PENN STATE HBG
MIDDLETOWN, PA 17057
Biography
After having had many opportunities to work with children while in junior and senior high school, Dr. Scott pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Gordon College in Wenham, MA. She then taught at an International Primary School in Papua New Guinea, a private school outside Philadelphia, and most recently in Central Dauphin School District in Harrisburg, PA as both a classroom teacher and a reading specialist after receiving her Masters of Teaching and Curriculum with a reading specialist certificate from Penn State Harrisburg. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in College Park in 2011 and joined the faculty at Penn State Harrisburg full time after having taught as an adjunct for two years.
Research Interests
- Facilitating student comprehension of lengthy expository text by teaching them to identify rhetorical patterns used by authors to organize their writing.
- Examine most effective grade level to provide rhetorical pattern instruction
- Examine which rhetorical patterns are used in textbooks from various content areas
Publications
Scott, D.B. & Dreher, M.J. (2013, December). Student thinking processes while constructing graphic organizers of textbook content: What insights do think-alouds provide? Roundtable presentation to be presented at the Literacy Research Association Conference, Dallas, TX.
Scott, D. B. & Dreher, M. J. (2012, December). Using graphic organizers in middle school classrooms: What do observations show about what teachers do and what they can do? Individual paper presented at the Literacy Research Association Conference, San Diego, CA.
Scott, D. B. & Dreher, M. J. (2012, May). Explicit Instruction on rhetorical patterns and student-constructed graphic organizers: The impact on sixth-grade students'comprehension of social studies text. Poster session presented at the International Reading Association Conference, Chicago, IL.
Scott, D. B. (2008). Assessing text processing: A comparison of four methods. Journal of Literacy Research, 40(3), 290-316
Education
B.A.; M.Ed.; Ph.D (U of Maryland)