Mary K. (Kathy) Fitzgerald

Clinical Assistant Professor

My interests within the Department of Child and Family Studies include the initial support of beginning teachers and the ongoing support of teachers in the field. In particular, I am interested in the decision-making processes that teachers use: how they make decisions, and what kinds of backgrounds supplement and inform those decisions most effectively. I try to help teachers develop strategies that will enable them to use child development information and principles as the bases for their decisions, especially curriculum decisions.

I am also interested in how teachers strengthen children’s cognitive development through the intentional use of strategies designed to enable children to represent their thinking in stable ways. Often this means using media such as drawing, paints and clay, but also blocks and pretend play, as well as writing. I try to help teachers overcome their own lack of familiarity with these materials so they can empower children to more easily explore science and social studies concepts through these materials as well as develop collaborative and cognitive dispositions.

I came to the Department of Child and Families Studies by way of Rhode Island College where I was a faculty member teaching in the Henry Barnard Lab School for close to 25 years. In that capacity I was also part of the Early Childhood Teacher Licensure program working with college students as well as young children. While there, I was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and Science.

I have a professional interest in the remarkable schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy and what we as educators can learn from them. I have a personal interest in adoption issues. In particular how adoptive families can help their children be more successful in schools as well as how schools might become more sensitive to the issues some adopted children might be facing.

Contact Information

1215 W. Cumberland Ave
239 Jessie Harris Building
Knoxville, TN 37996-1912

Phone: 865-974-2126
Email: mkfitz@utk.edu

Contact CEHHS

335 Claxton Complex 1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Phone: 865-974-2201
Fax: 865-974-8718