Denise Morgan

Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Early Literacy Western Carolina University

  • Cullowhee NC

Denise Morgan has provided services to school-aged students and adults with reading and reading-related difficulties since 2010.

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Biography

Denise Morgan is Western Carolina University’s Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Early Literacy. In addition to her duties at WCU, Morgan serves as an adviser for the UNC System’s literacy initiatives and is part of a state network of endowed professors.

Industry Expertise

Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Teaching and Learning
Education

Education

Ohio State University

Ph.D.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

M.Ed.

University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa

B.S.

Media Appearances

Rowing in the Same Direction

WCU Stories  online

2023-10-17

The WCU Board of Trustees in July approved the appointment of Denise Morgan, director of the Reading and Writing Center and professor of literacy education at Kent State University, as the inaugural Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Early Literacy effective Jan. 1.

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Denise Morgan named Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Early Literacy

WCU College of Education and Allied Professions Campus Life Blog  online

2024-04-30

After nearly 20 years at an institution, it would be hard to pick everything up and move to a new school and a new state. Denise Morgan, Western Carolina University’s newly announced Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Early Literacy did just that.

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Articles

“Theme Doesn’t Just Jump Out”: Teaching for Theme Comprehension

International Literacy Association

2021

Teaching for theme is one aspect of reading comprehension that is often elusive for both teachers and students. Specifically, teachers are challenged with elevating students’ thinking from the plot level to a more abstract level when teaching for theme understanding

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The role of observation in advancing the science of reading and instruction

KALMANOVITZ SCHOOL OF EDUCATION FACULTY WORKS

20021

Errors that occur during text reading reflect how a novice reader is drawing from multiple sources of information including meaning (M – a range of story content and features), language structure (S – syntax and grammar) and visual (V – “letter-to-sound and sound-to letter links” (Clay, 2016, p. 129) that is, the reader’s stored graphemic and phonological knowledge.

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Supporting Students' Construction of Themes When Reading

International Literacy Association

2022

Helping students learn how to interpret themes in text can be, without a doubt, challenging. Students benefit from knowing different aspects/textual elements within stories to look for when constructing themes.

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