Nicole Klimow

Dr. Nicole E. Klimow earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in literacy and language research from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in May 2018.  Her dissertation, (Reimagining High School Writing: A Multi-Case Examination of the Impact of External Pressures on High School Writing Contexts) applied a discursive perspective to the complexities of writing praxis.  Grounded in sociocultural theory (Vygotsky), Klimow explored teachers’ expectations for teaching writing based on learning beliefs and the impact of external pressures on teachers’ writing praxis.  Findings suggest that teachers’ writing praxis was grounded in transmittal pedagogy, with focus on writing function and form rather than teaching for relevance and meaning.  External pressures of professional and content standards and the push to graduate students have added to English teacher frustration and reliance on traditional teaching methods. For more than 20 years, Klimow has taught, studied, and mentored K-12 teachers in language and literacy.  As an English Language Arts teacher, she has taught every grade from 4th grade to 12th grade.  Most recently, she worked in the English Language Learner Division in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada to improve K-12 teachers’ literacy instruction for English language learners.  By leveraging writing—cognitively, culturally, linguistically, and rhetorically—Klimow aspires to enhance secondary teachers’ vital classroom literacy skills to ensure K-12 students are prepared for college and the workplace.