Ting Yuan

Associate Professor

Dr. Ting Yuan is an associate professor teaching in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at CUNY College of Staten Island. She has taught teacher education courses on 1) early childhood and elementary literacy methods; 2) computational thinking for teachers; and 3) creative computing in education. Dr. Yuan’s research critically and passionately examines the intersections of literacy, race, culture, and technology, including creative (digital) literacies, embodied multimodality in children's language and literacy practices, as well as how children and pre-/in-service teachers from diverse backgrounds enact creative (digital) literacies in multilingual, multicultural, and multi-technological settings.

Her scholarly work has appeared in journals, including Young Exceptional Children, Childhood Education, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, Journal of Language and Literacy Education, English Journal, English Leadership Quarterly, and others. Yuan was the recipient of NCTE Geneva Smitherman Cultural Diversity Grant Award (2014) and NCTE Research Foundation Grant Award (2023). She is currently a campus lead on CUNY's Computing Integrated Teacher Education Initiative and serves as a 2024-2025 CUNY Building Bridges of Knowledge Faculty Fellow in AI Education. Most recently, representing the College of Staten Island, Yuan has joined the 2024-2026 Cohort of Scratch Education Collaborative by the Scratch Foundation to elevate the college's teacher education programs toward equitable creative computing across disciplines.

Yuan received her B.A. from East China University of Political Science & Law; an M.A. in Curriculum and Teaching (Elementary Education) from Teachers College, Columbia University; and an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Degrees

Ed.D. in Curriculum and Teaching, Teachers College, Columbia University

M.A. in Curriculum and Teaching, Teachers College, Columbia University

Scholarship and Publications

Refereed Articles

Yuan, T., & Grant, R. (2023). Digital storytelling of two “underperforming” and “misbehaving” boys of color in a second grade classroom. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 37(3), 366–386. Link

Yuan, T., Waite, S., Bristol. T., & Mentor, M. (2023). NYC Men Teach: Listening to and supporting early-career Asian American male teachers in English teaching. English Leadership Quarterly, 45(3), 5-12. Link

Yuan, T. (2022). A critical pedagogy for love and healing toward anti-Asian racism and Xenophobia. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 18(2), 1-5. Link

Yuan, T. & Patel, A. (2022). “If young children can code, why can’t we try?”: Computational storytelling in early childhood teacher education. Childhood Education: Innovations, 98(6), 56-61. Link

Yuan, T., & Jiang, H. (2019). Culturally responsive teaching for children from low-income, immigrant families. Young Exceptional Children, 22(3), 150-161. Link

Yuan, T. (2017). The teaching of “dangerous” school bodies: Toward critical embodied pedagogies in English education. English Journal, 106(4), 67-72. Link

Yuan, T., Crowley, J., Asunka, S., Chae, H. S., Natriello, G. (2010). “Build it and they will come?” A case study of the use of wikis in a higher education research unit. International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning, 3(3), 39–44.

Refereed Book Chapters

Yuan, T., Grant, R., & Jiang, H. (2022). Translanguaging as an enactment of “Changjinglu” with a Chinese Satellite Baby in a Head Start classroom. In S. DeCapua & E. Hancı-Azizoglu (Eds.), Global and transformative approaches toward linguistic diversity (pp. 49-65). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Link

Yuan, T. (2022). Enacting culturally sustaining teaching: Book co-authoring and co-making by preservice teachers and their child partners. In C. Lin, N. Bell, & J. Cowin (Eds.), Supporting student success through community assets mapping: A NYS TESOL E-Book (pp. 72-79). New York, NY: NYS TESOL. Link

Morphis, E., & Yuan, T. (2020). Making literacy culturally relevant: An imperative for early childhood teacher education. In K. Sprott, J. O’ Connor Jr., & C. M. Msengi (Eds.), Designing culturally competent programming for PK-20 classrooms (pp. 21-34). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Link

Non-Refereed Writing and Creative Work (Selected)

Yuan. T. (2024). Poem: Confession of a Motherscholar of a “Satellite Baby.” English Journal, 113(4), 20.

Yuan, T. (2023). Poem: Motherscholar Work on #StopAsianHate during COVID-19. English Journal, 112(4), 106.

