Tanya Espinosa Cordoba
What classes do you teach at AU?
EDU 111 Foundations of Education
EDU 211 Educational Psychology
CTI 405 Children's Literature: Culture and Contemporary Issues
When did you start teaching at AU?
2020
Why teach at AU?
Anderson university is a Christ-centered intellectual environment in which I can fully embrace and share my identities as a Christian and a scholar with my students and colleagues.
Hobbies
Mountain biking and hiking with my family, enjoying music, theater, and art, and traveling.
Notable achievements outside of discipline
Summited Mt. Kenya with 20+ youth after serving in schools and churches in Nairobi for a month. Helped lead youth group service projects in Egypt and within Germany.
People might be interested to know I...
have been married to the other Dr. Cordoba since 2004, he is the director of the commercial music program at AU. We have two sons.
Places you've lived
South Florida, Texas, Bonn, Germany, Illinois, Anderson, SC.
What do you find most enjoyable about working at AU?
My students inspire me through their faithfulness in Christ and their desire to learn and grow in community. I love being able to make the connection between the calling to become a teacher and servant leadership.
What I wish prospectives students knew about my discipline or careers in my discipline.
Becoming a teacher is more than learning methods to be applied in the classroom, it is a calling that requires open-mindedness, whole-heartedness, and intellectual responsibility.
How would you describe your classes to someone who has never attended one?
My classes are community and student-centered and are places where constructing knowledge is a shared endeavor within a culture of care. Minimal lectures and a lot of discussion, thinking, and laughing together!
Publications
Sanders-Smith, S.C., Smith-Bonahue, T.M., Cordoba, T.E., & Soutullo, O.R. (2019). Shifting perspectives: Preservice teacher preparation in family engagement. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. 40(3), 221-237.
Cordoba, T.E., & Sanders-Smith, S.C. (2018). A closer look: Socio-structural influences on teacher–child interactions during project work. Journal of Early Childhood Research. 16(4), 407-420.