In January 2024, Filkins, ’98 LAS, Ed.M. ’10 C&I, Ed.D. ’17 C&I, began in a new role as program coordinator for all four of Curriculum and Instruction’s teacher preparation programs: early childhood, elementary, middle grades, and secondary education. Additionally, as an adjunct instructor for the College of Education, he continues to teach sections of CI 473: Disciplinary Literacy and other literacy related courses.

Tell us about your background in the field of education.

I previously worked as a high school English teacher in the Champaign School District for 23 years (1998-2007, 2009-2024) and as a content specialist on the ReadWriteThink project at the National Council of Teachers of English for two years (2007-2009). Additionally, I am a founding co-director of the University of Illinois Writing Project, a local site of the National Writing Project. My interests in language, social justice, and identity led me to develop and teach a course on linguistic diversity at the Danville Correctional Center through the Education Justice Project in 2018.

What most interests you as an education scholar?

My teaching and research interests center on the roles of reading, writing, and talk in learning as shaped by the academic disciplines in school settings, as well as how students and schools can take more critical views of “disciplinary literacy” to examine the power structures that seek to limit students’ language repertoires rather than to build them for more flexible, agentive participation.