Yuan, T. (Ed.). (2016). A guide for parents by the China National Children’s Center Lao Niu Children’s Discovery Museum (《中國兒童中心老牛兒童探索館家長指南》). China National Children’s Center and Children’s Museum Research Center of Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.

Yuan, T. (2016). Revisiting the definition of “Asian American” pre-service and in-service teachers in university-based teacher education programs. American Educational Research Association SIG “Research on the Education of Asian and Pacific Americans (REAPA)” Fall 2016 Newsletter, 1–2.

Yuan, T., & Bakian-Aaker, L. (2015). Classroom digital storytelling in grades K-2: Writers make a movie for the reader. Childhood Education, 91(5), 402–404.

Yuan, T. (2012). From Ponyo to “my Garfield story”: Using digital comics as an alternative pathway to literary compositions. Childhood Education, 87(4), 297–301.

Yuan, T. (2010 November 30). Review of the book The materiality of learning: Technology and knowledge in educational practice. Education Review, 13.

Yuan, T., & Beacom, D. (Producers). (2009). Columbia University AfterEd TV Ed World Series. Exploring technology in elementary schools: A journey to Shanghai.

Refereed Conference Presentations (2023-2024)

Yuan, T., & Sanchez, J. (2024). From unplugged to plugged in: Computational storytelling in a 3rd grade classroom. Paper to be presented at the 2024 NCTE Annual Convention on November 16-19, 2024. Boston, MA.

Yuan, T., *Khalil, B., &*Khass, R. (2024). Creative literacies via Scratch: Computational storytelling by pre-service teachers. Spotlight session presented at the 2024 MIT Scratch Conference, July 24-25, 2024.

(*Undergraduate Student)

Yuan, T. (2024). “Train an AI to pronounce your name.” Presented as part of a panel entitled Mobilizing AI to Support Teacher Candidates’ Reflective P-12 Teaching. City University of New York Education Conference on April 19, 2024. New York, NY.

Yuan, T., Cabral, M., Kerekes, J., *Khalil, B., &*Khass, R. (2024). Unplugged to plugged in: Cultivating computational thinking in early childhood teacher education. Panel presentation at the 2024 City University of New York Education Conference on April 19, 2024. New York, NY.

(*Undergraduate Student)

Yuan, T. (2024). New affordances and possibilities: Creative literacies via computational storytelling in early childhood teacher education. Paper presented as part of a roundtable session entitled “Researching Play, Language, and Literacy Practices to Interrupt Injustice and Unburden Early Education” at the 2024 Annual Conference of American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Philadelphia, PA.

Yuan, T. (2024). Building capacity together: Faculty co-learning computational storytelling with early childhood preservice teachers. Poster presented as part of a poster session entitled “Expansive framings of “capacity building” in Computing Education: Agency, infrastructure, and advocacy” at the 2024 Annual Conference of American Educational Research Association (AERA) in Philadelphia, PA.

Yuan, T., & Sanchez, J. (2023). The meaning of our names: Transcultural, translanguaging learning via computational storytelling. Paper presented at the 2023 NCTE Annual Convention on November 16-19, 2023. Columbus, Ohio.

Yuan, T., & Sanchez, J. (2023). Transcultural, translanguaging learning via computational storytelling in early childhood teacher education. Paper presented at the 2023 Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (RECE) Annual Conference on September 7-10, 2023. Manchester, UK.

Yuan, T., Tao, L., Cabral, M., Gibbons, A., & Azeka, S. (2023). Interdisciplinary journeys of teaching and learning in computational literacies. Panel presented at the 2023 CUNY Education Conference on April 28, 2023. New York, NY.

Yuan, T., & Grant, R. (2023). Raciolinguistics-informed translanguaging for social justice: A review on the pedagogical uses of African American language. Paper presented at the virtual conference on Visibilizing Raciolinguistic Ideologies across Cultures, Languages, and Systems on April 6, 2023 by Berkeley Language Center, University of California, Berkeley.

Yuan, T., & Grant, R. (2023). A conceptual framework for raciolinguistics-informed translanguaging pedagogy. Paper presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the New York State Foundations of Education Association on March 31-April 1, 2023. New York, NY.

Yuan, T., & Grant, R. (2023). Translanguaging for linguistic justice: Imagining classroom-based language neighborhoods. Paper presented at 2023 TESOL Annual Convention on March 23, 2023. Portland, OR.