Dr. Melissa Wetzel

Biography

Melissa Wetzel is a professor specializing in language literacy studies within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. Her scholarship focuses on the preparation of teachers in literacy coaching and mentoring in both preservice and in-service settings. Wetzel draws on a wide range of scholarship frameworks to equip teachers with field-based literacy teaching experiences. She has a keen interest in critical literacy learning across the lifespan, particularly in how teachers and students collaboratively design literacy practices that foster transformative communities. Wetzel employs qualitative methods in her work, primarily through discourse analysis. She teaches a variety of courses related to elementary literacy methods, foundations of literacy and reading development, coaching and mentoring, literacy leadership, sociolinguistics, teacher inquiry, and classroom discourse. Her expertise encompasses literacy teacher preparation, coaching, mentoring, and literacy instruction.

Research Interests