Janine Certo

Assistant Professor of Language and Literacy Michigan State University

East Lansing MI

Janine Certo is a poet and associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University.

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Biography

Janine Certo is the author of In the Corner of the Living, first runner-up for the 2017 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award. Her poetry is published or forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Mid-American Review, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Crab Orchard Review, Italian Americana and elsewhere. Her recent interests include contemporary poetics, the poetics of space, ethnic identity in the Southern Italian diaspora, poetic inquiry, arts-based research, childhood education, and teacher education. She is also author of the book Children Writing Poems: Poetic Voices in and out of School (Routledge, 2018) which focuses on sociocultural and sociolinguistic aspects of children's poetry writing. Her articles and essays appear in journals including Journal of Literacy Research, Pedagogies, English Education, Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, and English Journal. Her writing has been supported by grants from The Spencer Foundation and the Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP) at Michigan State University. A native of Pittsburgh, she is now associate professor at Michigan State University.

Industry Expertise

Education/Learning

Areas of Expertise

Italian American Studies

Poetry

Arts-Based Educational Research

News

Winning Writers Announces That Simon Hendrie of Cape Town Has Won the 13th Annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest

Cision online

2014-08-15

Winning Writers is pleased to announce the results from its 13th annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. Simon Hendrie of Cape Town, South Africa won first prize and $1,000 for his comedic poem, "What Will You Say When Your Child Asks: 'Why Didn't You Invest in Eastern Poland?'" A record 4,484 contestants competed from around the world.

Journal Articles

Beginning Teacher Concerns in an Accountability-Based Testing Environment

ournal of Research in Childhood Education

Janine L. Certo

2009

This paper, part of a larger case study of beginning teachers and mentors, describes the concerns of four teachers throughout their stages of development in first-year teaching. They and their mentors were interviewed at three intervals in the school year to obtain perceptions of beginning teacher concerns. Beginning teachers also kept journals of their concerns in first-year teaching. Data revealed that in an accountability-based testing environment, instructional pacing was reported as a top, pervasive concern of beginning teachers. These case studies reveal that participants were reporting beginning teacher concerns, but not necessarily in the predictable areas, such as classroom discipline, student motivation, or individual student differences. The data suggest that typical problems were overshadowed by concerns and preoccupations with district instructional pacing, test pressure, and test preparation.

An Argument for Authenticity: Adolescents' Perspectives on Standards-Based Reform

The High School Journal

Janine L. Certo, Kathleen M. Cauley, Kathleen D. Moxley and Carl Chafin

2008

Executive Summary Students” Perspectives on Their High School Experience This study explored what it is like to be a high school student today. Our purpose was to describe the extent to which the schools in the metropolitan area are meeting the needs of their diverse body of students …

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