CAROLYN FORTUNA
115 Sand Dam Road • PO Box 206 • Chepachet, RI 02814 • 401/309-3399 • c4tuna31@gmail.com.
CURRENT POSITIONS:
Rhode Island College, Providence, RI (Spring, 2011 - present)
Adjunct Faculty, Gender and Women’s Studies Department; Education Department
Franklin High School, Franklin, MA (Autumn, 1996 – present)
Secondary English Teacher, Grade Twelve (2006-present) and Grade Eight (1996-2005)
EDUCATION:
Ph.D., Rhode Island College (May, 2010)
Philosophy of Education
Dissertation: ‘Making Waves with Critical Literacy: A Teacher Researcher Study around the Texts,
Contexts, and Recontextualizations of an Upper Middle Class Public High School’
Areas of Inquiry: Multimodal Composition; Digital Media Literacy and Learning; Film;
Semiotics; Social Justice; Gender Studies; Youth Culture; Narrative Inquiry
National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (June, 2004)
English/ Language Arts Master Teacher: Young Adolescents
Certificate in Secondary English Education, Rhode Island College (December, 1995)
Rhode Island and Massachusetts Teaching Credentials (Grades 7-12)
M.A., University of Connecticut (May, 1988)
Major in Writing: Non-Fiction and Fiction
Thesis: ‘How Writing across the Curriculum Promotes Critical Thinking Skills”
B.A., University of Connecticut (May, 1986)
Independent Major: Letters
SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS:
Hobbs, R., Ranieri, M., Markus, S., Fortuna, C., Zamora, M. and Coiro, J. “Digital Literacy in Higher Education: A Report.” Providence, RI: Media Education Lab. 2017.
2. --- “You Play Ball Like a G-g-g-i-r-r-l-l! Student Attitudes about Gender Constructions in Sport.” The Journal of Sports Pedagogy and Physical Education. 2016.
3. --- “Digital Media Literacy in a Sports, Popular Culture, and Literature Course.” The Journal of Media Literacy Education. 2015.
4. --- “Pirates of the Caribbean and Melville: Using Popular Culture to Interrogate the High Western Canon” in Journal of Teaching and Learning. South East European University, Summer 2011.
5. --- "Paradise under the Field House Lights: A Teacher-Researcher Study around Gender
Constructions in the Public High School." Networks: An On-line Journal for Teacher Research, Vol. 13 (2), 2011
6. ---- Lights! Cameras! Action! A Grammar of Film for Media Literacy.” Knowledge Quest,
March/ April, 2010 (guest co-editor)
7. ---- “Look! Johnny and Janey Can Read: Enhancing the Literate Lives of Teens through
SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard Technology.” SMART Technologies Research
Library, 2007
8. ----- “Connecting Students’ Own Literacies to the Canon.” Classroom Notes Plus, April,
2006.
9. -----“Creating Critical Media Analysis Skills.” ERIC Digest, 2001.
PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS:
1. “The Art of Digital Challenge and Choice: Curated Collections of Texts for Student Inquiry.” The Highlander Institute’s Blended Learning Conference, Providence, RI. (May, 2014).
2. “Modeling the Digital Writing Workshop.” Rhode Island Writing Project, Providence, RI (March, 2014).
3. “Online Personas: Advertising Analysis.” National Council of Teachers of English, Boston, MA (November, 2013).
4. “(Re)Creating Ibsen’s A Doll’s House through Critical Literacy.” National Council of Teachers of English, Boston, MA (November, 2013).
5. “’Electrifyingly Cool and Sexy:’” The Cultural Politics of Speed in Ron Howard’s Rush.” Northeast Popular Culture Association, Burlington, VT (October, 2013).
6. “Curriculum Integration.” GiveMe5 Media Teachers Lab: Media Education Lab and Rhode Island Council on the Arts, Providence, RI (October, 2013).
7. “Is It Digital Art or Digital Learning?” URI Summer Institute in Digital Literacy, Providence, RI (July, 2013).
8. “Shifts in Perspective: Archetypal Horseracing in Hemingway, Smiley, and Gordon.” Sports
Literature Association, West Long Branch, NJ (June, 2013).
9. “Ten Ways to Infuse Media and Digital Literacy into Instruction.” Northeast Media Literacy
Conference, Storrs, CT (April, 2013).
10. “Off the Track: A New Approach to the Heterogeneous Classroom through Multigenre,
Multimodal Literacy Learning.” Promising Practices, Providence, RI (November, 2012).
11. “From Runyon to SI: Patterns of Gender in Sports Texts.” Sports Literature Association,
Springfield, MA (June, 2012).
12. “Moving Toward a Level Playing Field: Juxtaposing Traditional and Socially-Responsible
Media Sports Texts.” Northeast Media Literacy Conference, Storrs, CT (March, 2012).
13. “Teaching as Life: Textual Transformations as Invitations to Action.” Rhode Island Writing
Project, Providence, RI (March, 2012).
14. “Play Ball! Uncovering Social Practices and Cultural Reproduction in Sports Texts.”
