Dr. Peggy S. Rice, Associate Professor of Elementary Education at Ball State University, graduated from Western Illinois University with a BS in Psychology. Since teaching was in her heart, she returned to college at the University of Texas-El Paso. First, she earned a Texas Lifetime Grades K-8 certification; then, a Masters in Education that includes Texas Lifetime Certifications as a K-8 Reading Specialist and Gifted Teacher. She has 10 years of teaching experience with children— 7 years in El Paso, Texas (Grades 1, 2 & 3 ELL and regular), 2 years at the Louisiana State University Laboratory School, Baton Rouge, LA (4th Grade) and one year at Covington Middle School in Austin, TX (6th grade reading/language arts).
Her Ph.D. is from Louisiana State University in Curriculum and Instruction with areas of specialization in Children’s Literature and English Language Arts. She has been a faculty member at Ball State University since 1998, teaching courses required in the ELED graduate and undergraduate programs with a researcher’s lens.
Her professional interests include literature-based integrated curriculum to develop the whole child using literature reflecting diverse perspectives and multi-genres text-sets, along with developing life-long readers and writers who are responsible citizens via reading-writing connections and the arts. The power of poetry performance to develop fluency & vocabulary, as well as a passion for poetry and nature is a focus at Camp Adventure. Following is a primary goal she has for summer campers to experience…“Poetry, like nature, refreshes us.”
She encourages everyone to live mindfully and literately at the intersection of poetry and nature.