Dr. Charles A. Elster
Professor, Department of Literacy, Elementary, and Early Education
"You are not required to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to abstain from it." -- Ethics of the Fathers
Courses Taught
- [EDMS 463] Teaching Reading and Language Arts to Younger Students
- [EDRL 524] Literature and Literacy
- [EDMS 482F/S] Student Teaching Supervision & Seminar
- [EDRL 523] Curriculum Development Language/Literature
- [EDEC 420] Child Development, Family, School & Community
Biography
I am a professor in the Sonoma State School of Education, where I teach courses in the Multiple Subjects, advanced Reading-Language, and undergraduate programs. I also supervise student teachers a McNear Elementary School in Petaluma. My interests include early childhood and elementary education, the teaching of literacy and the study of literature. I am especially interested in the importance of poetry in language arts education.
Education
- PhD, University of California, Berkeley
- MA, University of California, Berkeley, 1982
- BA, Yale University, 1976
Research Interests
- Teacher education in the language arts
- Language & literacy development in young children
- Literature, children's literature, genre theory, poetry
- Children's literature in the classroom
- Classroom interactions & linguistic diversity
- New literacies
Academic & Professional Experience
- Sonoma State University, 2005-present.
- Purdue University, 1989-2005.
- College of San Mateo, 1988-89.
- University of California at Berkeley, 1983-84, 1988-89.
- Hebrew Academy of San Francisco, 1980-1982.
Recent Scholarship and Publications
- Elster, C. (2010). “Snow on my eyelashes:” Language awareness through age-appropriate poetry experiences. Young Children, 65, 47-55.
- Elster, C. (2009). Seven types of hybrids to delight and challenge readers. The California Reader, 42, 19-26.
- Elster, C. (2003). Authority, performance and interpretation in religious reading: Critical issues of cross-cultural communication and multiple literacies. Journal of Literacy Research, 35, 663-692.
- Elster, C., & Hanauer, D. (2002). Voicing texts, voices around texts: Reading poems in elementary school classrooms. Research in the Teaching of English, 37, 89-134.
- Elster, C. (2000, September). Entering and opening the world of a poem. Language Arts, 78, 71-77.