Andwatta Barnes is a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan’s School of Education, Educational Studies program specializing in Teaching and Teaching Education. Andwatta has a BA in Elementary Education and an M.Ed. in TESOL from Grand Valley State University. AtU-M, she has taught Educational Linguistics/Second Language Teaching in the Master of Arts in Educational Studies with Secondary Teacher Certification program. She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher and soon became a middle school English as a Foreign Language teacher in Japan. Just prior to pursuing a doctoral degree at U-M, she was an English as a Second Language (ESL) and English literature instructor, as well as a pre-service teacher mentor in the Middle East. She was also an assessment specialist for national and international ESL teacher licensure and English language proficiency assessments for several years. Her research explores the various experiences of certified teachers who are not prepared to teach English as a medium instruction in schools outside of the United States. Her current work explores how Black American women teachers of English as a medium of instruction draw on their cultural, linguistic, and professional experiences in United Arab Emirates Pre-K-5 schools. Post-PhD, Andwatta plans to continue to conduct research centering the experiences of BIPOC American teachers as they adapt to teaching English learners beyond the United States.
