog.  I’ve been reading mystery novels set in the middle ages lately.  Our family can never get enough travel; we’ve been to England a couple of times in the past few years, and are always looking for another travel adventure.

What have you done at Houghton?

I have taught a bunch of courses, worked in local schools supervising student teachers, helped gain national accreditation of our education programs (through the Teacher Education Accreditation Council, for which I sometimes now serve on site visit teams), and participated in the development of the College’s first graduate program in Education and latest undergraduate education major, TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).

Publications

LaCelle-Peterson, M. 2007. Claiming a place at the table: The Anglo-Saxons in the liberal arts curriculum.  Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching.  [forthcoming Fall 2007]

LaCelle-Peterson, M.  2002.  Review of Nordic Lights: Education for Nation and Civic Society in the Nordic Countries, 1850-2000.  (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society. 2001), published in the History of Education Quarterly, December 2002.

LaCelle-Peterson, M.  2000.  Choosing not to know:  How assessment policies and practices obscure the education of language minority students in U.S. schools.  in Assessment:  Social Practice and Social Product.  Ann Filer, ed.  London:  Routledge/Falmer Press.

LaCelle-Peterson, M. and P. VanFossen. 1998.  Creative democracy and teacher education:  The task before us.  Education and Culture  Fall, 1998  vol XV No. 1

Rivera, C, Vincent, C, Hafner, A, & LaCelle-Peterson, M. 1997. Statewide assessment programs: policies and practices for the inclusion of limited English proficient students. ERIC Digest  ERIC/AE Digest Series EDO-TM-97-02 March 1997. The Catholic University of America, Department of Education, ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation.

Rivera, C, Vincent, C, Hafner, A, & LaCelle-Peterson, M. 1997. Statewide assessment programs: policies and practices for the inclusion of limited English proficient students. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 5(13). Available at http://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=5&n=13.

Hursh, D, Gurney, H, LaCelle-Peterson, M and K. Ramdin.  1996.  From Miriam's Living Room to the Genesee Valley  Collaborative:  Working Together for Refom.  Theory into Practice  35(3) Summer 1996.

Cortez, A. and M. LaCelle-Peterson. 1995. A Guide for Planning Title VII Program Evaluation   1995  Washington, D.C.: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.

LaCelle-Peterson, M. and C. Rivera. 1994. Is it Real for All Kids? A Framework for Equitable Assessment Policies for English Language Learners. Harvard Educational Review. 64(1).

LaCelle-Peterson, M.  1994.  Moving Teaching to the Top of Individual and Institutional Agendas. in Faculty as Teachers:  Taking Stock of What We Know.  ed. Maryellen Weimer.  National Center on Postsecondary Teaching Learning and Assessment (Penn. State Univ.).

Finkelstein, M. and M. LaCelle-Peterson, ed.s.  1993.  Developing Senior Faculty as Teachers New Directions in Teaching and Learning No. 55.  Fall 1993. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

LaCelle-Peterson, M. and M. Finkelstein. 1993. Institutions Matter Campus Teaching Environments' Impact on Senior Faculty. in Developing Senior Faculty as Teachers M.J. Finkelstein and M.W. LaCelle-Peterson (ed.s) New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 55. Fall 1993. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Rivera, C. and M. LaCelle-Peterson. 1993. Will the National Education Goals Improve the Progress of English Language Learners? ERIC Digest ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, Washington, D.C., Center for Applied Linguistics. October 1993.

Finkelstein, M. and M. LaCelle-Peterson. 1992. New and Junior Faculty: A Review of the Literature, in Mary Deanne Sorcinelli and Ann Austin, ed.s. New Directions in Teaching and Learning. No. 50, Summer 1992, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Smith, M. and M. LaCelle-Peterson.  1992.  The Professor as Active Learner: Lessons from the New Jersey Master Faculty Program,  in To Improve the Academy 10, pp. 271-278, Stillwater OK: POD/New Forums Press.

Montero-Sieburth, M. and M. LaCelle-Peterson. 1992. Linking Critical Pedagogy to Bilingual Education: An Ethno-Historical Study Contextualizing School Policies in an Urban Community, in Critical Perspectives on Bilingual Education Research. (1992) R. Padilla and A. Benavides, ed.s. Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Review/Press.

Montero-Sieburth, M. and M. LaCelle-Peterson. 1991. Immigration and Schooling: An Ethno-Historical Account of Policy and Family Perspectives in an Urban Community. Anthropology and Education Quarterly 22(4) pages 300-325.