Contact Information

Biography

Dr. Jason K. Ritter is Professor and Chair of the Department of Instruction and Leadership in Education. His research focuses on better understanding and promoting the notion of teaching as a process of critical inquiry capable of fulfilling the democratic mission of schooling, which has led to related research interests in the professional learning and development of teachers and teacher educators.

Recently edited books include: Professional Learning Journeys of Teacher Educators; Pathways into Teacher Education: Profiles in Emerging Teacher Educator Development; Exploring Self Toward Expanding Teaching, Teacher Education and Practitioner Research; and Teaching, learning, and Enacting of Self-Study Methodology: Unraveling a Complex Interplay.

His work can also be found in a number of journals, including Journal of Teacher Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, Theory and Research in Social Education, Studying Teacher Education, Professional Development in Education, and Teacher Education Quarterly.

Prior to entering academia, Jason was a high school social studies teacher in Monticello, Georgia.


Education

  • Ph.D., Social Studies Education, University of Georgia, 2008
  • M.Ed., Secondary Teacher Education-Social Science Education, Georgia College and State University, 2004
  • B.S.Ed., Social Science Education, University of Georgia, 2001

 

Profile Information

Graduate Courses

  • GSCE 634 Teaching Secondary Social Studies
  • LTML 525 Teaching Social Studies in Grades 4-8
  • GEPK 540 Methods of Teaching Social Studies in Grades PreK-4

Undergraduate Courses

  • LTFL 101 Introduction to the Teaching Profession
  • LTEC 331 Content Knowledge: Science/Social Studies
  • LTEC 332 Pedagogy for Science/Social Studies
  • LTML 325 Teaching Social Studies in Grades 4-8
  • EDLS 346 Teaching Secondary Social Studies
  • Ritter, J. K., Rodriguez, T. L., Santau, A. O., & O'Donnell-Chavis, C. (2015). Linking literacies, popular culture, and citizenship: Using digital book clubs in social education. Social Education 79(2), 102-105.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2014). "You would think I could pull if off differently:" A teacher educator returns to classroom teaching. Issues in Teacher Education, 23(2), 29-46.
  • Santau, A. O., & Ritter, J. K. (2013). What to teach and how to teach it: Elementary teachers' views on teaching inquiry-based, interdisciplinary science and social studies in urban settings. The New Educator, 9(4), 255-286.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2013). Preservice elementary teacher views on the relationship between diversity and democracy. Social Studies Research and Practice, 8(3), 42-59.
  • Williams, J. J., Ritter, J. K., & Bullock, S. M. (2012). Understanding the complexity of becoming a teacher educator: Experience, belonging and practice within a professional learning community. Studying Teacher Education, 8(3), 245-260.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2012). Modeling powerful social studies: Bridging theory and practice with preservice elementary teachers. The Social Studies, 103(3), 117-124.
  • Dinkelman, T. D., Cuenca, A., Butler, B., Elfer, C., Ritter, J. K., Powell, D. J., & Hawley, T. S. (2012). The influence of a collaborative doctoral seminar on emerging teacher educator-researchers. Action in Teacher Education 34(2), 172-190.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2011). On the affective challenges of developing a pedagogy of teacher education. Studying Teacher Education, 7(3), 219-233.
  • Bullock, S. M., & Ritter, J. K. (2011). Exploring the transition into academia through collaborative self-study. Studying Teacher Education, 7(2), 171-181.
  • Ritter, J. K., Powell, D., Hawley, T. S., & Blasik, J. (2011). Reifying the ontology of individualism at the expense of democracy: An examination of university supervisors' written feedback to student teachers. Teacher Education Quarterly, 38(1), 29-46.
  • Conklin, H. G., Hawley, T. S., Powell, D. J., & Ritter, J. K. (2010). Learning from young adolescents: The use of structured teacher education coursework to help beginning teachers investigate middle school students' intellectual capabilities. Journal of Teacher Education 61(4), 313-327.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2010). Revealing praxis: A study of professional learning and development as a beginning social studies teacher educator. Theory and Research in Social Education, 38(4), 298-316.
  • Williams, J., & Ritter, J. K. (2010). Constructing new professional identities through self-study: From teacher to teacher educator. Professional Development in Education, 36(1-2), 77-92.
  • Ritter, J. K., & Lee, K. (2009). Explicit goals, implicit values, and the unintentional stifling of pluralism: An examination of a social studies teacher education vision statement. Theory and Research in Social Education, 37(1), 75-100.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2009). Developing a vision of teacher education: How my classroom teacher understandings evolved in the university environment. Studying Teacher Education 5(1), 45-60.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2016). On deconstructing folk theory while developing as a teacher educator: A disorienting transition as a reorienting experience. In J. Williams & M. Hayler (Eds.), Professional learning through transitions and transformations: Teacher educators' journeys of becoming (pp. 45-60). New York: Springer.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2012). Personal examples of self-study as a means of developing and enacting a pedagogy of supervision. In A. Cuenca (Ed.), Supervising student teachers: Issues, perspectives, and future directions (pp. 139-156). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
  • Williams, J., & Ritter, J. K. (2011). Constructing new professional identities through self-study: From teacher to teacher educator. In T. Bates, A. Swennen, & Ken Jones (Eds.), The professional development of teacher educators (pp. 86-101). New York: Routledge.
  • Ritter, J. K. (2010). Modeling self-study in social studies teacher education: Facilitating learning about teaching for democratic citizenship. In A. Crowe (Ed.), Advancing social studies education through self-study methodology: The power, promise, and use of self-study in social studies education (pp. 87-102). New York: Springer.