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College of Public Service

Urban Education Faculty - Diane Miller

Diane M. Miller

Assistant Professor of Literacy

Office: UHD-Northwest, B12.346C; Commerce Building, C-430E
713-237-5417
petersond@uhd.edu

Scholarships

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Miller's professional background encompasses 18 years of K-12 public education work focused on secondary English language arts and reading education experiences, ranging from classroom teaching to school- and district-level leadership to district- and regional-level curriculum work.  After serving UHD's Department of Urban Education for four years as an adjunct lecturer, Dr. Miller expanded her work with pre-service teachers by working full time as a lecturer and now as an assistant professor at the Northwest and Downtown Campuses.  To her students, especially those who are working to someday have students of their own, she offers her heart for exciting English language arts and reading instruction coupled with a solid foundation in the current, research-based teaching methods.  She believes that students of all ages should encounter and embrace success in the classroom, soaking up encouragement and enrichment according to their individual learning styles, personalities, and life experiences.  Strengthening self-image through these academic accomplishments is especially critical to those students who are cutting new educational paths for themselves and their families.  Dr. Miller challenges her students to enter the profession with passion, realism, competence, humor, respect, and flexibility.  Her classrooms are filled with tears and laughter, reading and writing, enjoyment and challenge.  


University of Texas at Austin            B.A.         English/Gov.

Texas A&M University-Texarkana    M.A.         English

Texas A&M University                      Ph.D.       Curriculum & Instruction-RLA

Dr. Miller offers a balanced foundation of practitioner-based passion and researcher-oriented perspective.  Her research interests reflect her passion for bridging the persistent research-practice gap, specifically in the area of content-area writing and reading, and her interest in the levels of student engagement and depth of evidence-based responses in hybrid learning environments.  Dr. Miller’s recently completed doctoral dissertation, “Writing Tasks in Content-Area Instruction:  A Systematic Review of the Literature,” was a broad-scale systematic literature review of the current research about the use of writing tasks to improve students’ knowledge attainment and achievement in reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies classrooms.  Additionally, she has conducted a content analysis of professional development modules to explore the disconnect between research and practice, and she completed a pilot study which examined the impact of learning environments upon students’ levels of engagement with the course material as shown through survey data and their depths of understanding as demonstrated through evidence-based written responses.  She is currently working with the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts to capture the voices of Texas’ teachers during the ELAR TEKS revision process.  Additionally, she is excited about coordinating the inaugural Children’s Literature of England in May 2016.

Miller, D. (2015). ELAR TEKS:  A fresh look. The ELAborator, 17(1). 8.​

Miller, D. (2015) My favorite FREE poetry resources from the web. The ELAborator, 17(1). 9.

Miller, D. (2015). Inviting the next generation to the mountaintop. Texas Voices, 28(2), 7.

Miller, D. (2015). Pre-service teachers at the conference: The "eyes" have it. Texas Voices, 28(1), 12-13.

Miller, D., McTigue, E., & Scott, C. (under review). Writing tasks in content-area instruction: A systematic review of the literature.

Miller, D., McTigue, E., & Scott, C. (in press). The quality of recent studies in content-area writing in secondary classrooms. Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice

Scott, C., & Miller, D. (under review). Glue:  Stories of a transformative mentorship.

Miller, D., Mitchell, L., & Scott, C. (in progress).  Digital stories as avenues of reflection:  Craft and process for pre-service teachers in a writing methods course.

Kelly, J., Dalton, C., & Miller, D. (in progress). Effects of a high-impact service-learning literacy project on preservice teachers in an urban teacher preparation program.

Pohl, B., & Miller, D. (in progress). Using language Arts, literature, and writing in social studies: A cross-curricular perspective.

(Miller) Peterson, D. (2001, Fall/Winter). The best-laid plans or everything you forgot about freshman composition. English in Texas, 31(2). 

​2014, May:  Texas A&M University Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture Distinguished Graduate Student​

Last updated 4/13/2020 3:49 AM