Gail Buffalo
ECE Program Director / Professor
Additional Departments/Affiliated Programs
Building
25 Broadway, 7th Floor
Phone
(212) 925-6625 ext 272
Website

Gail Buffalo
Profile
My research addresses issues of teacher development centered on justice-oriented practices and pedagogies and teachers鈥 self-empowerment using critical perspectives and aligned methodologies including critical racial paradigms. Drawing on the knowledge of practicing teachers and teacher educators, this work includes various critiques of and alternatives to high stakes exams used for the professional certification of teachers. My policy research and advocacy focus on recognizing and strengthening a diverse teaching workforce in service of larger educational aims, including sustaining children鈥檚 cultural and linguistic heritage, and providing high standards of care and education in and beyond childhood. My dissertation and first full-length manuscript center the experiences of New York City early childhood Teachers of Color as a first step in redefining quality on teachers鈥 own terms. Additional scholarship, including conference presentations, has emphasized various gradations of teachers鈥 self-empowerment, literacy learning across disciplines and age spans, the role of art in English language arts education, and the use of teacher research in the development of pre- and in-service teachers.
Courses Taught
From a critical and race critical perspective, my teacher education practice centers on human development, writ large. In teacher education courses, this means connecting students鈥 understandings of their own development to the development of students in their classrooms. In addition, I leverage my past experience as a high school English and college writing teacher as a current early childhood and literacy teacher education generalist in service to teacher development. In short, I promote pre-service teachers鈥 active engagement in classroom inquiry as critical, collegial members of larger professional learning communities. My students are active in professional organizations and present at conferences. Most recently, seven students presented their work at the 2020 and 2021 Penn Ethnography Forums.
- Language Development and Literacy
- School and American Societies
- Social Studies in Early Childhood Education
- Student Teaching Seminar in ECE
- Language and Emergent to Fluent Literacy
- School, Family, and Community
- Supervision of Student Teachers
- Visiting Reader for University of Vi莽osa
Education
Ed.D., Interdisciplinary Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University
Ed. M., English Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
M.Ed., English, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
B.S., English Education, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Certifications
New York State Certification
- Early Childhood Education Professional Certificate | Pending, Expected 3/2024
- English Language Arts 7-12 Professional Certificate | Active, Issued 3/2019
- English Language Arts 7-12 Initial Certificate | Active, Issued 3/2019
Publications
Edited Journal Issues
Gediel, A., & Buffalo, G. (Eds.). (2023). Lingu铆stica Aplicada em interface com a Educa莽茫o/ Linguistic studies: Applied linguistics in interface with education. Gl谩uks ONLINE Journal, 23(2).
Journal Articles
Buffalo, G., & Souto-Manning, M. (2023). Building knowledge together: erikson institute president, Mariana Souto-Manning, on the unfinished lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic. Gl谩uks ONLINE Journal, 22(2).
Gediel, A., & Buffalo, G. (2023). Lingu铆stica applicada em interface com a educa莽芒o: Nae al茅m da pandemia de Covid-19: Abordagens cr铆tica. Gl谩uks ONLINE Journal, 22(2). DOI: 10.47677/gluks.v22i2.399
Buffalo, G., & Gediel, A. (2023). Applied linguistics interfacing with education in and beyond the Covid-19 Pandemic: Critical Approaches. Gl谩uks ONLINE Journal, 22(2). DOI: 10.47677/gluks.v22i2.399
Farias, R.P., & Buffalo, G. (2023). 鈥淵ou Get to a Point Where You Get Tired鈥: Transforming Brazilian Early Childhood Teachers鈥 Agency. Gl谩uks ONLINE Journal, 22(2). DOI: 10.47677/gluks.v22i2.315.
Mitchem, M., Buffalo, G., P茅rez, A., and Rollings, E. (2019). Tales of Existing & Resisting as
Female Teacher Educators in Neoliberal Times. The New Educator,
*
Vetter, A. & Russell, G. (2011). Taking a cross-country journey with a world map: Examining the construction of practitioner identities through one case study.Education Action
Research, 19(2), pp. 171-187
Book Chapters and Reference Entries
Souto-Manning, M., Buffalo, G., Emerson, A., & Kirton, T. (in press). Whiteness in teacher education. In R. Milner & J.S. Bennett (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Social Justice in Education. (pp. XX-XX). Bloomsbury.
Souto-Manning, M., Buffalo, G., & Rollings, E. (2021). The language debt owed to raciolinguistically- and ethnolinguistically-minoritized students. In R. Milner & S. Lomotey (Eds.), Handbook of Urban Education (pp. 253-266). Routledge.
Souto-Manning, M., Buffalo, G., & Rabadi-Raol, A. (2020). Early childhood teacher certification as a site for the re-production of racial and cultural injustice. In E. Swadener & S. Kessler (Eds.), Education for Social Justice in Early Childhood (pp. 46-58). Routledge.
Russell-Buffalo, G. (2014). Henry Giroux and the 鈥渃risis鈥 of 21st Century education. In S. Totten & J. Pederson (Eds.), Educating about social issues in the 21st Century, Volume 4: Critical pedagogues and the theories. (pp. 169-192). Information Age Publishing.
Russell-Buffalo, G. & Stanford, N. (2014). Pedagogy of reinvention: Paulo Freire in 20th and 21st Century Education. Educating about social issues in the 21st Century, Volume 4: Critical pedagogues and the theories. (pp. 71-93). Information Age Publishing.
Conference Papers and Presentations
- Buffalo, G. (2022, April). Partisan Politics and the Decline of Race-Conscious Policies in North Carolina鈥檚 Teaching Fellows Program (1986-2014). American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference, San Diego, California.
