Fecho, Bob (raf2187)

My most recent work has been focused on teachers seeking to teach in dialogical ways within schools that are, to a lesser or greater degree, standardized. Building from Rosenblatt's transactional theory, the dialogical theories of Freire, Bakhtin, Hermans, and Nikulin, and theories of multiculturalism as suggested by Nieto, hooks, and Anzaldua, I ask what happens when teachers enter diverse contact zones seeking to dialogue but are constrained by standardized curriculums, book lists, testing, pacing, and the like? How, if at all, do they learn to become teachers invested in dialogue and inquiry within such contexts?

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1995, Reading Writing, & Literacy

M.A. Ed., Beaver College (now Acadia University), 1981, Composition

B.A., The Pennsylvania State University, 1974, English

Fecho, B., Coombs, D., Stewart, T.T., & Hawley, T. (2021, published October 1, 2020). Novice teachers embracing wobble in standardized schools: Using dialogue and inquiry for self-reflection and growth. New York: Routledge.

Fecho, B., & Clifton, J. (2017). Dialoguing across cultures, identities, and learning: Crosscurrents and complexities in literacy classrooms. New York: Routledge.

Beach, R., Appleman, D., Fecho, B., & Simon, R. (2016, 2021). Teaching literature to adolescents (3^rd & 4th editions). New York: Routledge.

Fecho, B. (2011). Teaching for the students: Habits of heart, mind, and practice in engaged classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press.

Fecho, B. (2011). Writing in the dialogical classroom: Students and teachers responding to the texts of their lives. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Fecho, B. (2004). “Is this English?”Race, language, and culture in the classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.  

Fecho, B., Falter, M., & Hong, X. (2016). Teaching outside the box and inside the standards: Making room for dialogue. New York: Teachers College Press.

Stewart, T.T., Coombs, D., Fecho, B., & Hawley, T. (2019, Online First, November 2020 hard copy). Embracing wobble: Exploring novice teachers’ efforts to enact dialogic literacy instruction, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

Fecho, B., & Lysaker, J. (2019). Dialogical transactions between schools and   communities. Psychology and Society, 11(1), 135-151.

Hong, X., Falter, M., & Fecho, B. (2016).  Embracing tension: Using Bakhtinian theory as a means for data analysis. Qualitative Research, 1468794116653800.

Coombs, D., Park, H. Y., & Fecho, B. (2014). A silence that wants to be heard: Suburban Korean American students in dialogue with invisibility. Race, Ethnicity, and Education, 17(2), 242-263.

Fecho, B. (2013). Globalization, localization, uncertainty and wobble: Implications for education. International Journal of Dialogical Science, 7(1), 115-128.

Fecho, B. (2013). Literacy practice and the dialogical self: Isaac making meaning, Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 26(2), 127-136.

Fecho, B., Collier, N. C., Friese, E. E. G., & Wilson, A. A. (2010). Critical conversations: Tensions and opportunities of the dialogical classroom. English Education, 42(4), 427-447.

Fecho, B., & Botzakis, S. (2007). Feasts of becoming: Imagining a literacy classroom based on dialogic beliefs. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 50 (7), 548-558.

Fecho, B., Price, K., & Read, C. (2004). From Tununak to Beaufort: Taking a critical inquiry stance as a first year teacher. English Education, 36 (4), 263-288.

Fecho, B. (2003). Yeki bood/yeki na bood: Writing and publishing as a teacher researcher. Research in the Teaching of English, 37 (3), 282-294.

Fecho, B. (2001). “Why are you doing this?” Acknowledging and transcending threat in critical inquiry classrooms. Research in the Teaching of English, 36 (1), 9-37.

Schultz, K., & Fecho, B. (2000). Society’s child: Social context and writing development. Educational Psychologist, 35 (1), 51-62.

Fecho, B. (2000). Critical inquiries into language in an urban classroom. Research in the Teaching of English, 34 (3), 368-395.

Monereo, C., Suñé-Soler, N., & Fecho, B. (2022). The identity of the academic advisor: Towards a new framework of dialogical advice. InThe identity of education professionals: Positioning, training, and innovation. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Clifton, J., & Fecho, B. (2018). Being, doing, and becoming: Fostering possibilities for agentive dialogue. In. H. Hermans & F. Meijers (Eds.). The Dialogical Self Theory in education: A multicultural perspective. New York: Springer Publishing.

Fecho, B., Whitley, J., & Landry, S. (2017) Avoiding the cheapest room in the house: Dialoguing through fear of dialogical practice. In K. Hinchman & D. Appleman (Eds.). Adolescent Literacies: A handbook of practice-based research. (pp. 215-234). New York: Guilford Publishing.

Fecho, B., Davis, B., & Moore, R. (2006).  Exploring race, language, and culture in critical literacy classrooms. In D. E. Alvermann, K. A. Hinchman, D. W. Moore, S. F. Phelps, & D. R. Waff (Eds.), Reconceptualizing the literacies in adolescents' lives (2nd ed.) (pp 187-204). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (70% contribution).

Fecho, B., Allen, J., Mazaros, C., & Inyega, H. (2005). Teacher research in writing classrooms. In P. Smagorinsky (Ed.), Research on composition: Multiple perspectives on two decades of change (pp. 108-140). New York: Teachers College Press. (40% contribution).

Bob is  a professor and former program director of English Education at Teachers College, Columbia University where his work continues to focus on issues of language, identity, sociocultural perspectives, and dialogical pedagogy as they relate to adolescent literacy among marginalized populations. Prior to his tenure at Teachers College, Bob taught English and reading for 24 years in neighborhood secondary schools in Philadelphia. From there, he taught for 17 years in the Department of  Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia, where he also served terms as program director and department chair.

His nine single and co-authored books include the following titles: Novice Teachers Embracing Wobble in Standardized Schools: Using Dialogue and Inquiry for Self-Reflection and Growth; Teaching Literature to Adolescents (3^rd and 4th editions); Dialoguing across Cultures, Identities, and Learning: Crosscurrents and Complexities in Literacy Classrooms; and Teaching for the Students: Habits of Heart, Mind, and Practice in the Engaged Classroom. His first book, “Is This English?” Race, Language, and Culture in the Classroom, received the James N. Britton Award (CEE/NCTE) recognizing exemplary studies published by English/language arts teachers. His work has also received the Richard Meade Award for Education Research (CEE), as well as the Alan C. Purves Award (NCTE), which honors articles published in Research in the Teaching of English most likely to influence classroom practice.