Dr. Jennifer Mata-McMahon Ed.D.
Professor · Tenured
School of Education School of Public Policy Language, Literacy and Culture
College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
She/Her/Hers/Herself
About
Early Childhood Educator, with more than 25 years of experience in the field.
Research interests
Children's spirituality, bilingual education, teacher preparation, early childhood education, meditation, and mindfulness.
Teaching interests
Curriculum design, teaching methods, child development, socio-emotional development, moral development, spiritual development, second language acquisition, methods for working with Multilingual students, language development, assessment, and observation in ECE.
Education
-
EDD, Early Childhood Education
— Teachers College, Columbia University (2010) Children’s Spirituality as Experienced and Expressed in a Kindergarten Classroom
- Other, Early Childhood Education — Teachers College, Columbia University (1999)
- MA, Early Childhood Education — Teachers College, Columbia University (1998)
-
BA, Educational Leadership and Administration
— Universidad Metropolitana (1996) Propuesta de un Programa de Actividades que Facilite la Construcción de una Conciencia Ambientalista en niños de tres a seis años
Publications
- Understanding Children’s Spirituality: Chilean In-service Early Childhood Educators’ Perspectives. 2025
- Explorando la Espiritualidad Infantil en los E.U. y más allá 2025
- Exploring Children's Spirituality in the US and beyond. 2025
- Expanding the Framework: U.S. In-service Early Childhood Educators on Children’s Spirituality. 2025
- Evaluation of the Sherman Center Families, Libraries, and Early Literacy Program. Sherman Center Research Report No 6. 2025
- Evaluation of the Sherman Center Teacher Summer Institute. Sherman Center Research Report No 7. 2025
- Sherman Center Final Report 2017-2024. 2025
- Evaluation of the Sherman Center Diverse Books Project. Sherman Center Research Report No 5. 2024
- Finding Connections between Spirituality and Play for Early Childhood Education 2024
- Sustainability of a Dual Language Program During and Beyond COVID-19 Challenges. 2024
- How U.S. Early Childhood Educators Understand Children’s Spirituality: A Framework of Essence, Origin, and Action 2024
- Children's Spirituality in Early Childhood Education: Theory to Practice 2023
- 2022 Annual Report 2023
- Director's Message and Sherman Center Update 2022
- Director's Message and Research to Practice 2022
- 2021 Annual Report 2022
- Singing the Same Song: Engaging Families in Read Two Impress Plus 2022
- Director's Message 2021
- Developing their best reading and writing Selves: Fostering positive literacy identities for bi/multilingual students and families. 2021
- The Bloomsbury Handbook of Culture and Identity from Early Childhood to Early Adulthood: Perceptions and Implications 2021
- Research Note: Making the Case for Bilingual Education in Baltimore City 2021
- 1 in 10 US Students are English Learners 2020
- Lakeland Dual Language Program Study AY 2016-17 to AY 2018-19 Sherman Center Research Report No 1. 2020
- Connections, Virtues, and Meaning-Making: How Early Childhood Educators Describe Children’s Spirituality 2020
- Featured Article: Embracing Translanguaging in the Early Childhood Classroom 2019
- Exploring Connections between Humor and Children’s Spirituality 2019
- How We Nurture the Child’s Spirit in the Early Childhood Classroom: Teachers from the U.S. and Chile Tell the Story.
- Promoviendo la Espiritualidad en el Parvulario: Voces del Aula en Chile.
- Becoming a Scholar of Children’s Spirituality: An Autoethnographic Exploration of a Multicultural Journey through Early Childhood Education.
- Nurturing the Child’s Spirit: Transpersonal Approaches to Spiritual Development in Early Childhood Education
- Defining Children’s Spirituality through mentions of the Intangible and God: Demographic Patterns among U.S. Early Childhood Educators.
- “Developing Global Citizens through a Dual Language Program” – The Story of a Full-Service Community School Striving for Equity.
- A Contemplative Practice Experience with Pre-service Teachers: Fostering Spiritual Nourishment through Meditation
- Reflecting on: What do Early Childhood Pre-service Teachers Know and Need to Know about working with ELLs?
