For the past five years, Dr. Barbara Cruz has worked closely with Dr. Stephen Thornton. Together, they have published a number of journal articles on social studies instruction and English language learners. Their book, Teaching Social Studies to English Language Learners, is now in its second edition. Many of the strategies called for in their book are evident in Gateway to Social Studies, their textbook for middle school students. They are also editors of the Routledge series, “Teaching ELLs across the Content Areas,” the first of its kind.
Starting with his Ph.D. dissertation at Stanford, which won the Association for Supervision and Curriculum award for Outstanding Dissertation in Curriculum, Dr. Thornton has explored and written about the enacted curriculum of classrooms. His Teaching Social Studies That Matters (Teachers College Press, 2005), which traces the ramifications of curricular-instructional gatekeeping, won a Choice Award from the American Library Association. He has been invited to speak about curricular-instructional gatekeeping across much of the world, including Spain, Japan, and Singapore.
In addition to scholarly works, Dr. Cruz has published a number of young adult biographies of inspirational Hispanics (such as Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and Rubén Blades) and developed curriculums on Latin America and the Caribbean. She is the author of César Chávez: A Voice for Farm Workers and Multiethnic Teens and Cultural Identity, for which she received the Carter G. Woodson Book Award.
Dr. Cruz is a frequent presenter at professional conferences, colloquia, and K-12 schools. With the goal of serving as a Latina role model and mentor as well as familiarizing people with the important contributions of Hispanics, Dr. Cruz participates in annual Hispanic Heritage celebrations. She is the recipient of numerous teaching, research and service awards.
Dr. Thornton is also, with David J. Flinders, editor of the Curriculum Studies Reader. Also with Routledge, the fourth edition of the Reader was published in November 2012.
