Building from my previous experiences as a secondary ELA/ESL teacher, ESL program coordinator, and literacy coach in Metro Detroit and teacher educator at Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University, I am committed to advancing equity, inclusion, and social justice in language literacy education for all learners through three principles:

1. Preparing teachers to enact equitable, inclusive and just language and literacy pedagogies requires the development of their critical consciousness of self and society. 
2. Positioning teachers and learners alike as insiders within literacy communities involves teaching as apprenticeship. 
3. The development of teachers’ critical consciousness and empathy must result in bottom-up praxis, or action. 

These three principles are central to my work as a teacher educator and researcher in the Literacy Studies program at Grand Valley State University.

• Literacy Studies

Courses

• EDR 321: Content Area Literacy
• EDR 624: Elementary Literacy: Learners, Text, And The Environment
• EDR 625: Secondary Literacy: Learners, Text, And The Environment
• EDR 685: Literacy Instruction Practicum
• EDR 687: Reading/Literacy Specialist and Literacy Coach Practicum

• Ph.D., Michigan State University
• B.A., Michigan State University

• College Curriculum Committee, College of Education and Community Innovation - At Large
• Michigan Department of Education’s Disciplinary Literacy Preparation Standards Implementation Supports and Resources Team - Member
• Michigan Council of Teachers of English (MCTE) - Representative-at-Large and Co-Director for Early Career Educators of Color Award Program
• Michigan Reading Association (MRA) - Member
• Michigan Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (MITEOSL) - Member
• National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) - Member

Recent Publications

• Ponzio, C. M. (Accepted for publication). Our names, our way: A translanguaging writer’s workshop for language-minoritized adolescents. English Journal, forthcoming issue.
• Ponzio, C. M., Albert, B., & Weeks, S. (Accepted for publication). Critically curating culturally-relevant text sets through the 7 strengths framework. Language Arts Journal of Michigan, forthcoming issue.
• Ponzio, C. M. (2025). Marveling at the art of language: Centering adolescents in developing disciplinary literacy for ELA. Michigan Reading Journal, 57(3).
• Ponzio, C. M., Kopera, J., Krueger, J., Kwiatkowski, K., & Shiveley, H. (2025). Reclaiming and celebrating our names: Storytelling-as connection through an elementary-middle school partnership. Michigan Reading Journal, (57)2.

Upcoming (*) and Recent Presentations

• Ponzio, C. M. Collard, J., Crouch, K. Farkas, J. & Stritz, I. (2026). Affirming students’ voice and choice: enacting inquiry-based grammar instruction in culturally-relevant ways. Michigan Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.*
• Stritz, I., Collard, J., Ponzio, C. M. & Farkas, J. (2026). Patterns of power, patterns of courage: Empowering student writing with voice, choice, and inquiry among culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Michigan Reading Association Annual Conference.
• Ponzio, C. M. (2025). Distilling authentic practices for ELA disciplinary literacy teaching: Apprenticing pre-service teachers through virtual fieldwork. Literacy Research Association Annual Conference.
• Walsh, B., Belli, E., & Ponzio, C. M. (2025). Embracing nepantla: Centering students’ identities and meaning-making through graphic novels and hip hop lyrics. Michigan Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.
• Ponzio, C. M. (2025). Restoration through restorying: Integrating a critical translingual approach to writing name stories among language-minoritized adolescents. American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference.
• Ponzio, C. M., Albert, B, & Weeks, S. (2025). Who’s at the center? Cultivating a critical lens to building and integrating culturally relevant text sets. Michigan Reading Association Annual Conference.
• Stolle, E., Stoetzel, L., & Ponzio, C. M. (2025). Growing teachers in their support of multilingual learners. Michigan Reading Association Annual Conference.

Media ContributionsAssessment Learning Network Series 2024-25 Series

• Living into disciplinary literacy essentials in the secondary ELA classroom
• Research support for secondary ELA disciplinary literacies
• Student-centered assessment approaches that develop disciplinary literacy in secondary ELA classrooms
• Disciplinary literacy and student-centered instruction and assessment in secondary English language arts