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Tanya Cordoba
College of Education
College of Education
Assistant Professor of Education
tcordoba@andersonuniversity.edu
864-231-2048
Johnston 205
Academic Background
Tanya Espinosa Cordoba, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the College of Education at Anderson University. She earned her M.Ed. 14’ and Ph.D. 20’ from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Curriculum and Instruction. Prior to her time in the academy, she taught grades 1 and 3 in International Baccalaureate Schools in the USA and Germany. Dr. Cordoba’s research interests include inquiry-based learning, early childhood education, and literacy. She is married to the other Dr. Cordoba at AU and mother to Joe and Julian.
BA, Florida Atlantic University
M.Ed, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Fast Facts
Anderson university is a Christ-centered intellectual environment where I can fully embrace and live out my identities as a Christian and a scholar with students and colleagues.
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.
Awards & Grants:
-Traveling Trunk Project, South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission, $10,000
-Outstanding Dissertation Award, National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
-Spodek Dissertation Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
-Seed Grant “Preschool in the Virtual World,” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
-Seymour Stiss Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
-Curriculum & Instruction Graduate Summer Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Research Presentations:
Invited Presentations:
-Keynote Invitation: “The Development of Teacher as Inquirer and Case examples of the Reggio Emilia Approach in America” International ECE Aesthetics Education Symposium, College of Arts and the Department of Drama Education & Application at National University of Tainan, Taiwan
-Keynote Address: “Exploring the Effects: Teaching online and the 12 values of the Yew Chung approach” Yew Chung/Yew Wah Leadership Retreat, Hong Kong
-Using a whole-person approach. Culturally Responsive Teaching for Christian Congregations, Princeton Theological Seminary, Guest lecturer
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 their calling to become a teacher and servant leadership.
Curriculum and Instruction within Elementary and Early Childhood Education contexts including emergent curriculum development; Progressive education with an emphasis on socio-structural classroom features and inquiry-based learning, i.e., the Reggio Emilia approach and Project Approach; Literacy instruction across the curriculum.
Martinez Negrette, G., Cordoba, T.E., Sanders-Smith, S.C. (2024). “Global without borders”: Language policy, the concerted cultivation of multilingualism, and the Covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Multilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2024.2383738
Sanders-Smith, S. C., Cordoba, T. E., Laixely, J., & Martinez Negrette, G. (2024). Early childhood inquiry and e-learning: recontextualizing a progressive pedagogy in online
school. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 45(4), 455–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2024.2371318
Sanders-Smith, S.C., Laixely, J., Martinez Negrette, G. & Cordoba, T.E. (2024). Illusio, hysteresis, habitus and the field of education: Examining progressive teachers’ adaptation of their habitus during the Covid-19 pandemic. Educational Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2024.2357720
Martinez Negrette, G., Laixely, J., Cordoba, T.E., & Sanders-Smith, S.C. (2022). “So we start from zero”: Lessons and Reflections From Online Preschool During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Early Childhood Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X221083410
Sanders-Smith, S.C., & Cordoba, T.E. (2021). Study Abroad as a Means of Unpacking Pedagogical Complexity in Context. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01238-6
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.
Under Review:
Kumar, A., McCormick, K., Cordoba, T.E., Nyabando, T., & Facun-Garandozo, R. Studying Anti-bias Education Practice: ECE Teacher Educators Working in the Third Space of a Community of Practice. (Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education)
Lyons, M.E., Cordoba, T.E., Sanders-Smith, S.C., & Ostrosky, M. Honoring Legacy: Remembering Two Past NAEYC Presidents.(Special Issue: Young Children, NAEYC)