Northeast Popular Culture Association, Danbury, CT (November, 2011).
15. “Inspiring Literacy Learning through Analysis of Media Sports Texts.” Northeast Media
Literacy Conference, Storrs, CT (March, 2011).
16. “The Dance: Gender Politics and Athletics at the High School Level.” Northeast Popular Culture Association, Boston, MA (November, 2010).
17. "Paradise under the Field House Lights: When Rituals and Spectacles Suppress Female
Students’ Agency." Promising Practices Multicultural Conference, Providence, RI
(November, 2010).
18. “Using Multimodal, Multitextual, and Transcultural Literacy to Interpret the Western Canon.” National Council of Teachers of English, Philadelphia, PA (November, 2009).
19. “Supermarket of Ideas: Strategies for K-12 Media Literacy in a Changing Information Age.”
Northeast Media Literacy Conference, Storrs, CT (March, 2009).
20. “Affirming and Resisting Lessons of Military History: Melville’s Billy Budd and Pirates of the
Caribbean.” American Educational Studies Association, Savannah, GA (October 2008).
21. “Interrogating the American Dream: Critical Media Literacy.” Northeast Media Literacy
Conference, Storrs, CT (March, 2007).
22. “On the Right Track? Considering the Cognition of High School Students through the
Infusion of Alternative Literacy Texts.” American Educational Studies Association, Spokane, WA (October, 2006).
23. “Look! Johnny and Janey Can Read: Reconciling Students’ Own Literacies and the Western
Canon.” National Council of Teachers of English , San Francisco, CA (November, 2005).
24. “Creating Voice, Writing Memoirs.” National Council of Teachers of English Annual
Convention, San Antonio, TX (November, 2004).
AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS:
1. Hybrid Teaching and Learning Fellowship, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI,
Converting F2F to Hybrid Learning Environments (June, 2013).
2. SMART Foundation: Enhancing the Literate Lives of Teens through Interactive
Whiteboard Technology, Research study to determine if interactive whiteboards would increase
standardized testing scores, (September, 2007).
3. Department of Transportation: Getting around Green and Clean: Grant to establish
collaborative inquiry through communication/alternative energy program (January, 2004).
4. Anti-Defamation League, Boston, MA: World of Difference Award, “Anne Frank and
Social Justice Education,” Recognition of original tolerance awareness education curriculum (May, 2000).
5. Freedoms Foundation of Dallas, Texas: Leavey Award for Private Enterprise Education:
National recognition of multidisciplinary curriculum design for youth education and entrepreneurship
(November, 1999).
6. National Writing Project, Fellow (July, 1996).
UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Instructor, Rhode Island College
Undergraduate Course:
Sex, Sport, and Society (2012-present)
Graduate Course:
Introduction to Classroom Research (2011-2012)
Instructor, University of Connecticut
Undergraduate Courses:
Introduction to Writing (1986-1988)
Introduction to Reading (1986-1988)
Instructor, Eastern Connecticut State College
Undergraduate Courses:
Introduction to Writing (1986-1988)
Writing and Critical Thinking (1987)
Upward Bound/ Writing (1988)
SERVICE:
Area Chair, Northeast Studies, Northeast Popular Culture Association (2014)
Sought and reviewing proposals for panels that deal with Northeastern regional identities, real and imagined. October, 2014, Providence, RI.
Leadership in Digital Student Portfolios (2012-present)
Piloted multimodal composition through digital learning environments. Recognized in 2013-2014 School Improvement Plan for innovative praxis.
Cooperating Teacher (2010-present)
Supervised three student teachers and three practicum teachers in their English/ Language
Arts professional training. Relationships ranged from two weeks to one semester.
Curriculum Mapping and Design (various years, 2008-2014)
Wrote five curriculum documents for implementation across district:
o Grade Twelve, American Literature: 17th-20th Centuries
o Grade Twelve, Honors Curriculum
o Grade Twelve, Sports, Popular Culture, and Literature
o Grade Twelve, Elective Course Survey
o Grade Eight, A Midsummer’s Night Dream
New Teacher Mentor (2004-present)
Guide teachers annually to obtain professional culture awareness. 2-year relationships.
Portfolio Exhibition (2002-2005)
Led 280 students and 10 teachers annually in a school-wide community display of learning
milestones and connections to English/ Language Arts standards.
Senior Project Mentor (2010-present)
School-community supervisor for senior year students on career internships.
Conducted site visits, coordinated with site advisors, wrote reports, advocated, and guided students through report-writing and multimodal community cumulative presentations.
Faculty Advisor, Change for a Chance Club. (2012-present)
Provide guidance to student executive board and students membership of a global service and cultural exchange program. Provides scholarships to young women in Kwala, Tanzania.
Accreditation Committee Chair (2000)
Curriculum and Instruction, New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Conducted 4-day site visit as part of accreditation committee to Avon, MA. Led
evaluation team through our school. Wrote document that achieved full approval.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
Rhode Island Writing Project (RWP)
International Reading Association (IRA)
Sports Literature Association (SLA)
Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA)