swilde@hunter.cuny.edu
1122 West
212-772-4678

Sandra Wilde, Ph.D., University of Arizona, comes to Hunter from Portland State University in Oregon where she served as a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She grew up in Plainfield, NJ, but left the East Coast after high school and is happy to be back. Over the years she also taught on an Ojibwe reservation in Manitoba, Canada, and at other universities. At Hunter, in addition to teaching, Dr. Wilde will be working on program development and mentoring junior faculty.

Teaching

Dr. Wilde teaches courses on literacy and reading in the childhood education program. Over the years she has taught a wide range of courses on literacy and will bring extensive knowledge about the teaching of reading, writing, and children’s literature to her courses here. She is especially interested in helping teachers understand linguistic underpinnings of literacy education, such as how phonics works, children’s use of invented spelling, and whether grammar needs to be taught.

Research

Dr. Wilde has written and edited ten books on a variety of topics, as well as a number of articles.  She is best known for her work in invented spelling and spelling curriculum, including her most recent book, Spelling Strategies and Patterns: What Kids Need to Know, based in part on lessons she carried out with children in New York City schools.  Her previous books include What’s a Schwa Sound Anyway? A Holistic Guide to Phonetics, Phonics, and Spelling, as well as Miscue Analysis Made Easy: Building on Student Strengths. She is currently writing a book about new approaches to teaching grammar.