Drawing from a sociocultural understanding of learning, I use self-reflexive and participatory qualitative methods to study the growth and development of teachers and teacher educators, particularly as they work for socially just outcomes for linguistically and culturally diverse learners in PK-12 settings. I am deeply invested in identifying and understanding the pedagogies that teacher educators utilize to support teachers’ experiences of practice, and in the ways in which practice and theory can be in dialogue with one another.
Since 2015 I have led a collective of early career teachers, teacher educators, and multilingual youth as we have collaboratively explored the kinds of practices that matter for teaching multilingual youth. Examples of my recent work appear in Teaching and Teacher Education, TESOL Quarterly, Language Teaching Research, Action in Teacher Education, and TESOL Journal. Together with Dr. Judy Sharkey, I have a recent edited book entitled Self-study of language and literacy teacher education practices: Culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. I am an Associate Editor for the International Multilingual Research Journal, and Co-Director of UMD's Multilingual Research Center. I serve on the executive committee for the Second Language Research SIG and the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) SIG for the American Educational Research Association (AERA). I also serve on AERA's Division K Nominating Committee.
I have experience as an ESOL and Spanish teacher across a variety of ages and contexts, ranging from pre-K through adults.
See a more complete listing of my publications on ResearchGate.
Selected recent publications:
Peercy, M. M. & Troyan, F. J. (Accepted). “Am I doing it wrong?”: Critically examining mediation in lesson rehearsal. Teaching and Teacher Education.
Peercy, M. M. & Sharkey, J. (In press, 2020). Self-study in English Language Teaching: Emerging considerations about the intersection of teacher educators’ identities and pedagogies. In J. Kitchen, A. Berry, S. M. Bullock, A. Crowe, H. Guðjónsdóttir,, & M. Taylor, (Eds.), International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education(2nd ed.). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Fredricks, D. & Peercy, M. M. (In press, 2020). Youth perspectives on humanizing core practices. In L. Cardozo-Gaibisso & M. V. Dominguez (Eds.), Handbook of research on advancing language equity practices within immigrant communities. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Peercy, M. M. & Sharkey, J. (2020). Missing a S-STEP? How self-study of teacher education practice can support the language teacher education knowledge base. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168818777526
Peercy, M. M., Kidwell, T., Lawyer, M., Tigert, J., Fredricks, D., Feagin, K., & Stump, M. (2019). Experts at being novices: What new teachers can add to practice-based teacher education efforts. Action in Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2019.1675201
Peercy, M. M., Varghese, M., & Dubetz, N. (2019). Critically examining practice-based teacher education for teachers of language minoritized youth. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.533
Peercy, M. M., Sharkey, J., Baecher, L., Motha, S., & Varghese, M. (2019). Exploring TESOL teacher educators as learners and reflective scholars: A shared narrative inquiry. TESOL Journal, 10(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.482
Peercy, M. M., Tigert, J., Feagin, K., Kidwell, T., Fredricks, D., Lawyer, M., Bitter, M., Canales, N., & Mallory, A. (2019). “I need to take care of myself”: The case for self-care as a core practice for teaching. In C. R. Rinke & L. Mawhinney (Eds.), Opportunities and challenges in teacher recruitment and retention: Teacher voices across the pipeline(pp. 303-325). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Sharkey, J. & Peercy, M. M. (Eds.). (2018). Self-study of language and literacy teacher education practices: Culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.
Troyan, F. J. & Peercy, M. M. (2018). Moving beyond “Très bien’: Examining teacher educator practice in lesson rehearsals. In J. Sharkey & M. M. Peercy (Eds.), Self-study of language and literacy teacher education practices:Culturally and linguistically diverse contexts. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.
Peercy, M. M., DeStefano, M., Sethna, K., & Bitter, M. (2018).Scaffolding scaffolding: A collaborative effort to understand and enact appropriate scaffolding for EL learning in science. In J. Sharkey (Ed.), Engaging Research: Transformative Practice for Elementary Settings(pp. 133-148). Alexandria, VA: TESOL Press.
Peercy, M. M. (2018). Mainstream and ESL teacher collaboration. In J. Liontas, M. DelliCarpini, G. Park, & S. Salas (Eds.), TESOL encyclopedia of English language teaching, v.7 (section on teacher training and professional development) (pp. 4631-4636). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Peercy, M. M. & Troyan, F. J. (2017). Making transparent the challenges of developing a practice-based pedagogy of teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 61, 26-36.
Peercy, M. M., Ditter, M., & DeStefano, M. (2017). “We need more consistency”: Negotiating the division of labor in ESOL-mainstream teacher collaboration. TESOL Journal, 8(1), 215-239.
Peercy, M. M., Martin-Beltrán, M., Yazan, B., & DeStefano, M. (2017). “Jump in any time”: How teacher struggle with curricular reform generates opportunities for teacher learning. Action in Teacher Education, 39(2), 203-217.
Peercy, M. M., DeStefano, M., Kidwell, T., & Ramirez, R. (2016). Co-constructing practice in an online ESOL literacy methods course. Professional Development in Education, 42(5), 752-766.
Troyan, F. J. & Peercy, M. M. (2016). “Feedback from outside of my own head”: Novice teachers’ perspectives on learning in lesson rehearsals. International Multilingual Research Journal, 10(3), 188-200.
Peercy, M. M., DeStefano, M., Yazan, B., & Martin-Beltrán, M. (2016). “She’s my right hand”: Teacher collaboration for linguistically diverse students’ equitable access to curriculum. In J. C. Richards & K. Zenkov (Eds.), Social justice, the Common Core, and closing the instructional gap: Empowering diverse learners and their teachers (pp. 39-56). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Second Language Research SIG Midcareer Award, 2019. The Mid-Career Award is granted to scholars recognized by their peers for “the overall degree to which their research advances knowledge in the field of second language research, promotes equity and access for students, teachers, teacher educators, communities, and/or families, and influences the creation, collection, and analysis of data.”
University of Maryland Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year award, 2011. One of 4 faculty members chosen by students as an outstanding mentor, from 29 nominees across University of Maryland campus of 1300+ tenured/tenure-track faculty.