Susan Bennett-Armistead

Susan Bennett-ArmisteadAssociate Professor of Literacy
susan.bennett-armistead@maine.edu
Phone: 207.581.2418

205 Shibles Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5766

Bio: Susan Bennett-Armistead is associate professor of literacy at the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development. She served for five years as the Correll Professor of Early Literacy, which included an $80,000 award for research and promotion of early literacy initiatives over five years. Bennett-Armistead’s research interests include language and literacy acquisition in young children, the role of literacy instruction in Pre-K and kindergarten settings, relationships between family literacy volunteers and their literacy learners, and longitudinal analysis of teacher induction through professional development schools. She is a member of several professional organizations including the National and Maine Association for the Education of Young Children, the Literacy Research Association, the International Literacy Association, the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, and the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. She serves as the early literacy consultant to Raising Readers and Save the Children as well as providing support to the Barbara Bush Foundation’s Family Literacy initiatives.

Education
Ph.D., Michigan State University, Curriculum, Teacher Education and Policy with an emphasis in Literacy
B.S., Michigan State University, Child Development and Elementary Education

Sample publications

  • LaBree, M. & Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2021). Literacy-to-Go: Delivering Literacy to Young Families through Library and Community Partnerships. Young Children.
  • Bennett-Armistead, V.S., Groenhout, R. & LaBree, M. (2016). Final Report of the Raising Readers Impact Study. White paper prepared for Raising Readers, funded by the Horizon Foundation.
  • Bennett-Armistead, V.S. & Civiello, G. (2016). Building brains by making connections: Connecting you to your child and connecting your child to good books and the world around us. Parent & Family Magazine. March/April.
  • Bennett-Armistead, V.S., Duke, N.K. & Moses, A.M. (2014). Beyond Bedtime Stories: a parent’s guide to weaving literacy into the everyday lives of infants, toddlers and preschoolers, 2nd edition.  NY: Scholastic.
  • Morrell, J. & Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2013). Preparing preservice teachers to develop productive and positive relationships with families through family literacy nights. New England Reading Association Journal, 48, pp. 10-20.
  • Logue, M.E., Bennett-Armistead, V.S., & Kim, S.J. (2011) The Persona doll project: Promoting awareness of diversity among preservice teachers through storytelling. Social Studies Research and Practice.
  • Blagojevic, B., Logue, M.E., Bennett-Armistead, V.S., Neal, E., & Taylor, B. (2011). Take a look! Visual supports for learning. Teaching Young Children.

Children’s Books

  • Bennett-Armistead, V.S., Kelley, G. & Barter, A.M. (2021). Love.Read.Learn. Online collection of 90 little leveled ebooks and parent support materials created for the Barbara Bush Foundation.
  • Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2020). MY WORLD Collection, 2nd Edition, including a new theme for a total of 60 little books across six themes, along with Teacher’s Guides and a unique BIG BOOK for each theme.
  • Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2018).  ZooZoo Books Collection. San Diego, CA: Hameray Publishing. [Collection of four titles that adds to a larger collection of emergent informational texts for young children.]
  • Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2016). Kaleidoscope Collection. San Diego, CA: Hameray Publishing. [Collection of six titles that adds to a larger collection of emergent texts for young children.] 

Video

  • Duke, N.K., Moses, A.M., Billman, A.K., Zhang, S. & Bennett-Armistead, V.S. (2006). Promoting Emergent Literacy in Licensed Care. Michigan State University. (video and booklet)