Mother-Scholar

"To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power.
Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.” – Maya Angelou

My name is Kara and I am a Mother-Scholar. I have been teaching for over 20 years from infants all the way to adults. My greatest enjoyment is teaching infants and toddlers as being their caregiver pushed me to think outside of the traditional educational box and think broadly about community, societal and cultural impacts in Early Childhood Education and how Early Childhood Education influences society. Learning how to teach and continuously reflecting on my teaching practice has provided me with opportunities to advance in my education. Navigating motherhood and teaching has been the greatest challenge but also allowed me to connect two pieces of me together.

Currently, I am getting my Ph.D. in Early Childhood Education at The Pennsylvania State University. My research focuses on the experiences of mothers of biracial children and how those experiences impact their perception and opinions of Early Childhood Education.

Mother scholars are aware that within the context of patriarchy, contextualized moments allow them to flow in and out of their identities as mothers and scholars. They emphasize contextualized moments in order to contend with the fierce dialectic of maternity and intellect. Thus, the mother-scholar standpoint is marked by a unique tolerance for ambiguity. This tolerance provides relief from turmoil, while facilitating their ability to live in the middle land between two worlds, los intersticios, or the space in between identities (Anzaludua, 1987, p. 20). (Lapayese, 2012, p. 31).

I Am Roha’s Emaye: A Critical Autoethnography of Mothering in Liminal Spaces

This is a generic article you can use for adding article content / subjects on your website.

Miheretu, K.R. (in press). Review of the book Radical Grace: Essays and conversations on teaching by C. Price & M. Savić. Feminist Pedagogy.

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CURRICULUM VITAE

Kara Roop Miheretu, Ph.D. Candidate

EDUCATION

2018—present Doctor of Philosophy
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
Curriculum & Instruction Early Childhood Education
Dissertation Title: “It’s Bigger than Black and White:” A Performed Ethnography of New York City Mothers and Teachers Talking about the Racializing of Children and Childhoods

2007—2010 Master of Arts
Teachers College, Columbia University
New York, New York
Major: International Educational Development
Concentration: African Education

1997-2001 Bachelor of Arts
Associates of Arts
Lasell College
Newton, Massachusetts
Major: Human Psychosocial Development of the Young Child

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2018 - Present Instructor (Graduate Teaching Assistant), Department of Curriculum & Instruction,
College of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
Undergraduate Courses

CI 295 – Introductory Field Experience for Early Childhood Education
This course provides students with guided experience as participant observers of young children in a group setting.
ECE 451 – Introduction to Early Childhood Education
As one of the required methods courses in the PreK-Grade 4 teacher certification program, this class presents a foundational base of the early childhood education curriculum models.

Graduate Level Courses
Curriculum & Instruction

CI 511 Educational Ethnography: History, Theory, and Methods (Co-Taught with Dr. Joseph M. Valente)
A seminar course that shows how ethnographic methods in educational research inform classroom practice and educational policy when school communities are key sites for students to become members of a culture
CI 560 -Theories of Childhood (Co-Taught with Dr. Gail L. Boldt)
The study of childhood from cultural, historical, psychological, and philosophical perspectives.

Comparative International Education/ Educational Theory & Educational Policy

CIED 525 - Bakhtin and Education (Co-Taught with Dr. Joseph M. Valente)
This doctoral seminar introduced students to the writings of key members of the “Bakhtin Circle,” which included Mikhail Bakhtin, Valentin Voloshinov, and Pavel Medvedev.

April-October 2020 Principal Investigator for The Pennsylvania State University, Child Care Advisory Committee (Research Assistant)

Authored & published a white paper titled, The Pennsylvania State University Early Childhood Centers Reimaged After COVID-19

Research Assistant Children’s Media and Conflict Zone Lab

Collaborated with a team to transcribe ethnographic interviews, and produced a literature review of pertinent literature about Saharawi refugees’ education globally

2008-2018 Head Teacher Rita Gold Center, Teachers College, Columbia University

Supervised a team of Infant/Toddler teachers to design and implement a play-based/child-led curriculum and to further improve their teaching and reflexivity
Directed a team of teachers to observe, develop, and evaluated qualitative data on students’ daily activities and interactions to create a summary of their development to show child’s development over time that was used to assess progress

2016 – 2017 Instructor Department of Curriculum & Teaching, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York.

