Professor
Department of English
English Education

265 Lake Huron Hall
(616) 331-2992
[email protected]

Courses
ENG 304 International Literature for Children and Young Adults
ENG 309 Teaching Literature to Children
ENG 334 Multicultural Literature for Children and Young Adults
ENG 400 Critical Issues in K-12 Literacy

Research Interests
I spend as much time as I can overseas, working with and learning from educators in Europe. I'm looking at international answers to children's education, at others' ways of teaching reading and writing and valuing literacy, and in school reform. Currently I'm studying international literature for young adults and thinking about how and what our children (and preservice teachers) learn from the experience of reading these texts.

Recent Publications
Bloem, P. (2011). Humanizing the “So-Called Enemy”: Teaching the Poetry of Naomi Shihab Nye.  ALAN Review, 38(2), 6-12

Bloem, P., Klooster, D., Preece, A. (2008). Many Voices in the Classroom: the Role of Classroom Talk in Education for Democracy. Thinking Classroom/Peremena 9(4), 6-18. 

Bloem, P, Klooster, D., Woller, A., Harris, J. & Noah, J. (2008). The Role of the Humanities in Post-Conflict Society, or Do They Need Poems Here? Thinking Classroom/Peremena 9(2). 

Bloem, P. (2006). The Americas award. Bookbird: A Journal of International Literature, 44(1), 41-44.

Klooster, D., Steele, J., & Bloem, P. (2001). (Eds.).  Ideas without boundaries: International education reform through reading and writing for critical thinking.  Newark,DE:  International Reading Association.

Klooster, D., & Bloem, P. (1995).  The Writer's Community.  New York: St. Martin's Press. 

Education
B.A., Calvin College
M.Ed., Harvard University
Ph.D., Kent State University