- Farias, R.P., & Buffalo, G. (2022, April). 鈥淵ou Get to a Point Where You Get Tired鈥: Transforming Brazilian Early Childhood Teachers鈥 Discourses. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference, San Diego, California.
- 鈥嬧嬧婤uffalo, G. 鈥淓xplorations with Young Children in Diverse Contexts: Supports for Curriculum, Instruction, and Inclusion.鈥 New York Association for the Education of Young Children, Online, April 15-18, 2021.
- Camillo, J., Lago, L., Mattos, C., & Buffalo, G. 鈥淢onological education and pandemic: 鈥楾he return of those who never went.鈥欌 AERA Annual Conference, Online, April 8-12, 2021.
- Buffalo, G. 鈥淎 Confluence of What Counts as Quality in the Education of Young Children: Reports from a Women of Color Focus Group.鈥 NCTE Annual Conference, November 19-22, 2020.
- Mitchem, M., Buffalo, G., P茅rez, A.Y., and Rollings, E. 鈥淛ustice-Informed Teacher Education Beyond Neoliberalism and Patriarchy: Early Career Teacher Educators Theorize Teacher Educator Preparation.鈥 AERA Annual Conference, San Francisco, CA, April 17-21, 2020 (Conference Cancelled). Buffalo.
- Mitchem, M., Buffalo, G., P茅rez, A., and Rollings, E. 鈥淭ales of Existing & Resisting as Female Teacher Educators in Neoliberal Times.鈥 AERA Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 8, 2019.*
- Buffalo, G. 鈥淣ew York City Early Childhood Teachers鈥 Construction of Teaching Quality in a Time of High-Stakes Certification.鈥 AERA Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 7, 2019.
- Buffalo, G. 鈥淯npacking the Student Teaching Seminar.鈥 Paper presented in symposium entitled Unpacking Unflattening: Interdisciplinary and Multimodal Inquiry in Teaching and Research. AERA Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 6, 2019.
- Walker, D., Buffalo, G., & Lopez, A. 鈥淎 Definition of Schooling as We Know It: The Beginning of the End.鈥 AERA Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 6, 2019.*
- Buffalo, G. 鈥淏uilding Your Own Text Set.鈥 CUNY ALST Faculty Panel [Invited Presentation], New York, NY, December 8, 2015.
- Russell-Buffalo, G. and C. Gustafson. 鈥淯ncertain Knowings: A Dialogue on (Re)Thinking Aesthetics in English Language Arts.鈥 NCTE Annual Convention, Boston, MA, November 23, 2013.*
- Russell, G. and C. Gustafson. 鈥淯ncertain Knowings: A Dialogue on (Re)thinking Aesthetics in English Language Arts.鈥 WLU Literacies for All Institute, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, July 20, 2013.*
- Russell, G. and K. Hutton. 鈥淎rtist Romare Bearden as Literacy Sponsor, or What the American Master Artist Can Add to the NC Classroom this Year.鈥 North Carolina English Teachers Association Conference, Charlotte, NC, September 29, 2012.*
- Russell, G. 鈥淧eter Elbow鈥檚 Vernacular Eloquence Across the Curriculum.鈥 North Carolina English Teachers Association Conference, Charlotte, NC, September 29, 2012.
- Russell, G. 鈥淰ernacular Eloquence and Multiple Literacies in and Out of School.鈥 Symposium on the Teaching of Writing with Peter Elbow, Amherst, MA, June 7, 2012.
- Russell, G. 鈥淭he Reluctant Feminist.鈥 Research on Women in Education Conference, Houston, TX, October 28, 2011.
- Vetter, A., Russell, G., Myers, J., Wrobelski, H., and Marty, M. 鈥淎dvancing Literacy through Teacher Research.鈥 NCTE Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, November, 2009.
- Russell, G., W. Duffy, A. Benson, and M.B. White. 鈥淐oming Clean: Understanding Literacy through Ideological Self-Revelation.鈥 Expanding Literacy Students Conference, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, April 5, 2009.*
- Vetter, A., Reynolds, J., and Russell, G. 鈥淭urning Points: The Process of Becoming a Teacher Researcher.鈥 NCTE Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX, November, 2008.
- Russell, G. 鈥淲riting Across the Curriculum.鈥 Elkin High School, Elkin, NC, March 2007.
- Russell, G. 鈥淲riting Across the Curriculum.鈥 Page High School, Greensboro, NC, February, 2004.
- Russell, G. and K. Hutton. 鈥淭he Art of Language and the Language of Art.鈥 North Carolina English Teachers鈥 Association Annual Conference, Durham, NC, October 14, 2006.*
- Russell, G. 鈥淢ore than Machines: Using Focused Reflections to Help Students Own Their Writing.鈥 North Carolina English Teachers鈥 Association Conference, Charlotte, NC, October 1, 2004.
- Russell, G., J. Milner, and K. Bowen. 鈥淪upporting Writing Projects in North Carolina.鈥 North Carolina Association for Curriculum Developers and Supervisors, Pinehurst, NC, February 2004.
Awards and Honors
2023 Teaching and Teacher Education (Division K) Recognition of Service as an Outstanding Reviewer.
Presented by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
2020 New York City Early Childhood Research Network Early Career Scholar Award. Presented by the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute (PDI). $5,000
2020 Teaching and Teacher Education (Division K) Invited Graduate Student Mentoring
Session.
Presented by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
1997 North Carolina Teaching Fellows Scholarship (Full Scholarship).
Presented by the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and the Public School Forum. $32,000