C&T 5118 Infant and Toddler Development and Practice Field Experience
C&T 5308 Advance Practicum-infancy and early childhood

July-August 2013 Early Childhood Education, Consultant, Ubuntu Education Fund, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Created and developed a developmentally, culturally appropriate toddler/preschool curriculum to progress to a play-based, emergent curriculum
Conducted professional development training for education managers and teachers in developmentally appropriate practices, classroom management, and active observations
Mentored ECD manager and staff in the progressive, play-based, emergent curriculum to develop the capacity to support the children’s needs

June-August 2009 Education Consultant, International Rescue Committee, Ethiopia

Created assessments of the education status within 6 refugee camps to design in-service training for refugee teachers
Conducted training on teaching pedagogy, student-centered teaching methodology, continuous assessment, and using local resources within the 6 refugee camps to address the current limitations of the refugee teacher staff

2003-2006 Preschool Lead Teacher, Debswana Diamond Company, Botswana

Designed a multicultural curriculum for international children 2-5 years old by adapting themes to meet the needs of new students using an interactive, child-centered approach
Developed and Implemented team building workshops/training sessions to promote professionalism and increase solidarity

SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES
Publications

Miheretu, K. R., & Henward, A. S. (2020). I Am Roha’s Emaye: A critical autoethnography of mothering in liminal spaces. Genealogy, 4(2), 35.

Miheretu, K.R. (in press). Review of the book Radical Grace: Essays and conversations on teaching by C. Price & M. Savić. Feminist Pedagogy.

Miheretu, K.R., Umezawa, K., Lyu, S.R. (forthcoming). “Can ethnographers really speak for others?” Understanding our positionalities in ethnographic research.” Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy.

Miheretu, K.R. (forthcoming). Learning from experiences of racialized children to inform early childhood education teaching. Journal of Contemporary Early Childhood Education.

INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL CONFERENCES,
WORKSHOPS, SYMPOSIA, PRESENTATIONS

Conferences
Miheretu, K.R. (October 2022). “Can ethnographers really speak for others?” Understanding our positionalities in ethnographic research. Co-presenters Kiyomi Umezawa (Masamune), Sung Ryung Lyu. Curriculum and Pedagogy Group. State College, Pennsylvania.
Miheretu, K.R. (November 2021). Engaging in conversations with a band of mothers: A labor of reflexivity within a performed ethnography. American Anthropology Association, Baltimore, Maryland.
Miheretu, K.R. (October 2019). I am Roha’s Emaye: A critical personal narrative of mothering at the intersections of “Black + White.” Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference, Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Miheretu, K.R. (October 2019). Crossing borders in early childhood education: Can we move beyond borders in ECE settings by disrupting the status quo? Co-presenters Kiyomi Masamune, Sung Ryung Lyu. Curriculum and Pedagogy Group, McAllen, Texas.
Miheretu, K.R. (November 2013). Becoming inclusive: Teachers negotiating discourses of inclusion and early Childhood through a co-inquiry of life narratives. Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Conference, Nairobi, Kenya.
Miheretu, K.R. (March 2013). Prioritizing early childhood education in refugee camps. Council of the International Exchange of Scholars, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Symposia
Video Ethnography Symposia presentation: Mothering in Happy Valley: Using video ethnography to converse about mothering in central Pennsylvania (December 2019).

Workshops
Organized Surviving the COVID-19 pandemic as Graduate Student Parents: A biweekly support group that met virtually to discuss issues relevant to parenting and graduate student life (2020-Present).
SERVICE
The Pennsylvania State University

University-wide
President, Disability Studies Student Group (2019—Present)
Organized Miracles and Wonders from Deaf Worlds: An Ethnographic Film Showing and Discussion Panel October 30, 2019

The College of Education
College of Education Graduate Student Council Curriculum & Instruction Representative, (2019—2020)
Orientation Representative for Curriculum & Instruction: presented: Graduate Work-Life Balance Panel and Small Group Discussions (2019-2021)
Community
Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Extended Day Volunteer/Summer Camp Sports Director (2022- Present)
Executive Secretary of Parental Advisory Council & Operation Committee (2022-2023)

MEMBERSHIPS

American Anthropological Association (Council of Education) (2018-Present)
Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (2013-Present)
National Association for the Education of Young Children (2007-Present)

CERTIFICATIONS
TESOL/TESL certified, New York, NY, August 2007
Massachusetts Office for Children Certified Teachers Birth-Age Five, May 1999