This summer, Harris Galvin ‘26 received an Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award (UTRA) to work with Professor Laura Snyder on her research project, "Humanities Reimagined." Harris was supported by former UTRA and summer research assistant Happy Ruth Jara ‘25, MAT’26. The team collaborated to develop high school English curricula for young adult and literary fiction novels. The project highlights a diverse array of literature to supplement the often exclusive literary canon in many English classrooms.

“Because my project is based upon expanding and diversifying the high school English curriculum, my project is enriched by working with energetic Brown students from many different identities,” Professor Snyder said.

Professor Snyder works with curators at Brown, collaborates with practicing teachers, and runs reading groups with local students. Using this experience and community input, she brainstorms recently published novels for high school English classes to use. Her UTRA students help her develop the initial curricula including essential questions, assignments, and rationale. While any teacher can use the curricula, they are initially taught by Master’s of Arts in Teaching (MAT) students at Brown Summer High School, an enrichment program for local high school students. Each summer, the English MAT students refine and teach a novel utilizing the curriculum.

This summer, English MAT students taught "A Snake Falls to Earth" using the Humanities Reimagined curriculum developed last summer by Professor Snyder, Happy, and Hannah Stoch ‘26. As the MAT students taught the novel, Happy adjusted the curriculum to incorporate changes from the MAT students. Happy is a Combined Baccalaureate/MAT student, meaning that she can begin completing her MAT requirements while an undergraduate student at Brown, preparing her to succeed during her year as a graduate student.

“I really love working on this project as it is directly related to my aspiration to become a teacher in the future. Through this project, I have been able to gain experience in curriculum development for English classrooms, and see it implemented in classrooms,” Happy said. “Working on this project has also given me a glimpse of how the MAT program works, which I will be joining next summer.”

After Professor Snyder introduced curriculum development principles and Happy provided guidance, Harris began developing a new curriculum for "The Poet X" by Elizabeth Acevedo. The novel follows a Dominican American teenage girl who channels her relationships with family and friends into spoken word poetry. 

“I remember having a passion for being on the other side of this learning while in high school, so it is very exciting to be creating assignments and activities on the other side that will hopefully be interesting to students,” Harris said.

This curriculum will join the Humanities Reimagined database which houses English curriculum eBooks in various stages of development. Professor Snyder discusses her project, text sets, and curriculum development skills during the National Council for Teachers of English annual conventions and in her undergraduate courses, including her fall course “Adolescent Literature.”

“Don’t hesitate to apply to Ed Department UTRA projects!” Happy said. “Working with Professor Snyder has been one of the most supportive experiences I’ve had at Brown.”