Desiree Pallais-Downing

Affiliation

The University of Texas at Austin

Biography

Dr. Desirée Pallais is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. She has a strong background supporting reading development with Spanish-speaking populations. She is particularly interested in asset-based approaches that lead to turn-around pedagogies, skill development, academic achievement and personal growth in the area of literacy. In her native Nicaragua, she founded Lo Pequeño es Bello (Small is Beautiful), an innovative bilingual school that introduced a new curriculum for the early grades. She has investigated the linguistic and pedagogical contributions of Spanish-speaking bilingual teacher candidates when using informational texts in dual language classrooms. More information can be found here: https://desireepallais.wordpress.com