BIO & EXPERTISE
An Associate Professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University, Swalwell started her career teaching social studies at a public high school in rural Minnesota and a New England boarding school summer program for middle schoolers. In 2011, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction and has held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin—LaCrosse, George Mason University, and the University of Maryland, College Park.
What she is most curious and passionate about is what helps people develop a critical consciousness necessary for a healthy, "thick" democracy. What do people need to know and be able to do in order to help build a more just and equitable world? What about young people growing up in affluent, majority White communities? In what ways can learning anti-oppressive histories help this process? And what kinds of resources help teachers do this well?
Swalwell's work has appeared in practitioner publications like Educational Leadership, Rethinking Schools, and Teaching Tolerance as well as peer-reviewed journals like Curriculum Inquiry, Democratic Education, Education Policy, Theory & Research in Social Education, and Journal of Social Studies Research, and several edited volumes. She is one of the co-founders of The Critical Social Educator, an open-access journal dedicated to publishing work from practitioners and scholars alike, and the Critical Resources for Elementary Social Studies Teachers Facebook group with 1000+ members. She is the author of several books, including the award-winning Educating Activist Allies: Social Justice Pedagogy with the Urban and Suburban Elite (Routledge in 2013) and the "Amazing Iowa" series of children's books, traveling exhibits, and supplemental curriculum for teachers.
As a consultant, Swalwell and her colleagues are available to run workshops for practicing teachers, facilitate professional development for school and community leaders, and conduct school equity audits.
What she is most curious and passionate about is what helps people develop a critical consciousness necessary for a healthy, "thick" democracy. What do people need to know and be able to do in order to help build a more just and equitable world? What about young people growing up in affluent, majority White communities? In what ways can learning anti-oppressive histories help this process? And what kinds of resources help teachers do this well?
Swalwell's work has appeared in practitioner publications like Educational Leadership, Rethinking Schools, and Teaching Tolerance as well as peer-reviewed journals like Curriculum Inquiry, Democratic Education, Education Policy, Theory & Research in Social Education, and Journal of Social Studies Research, and several edited volumes. She is one of the co-founders of The Critical Social Educator, an open-access journal dedicated to publishing work from practitioners and scholars alike, and the Critical Resources for Elementary Social Studies Teachers Facebook group with 1000+ members. She is the author of several books, including the award-winning Educating Activist Allies: Social Justice Pedagogy with the Urban and Suburban Elite (Routledge in 2013) and the "Amazing Iowa" series of children's books, traveling exhibits, and supplemental curriculum for teachers.
As a consultant, Swalwell and her colleagues are available to run workshops for practicing teachers, facilitate professional development for school and community leaders, and conduct school equity audits.
