Using my voice, creativity, experience, and skills to advocate for children!
About Dr. JaNay Brown-Wood

If we want to elevate our communities, literacy is key!  
When I was younger, I didn't like to read. The words on the pages of books rarely sparked my interest or engaged me. My older sister could sit in her room for hours and breathe books as if they were air, but I was never interested.

Is it because I did not see myself in the books that were available? 

Despite despising reading, I loved to write! Creating stories where characters that were like me (and even included me i.e. Detective JaNay stories I frequently wrote) kept me engaged with written words.

Perhaps the lack of diversity was a gate-keeper for me. Is it for other children from diverse backgrounds as well? And how does the lack of diversity influence academic outcomes? How does this impact the equity or achievement gap in education?

These are questions that continue to push my scholarship forward. These are the thoughts that keep me writing children's books with diverse characters. This is what motivates me to use my voice, creativity, experience, and skills to advocate for children.

My Teaching Philosophy

Learning happens best when it is a part of an active process of knowledge building. Thus, educators must strive to establish a classroom environment where students can participate in the understanding of content and construction of knowledge in a meaningful way!

​Learn more about my philosophy of teaching and the courses I teach here!

My Research Foci

WORKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT
My research interests include:
  • Diversity (or lack of) in children's books and relationship to academic outcomes
  • Early literacy skills
  • Language development
  • Narrative ability
  • Racial biases and book interest
  • Literacy in the community
  • Supporting learning in expanded learning programs

​See some of my recent presentations & publications as well as projects to learn more!

 I am committed to helping children find themselves in the books they read, as well as to learn about the lives of others. This is because I believe these are entry-points to the world of literacy, which can help support budding literacy skills, creating lovers of literacy and life-long learners.

JaNay Brown-Wood, PhD
​AUTHOR. EDUCATOR. ADVOCATE.

College of Education
California State University, Sacramento
6000 J St., Brighton Hall
Sacramento, 95819
MAIN:
(916) 278-4660
​janay@janaybrownwood.com
or
j.brown-wood@csus.edu

Facebook:
JaNay Brown-Wood, Author & Educator

Twitter:
@janaybrownwood
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