- Implementing a Dual Language Program for Latinx and African American Students in a Full-Service Community School in Baltimore City
Presentations
- Nurturing Children’s Spirituality: Chile and US Teacher Voices. 2026
- Understanding Children’s Spirituality: Conceptualizations by Chilean In-Service Early Childhood Educator 2026
- La Importancia de la Espiritualidad Infantil: ¿Qué es y cómo observarla? 2025
- U.S. Teachers’ Conceptualization of Children’s Spirituality – Intangible and Immaterial 2025
- The Intangible: U.S. Teachers’ Conceptualization of Children’s Spirituality 2025
- Understanding Children’s Spirituality: Conceptualizations by Chilean In-service Early Childhood Educators 2025
- Expanding the Framework: U.S. In-service Early Childhood Educators on Children’s Spirituality 2025
- My Research Journey into Children's Spirituality 2025
- Conceptualizations of Children’s Spirituality in Secular Educational Settings: Perspectives of Early Childhood Educators. 2024
- How U.S. Early Childhood Educators Understand Children’s Spirituality: Expanding on A Framework of Essence, Origin, and Action 2024
- Exploring U.S. Early Childhood Educators’ Understanding of Spirituality and its Implications for Teacher Preparation Programs 2024
- Espiritualidad Infantil en la Educacion (Children's Spirituality in Education) 2024
- Children’s Spirituality Nurtured through Play 2024
- Spirituality in Education: The North Star 2022
- Maintaining Mutually Beneficial Partnerships in Early Childhood Education: The Sherman Center Mode 2022
- A Community-Based Approach to Engaging Linguistically Diverse Families in their Children's Literacy Development 2022
- Issues of Equity and Access in Dual Language Programs: A Case Study 2022
- “Developing Global Citizens through a Dual Language Program” – The Story of Lakeland Elementary/Middle School 2022
- Children’s Spirituality in Early Childhood Education: Theory to Practice – Supporting children’s spirituality during COVID-19 2022
- “Developing Global Citizens through a Dual Language Program” – The Story of a Full-Service Community School in Baltimore City 2022
- Working with Meditation in Supporting Spirituality for Teacher Candidates and Young Children 2021
- Working with Meditation in Supporting Spirituality for Teacher Candidates and Young Children 2021
- Children’s spirituality workshop: Activities and strategies for the classroom 2020
- How a Dual Language Program is Supporting Biliteracy for ELLs in a Baltimore City Public School 2020
- "To See Themselves as a Part of the Lives of One Another": Early Childhood Educators' Understandings of Children's Spirituality 2020
- Translanguaging & Early Literacy Strategies for Diverse Learners 2020
- Using your classroom environment and curriculum to nurture children’s spirituality 2019
- Working with Multilanguage Students – Using Translanguaging in the Early Childhood Classroom 2019
Grants and Contracts
- Using the ECE-SPC Instrument to Determine How Children's Spirituality is being Supported in the Early Childhood Classroom. 2023
- Creating a two-tiered early childhood pathway to leadership culminating in a UMBC Endorsement in Early Childhood Leadership (MECLP Grant) 2022
- Maryland Early Childhood Learning Program (MECLP) 2021
- Creating a two-tiered early childhood pathway to leadership culminating in a UMBC Endorsement in Early Childhood Leadership (MECLP Grant) 2021
- Lakeland Dual Language Program Study 2019
- The HOPE Project "Renewing Hope in Education: Supporting Teachers' and Students' Spiritual Development through a Holistic Approach".
Research in Progress
- Using theECE-SPC Instrument to Determine How Children's Spirituality is Being Supported in the EarlyChildhood Classroom 2024
- Using the ECE-SPC Instrument to determine how Children's Spirituality is being supported in the Early Childhood Classroom in the US 2022
Courses Taught
- Observation & Assessment in ECE
- Observation & Assessment in ECE
- Internship Seminar and Issues In ECE
- Internship Seminar and Issues in ECE
- Observation & Assessment
- Observation & Assessment
- Issues In ECE
- Observation & Assessment
- Observation & Assessment
- Observation & Assessment
- Observation & Assessment