A childhood interest turns into rewarding career

Fort Worth, TX

1/30/2009

By Katie Giangreco, TCU Office of Communications

Dr. Jan Lacina’s passion for teaching English as a second language (ESL) mainly comes from her grandfather’s experiences learning English as his second language when he was young. Her own experiences of having a multilingual family member with a great love for cultures and languages rubbed off on her and got her interested in English language learners.

Through her grandfather’s stories, Lacina developed a sense of compassion for people who are learning languages. She recently published two books and is in the process of writing a third with colleague Dr. Cecilia Silva. All three books address English language learners and literacy instruction for students struggling with reading and writing.

In addition to writing books, Lacina has written a column, “Technology in the classroom,” for an international journal, Childhood Education, for the last six years.

“I try to find innovative teachers, spend time with them and then write about their teaching styles in the journal,” she said. “I really enjoy spending time with the teachers and documenting their effective practices and connecting that to research and my own teaching.”
Lacina uses the research she does for her books and articles to enrich the learning experience of her own students. “Everything I’m doing keeps me current and gives my students real world experience,” she said.

In addition to her research, Lacina uses examples from her twin four-year-old daughters’ development in her teaching efforts.

“When I talk about writing development in my classes, I show students examples of my daughters’ scribbles that evolved into writing,” she said. “I think it’s helpful to show actual examples in addition to research, and I think my students find it interesting.”

The College of Education’s collegial faculty and positive environment are just a few of the aspects of TCU that Lacina enjoys.

“I really like the philosophy of the university’s scholar-practitioner model and the balance between research and teaching,” she said. “My research enables me to be a better teacher and my teaching helps my research maintain practical elements.”

“Seeing former students succeed is a great reward,” she said.

In her 16th year of teaching, Lacina says her favorite and most memorable experiences come from assisting struggling students and helping them succeed as classroom teachers. Lacina, associate professor of literacy, earned tenure in her third year at TCU.

A graduate of Baylor University, Lacina received her master’s in education from Texas Woman’s University in elementary education. Her doctorate, focusing on teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), came from the University of Kansas. She is now in her fourth year at TCU.