Ph.D., Professor of English Education
Director of Curriculum & Instruction for the Virginia New Teacher Support Program

Office: Memorial Hall 3240C
Email: cancieme@jmu.edu
Resume

Mary Beth Cancienne, PhD, is professor of English education at James Madison University in the Middle and Secondary Education Department in the College of Education. She was honored in 2017-2018 as the Distinguished Teacher and in 2011- 2012 as the Madison Scholar. She teaches courses in high school English methods and accompanying high school practicum, Curriculum and Co-Curriculum, Foundations of American Education, student teaching, and seminar. In 1999, she cofounded the Arts and Inquiry in the Visual and Performing Arts in Education SIG with the American Education Research Association. She has also published in such academic journals as the Virginia English Journal, Qualitative Inquiry, Theory into Practice, the Journal of Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue and the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing. Her chapters appear in such books as the Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research (2007) and Knowing Differently (2008). Additionally, she co-edited, with C. Bagley, a book and CD-ROM titled Dancing the Data (2002, Peter Lang).

Dr. Cancienne's google scholar page.

Recent Publications

Cancienne, M. B., Estes, M. D., Allen-Bronaugh, D., & Wilson, R. W. (2022). CoE leadership and exploration development team: Reshaping leadership through a grow your own program. In B. S. Zugelder & M. L’Esperance (Eds.)., Handbook of Research on the Educator Continuum and Development of Teachers (pp. 527-545). IGI Global.

De Fazio, G., Cancienne, M.B., Taylor Jaffee, A., Hegg, K., Kaye, E., & Wilson N.  (2021). Critical Digital Pedagogy and Civic Education: The Experience of the Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia Project, Scholé. Rivista di Educazione e Studi Culturali (1), 65-78.

Cancienne, M. B., Coleman, B., Gilliam, K., & Gooden, K. (2021). All American Boys, The Hate U Give, and The Great Gatsby: The process and product of multi-genre in a high school methods course, Virginia English Journal, 71(1), 8-15.  Cancienne, M. B. (2019). Using metaphorical thinking to understand a literary archetype: The hero's journey. Virginia English Journal, 69(1), 59-71.

Cancienne, M.B. (2019, Summer). Using metaphorical thinking to understand a literary archetype: The hero’s journey. Virginia English Journal, 69(1), 59-71.

Cancienne, M.B. (2018). Embodying Macbeth: Incantation, visualization, improvisation, and characterization. In C. A. Mullen (Ed.), Creativity under duress in education: Resistive theories, practices, and actions (pp. 361-381). New York: Springer.

International, National, and State Conference Presentations

Cancienne, M.B., & Coleman, B. (2022, November). Pursuing the light of African American poets: Teaching a reader response strategy and writing a cento poem [Conference session]. National Council of Teachers of English Conference, Anaheim, CA. 

Cancienne, M.B., & Jones, R. (2022, November). Teaching spoken word poetry, Black poetry & hard history: The case of Emmett Till, Susan Smith, & Raymond Byrd [Conference session]. National Council of Teachers of English Conference, Anaheim, CA.

Cancienne, M.B., Gabbin, J., Coleman, B., Gilliam, K. (2021, November). Teaching African American Poetry using the Furious Flower Digital Archive: Antiracist Curriculum for Teaching Equity and Justice. [On-Demand session]. National Conference of Teachers of English Conference.

Kaye, E., Cancienne, M.B., Thompson, L., Hegg, K., Wilson, N., Mlodynia, K., Taylor Jaffee, A. (2021, October). Teaching hard histories for racial healing: The lynching in Virginia curriculum project [Conference session]. Open Education Conference. 

Almarode, J., Zugelder, B., Spencer, T., Cancienne, M.B., Whittaker, A., & Nickel, J., (2021, February). Findings from a statewide teacher induction program: The Virginia New Teacher Support Program. [Conference session]. Association of Teacher Educators Conference, Chicago, IL.                           

Allen-Bronaugh, D., Cancienne, M.B., Estes, M., Thelk, A., & Wilson, R. (2021, March) CoE Leadership Exploration and Development Program (LEAD): Reshaping Leadership Through a Grow-Your-Own Program. [Conference session]. American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Conference, New Orleans, LA. 

Cancienne, M.B., Jones, R., Bloxom, R. (2021, October). Teaching hard histories for racial healing: The lynching in Virginia curriculum project [Conference session]. Virginia Association of Teachers of English, Charlottesville, VA.

Cancienne, M. B., Godfrey, Hardy, D., M., Jacob, L., Jones, R., Law, S. (2020, February). Preserving the past and shaping the future of black poetry with the Furious Flower Poetry Center’s digital archive. A panel discussion presented at the meeting of the African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, Harrisonburg, Va.

Cancienne, M. B., Coleman, B., Gilliam, K., & Gooden, K. (2019, November). The Hate You Give, All-American Boys, and American Born Chinese: Multicultural Multi-Genre Projects with a Focus on Theme and Voice in Writing. A panel discussion presented at the meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English, Baltimore, MD.

Cancienne, M. B., & Godfrey, M. (2019, November). Innovating the Archives: Digitizing Black Poetry with the Furious Flower Poetry Center. Presentation presented at the meeting of the American Studies Association, Honolulu, HI. 

Cancienne, M. B., Godfrey, M., Jacob, L., M., Jones, N., Law, S., McCarthy, S. (2019, September). Furious Flower: Innovating the Archive. Presentation and Panel Discussion presented at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/124131646

Education

University of Virginia, Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction
Louisiana State University, M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction
Louisiana State University, B.A. in English

Courses Taught at JMU

MSSE 570: Content Area Methods of Teaching in High School: English 9-12
MSSE 571: Content Area Field Experiences in High School: English 9-12
MSSE 607: Middle and Secondary School Curriculum and Co-Curriculum
MSSE 650: Internship Seminar
MSSE 675: Internship (Student Teaching) in Middle and Secondary Education
EDUC 300: Foundations of American Education

Professional Interests

Movement and Thought in English Education Methods
Diversity, Social Justice, & the Arts in English Education
Pre-Service Teacher Education
Curriculum Theory and Teaching in A Diverse Society

Service

University Writing Center Committee
Dispositions Committee (2017-2021)
Search Committee Member
What Sustains Us (Advisory Chair since 2011)
Co-Founder of the Arts & Inquiry in the Visual and Performing Arts in Education SIG at AERA (since 1999)
NCTE/CAEP Accreditation SPA for English Education
Virginia Association of Teachers of English Board Member (2010-2012)
Chair of the College of Education Diversity Committee (2010-2013)
Departmental Personnel Advisory Council
Teacher Work Sample Committee