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Majors & Degrees

William Sewell

William Sewell

William Sewell

Associate Professor

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Education

Ph.D., English - University of Kansas, 2009
M.A., English - Missouri State University, 1997
B.A., English and Theatre - Drury University, 1993

Biography

William Sewell (PhD, University of Kansas) is an associate professor of English Education and Composition at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota. His research interest includes multimodal intertextuality, content area literacy, active learning strategies, young adult literature, and middle and secondary English education.

Contact

Office Location: Tunheim Classroom Building
Phone: (605) 256-5270
Email
Website

Manuscripts Under Review

  • Sewell, W. “Burned Out: What Happened to Our Strong, Independent Heroine,
    Katniss Everdeen?” The Lion and the Unicorn.
  • Sewell, W. “Learning Transference of Anchored Video Instruction in First-Year
    Composition Courses.” i.e.: inquiry in education.
  • Sewell, W. “Withering Katniss: Reading The Hunger Games Trilogy as Gothic
    Literature.” Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures
  • Sewell, W. “Charting the Crichton Formula: An Introduction and Critical Review of Michael Crichton’s Key Works.” Journal of Popular Culture.

Manuscripts in Preparation

  • Sewell, W. Character and Ideology in the Crichton Techno-Thriller: The Jurassic
    Park Novels and Late Capitalism.

Peer-Reviewed Journals

  • Kenley, D. & Sewell, W. (2021). Deconstructing Compulsory Realpolitik in Cultural
    Studies: An Interview With Alexa Alice Joubin. American Journal of Chinese
    Studies, 28 (2), 115-130.
  • Sewell, W. (2021). Navigating Life's "Fun and Games": Pairing Downriver with Lord
    of the Flies. Kansas English Journal, 102(1), 33-42.
  • Sewell, W. (2017). When choice is an illusion: Suppression of women in
    William Styron’s “Holocaust’ novel.” Teaching American Literature, 9(1), 103-
    117.
  • Sewell, W. (2017). Implementing vocabutoons in the English language
    Arts Classroom. Kansas English Journal, 98(1), 2-9.
  • Sewell, W. (2014). Preservice teachers’ literacy strategies preferences: Results of a
    two-year study of content area literacy students. Journal of Content Area
    Reading, 10(1), 119-147.
  • Sewell, W. (2013). I write the line: Using multimodal intertextuality and the music
    of Johnny Cash to teach writing in secondary English language arts classes.
    Ohio Journal of English Language Arts, 53(1), 15-22.
  • Sewell, W. (2013). All the world's a text: Using multimodal intertextuality to teach
    today's students. The English Record, 63(1), 59-89.
  • Sewell, W. (2012). Sailing on the “hope boat”: Chronicles of a maiden voyage in the
    English language arts classroom. Kansas English, 95(1), 143-160.
  • Sewell, W. (2011). Making the connections: Using multimodal intertextuality to
    teach challenging texts. Kansas English, 94(2), 81-93.
  • Sewell, W. & Denton, S. (2011). Multimodal literacies in the secondary English
    classroom. English Journal, 100(5), 61-65.
  • Sewell, W. (2010). Tuning them in with tunes: Connecting composition instruction
    with students’ music interests. Wisconsin English Journal, 52(1), 44-47.
  • Sewell, W. (2010). Integrating secondary reading standards and media literacy
    education: Introducing the lie-search presentation. The Journal of Media
    Literacy and Education, 1(2), 141-144.
  • Adams, J. & Sewell, W. (2010). Uniting readers: Bringing together pre-service
    teachers and teens through a brown bag book club. Statement: A Journal of the
    Colorado Language Arts Society, 46(2), 14-18.
  • Sewell, W. (2009). Creating a public sphere in the secondary language arts
    classroom: Empowering students to think and write critically about outside the
    classroom. The High School Journal, 92(1), 11-21.
  • Sewell, W. (March 2008). Entrenched pedagogy: A history of stasis in English
    language arts curriculum. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education,
    15(1), 87-100.
  • Sewell, W. (Summer/Fall 2005). Affecting social change: The struggle for educators
    to transform society. The Journal of Educational Foundations, 19(3/4), 5-15.

Journals

  • Sewell, W. (2008). John Dewey in the classroom: Jack Black’s approach. Kansas English, 92(2), 127-138.

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

  • Sewell, W. (2019). “Peace at Any Price”: A Marxist Reading of The Chocolate
    War.” In Victor Malo-Juvera & Crag Hill (Eds.), Canonical Young Adult Literature: Criticism & Critique.
  • Sewell, W. (2016). Woody and Me: Connecting Millennials to the Literature of the
    Great Depression. In Christian Goering & Lindy Johnson (Eds.),
    Recontextualized: A Framework for Teaching English with Music. Rotterdam,
    NE: Sense Publishing.
  • Sewell, W. & Goering, C. Z. (2013). Multimodal Fogerty: Scoring and scaffolding the
    music of CCR to a Vietnam war literature unit. In Thomas M. Kitts (Ed.), Finding
    Fogerty: Interdisciplinary readings of John Fogerty and CCR (pp. 135-147). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Book Reviews

  • Sewell, W. (February 2007). A review of Emily Kissner’s Summarizing,
    paraphrasing, and retelling: skills for better reading and writing (Portsmouth,
    NH: Heinemann, 2006). Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 50(5), 426-7.

National Conference Presentations (Refeered) 

  • Sewell, W. (2017).  Sing a new song: Helping student recapture their voices and agency through protest music and creative songwriting.  A roundtable presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  St. Louis, MO.
  • Sewell, W. (2017).  Teacher education in the digital age.  A roundtable presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  St. Louis, MO.
  • Goering, C, Sewell, W. et al.  (2013). Using music to teach English, from A to Jay-Z.  Aworkshop presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference. Boston, MA.
  • Sewell, W., & Goering, C.  (2012). Multimodal Fogerty: Furthering the message through research-based instructional strategies.  A panel presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  Las Vegas, NV.
  • Sewell, W., Goering, C.  et al. (2011).  Multimodal intertextuality:  Connecting Shakespeare to today’s tech-savvy students.  A panel presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  Chicago, IL.
  • Sewell, W.  (2011).  “Content area reading: empowering students to learn.”A roundtable presentation at the International Reading Annual Convention. Orlando, FL.
  • Sewell, W., Goering, C.  et al. (2010). Media literacy education:  Anchoring instruction and assessment through music and movies.  A panel presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  Orlando, FL.
  • Sewell, W.  (2010). Integrating secondary reading standards and media literacy education: Introducing the lie-search essay.  A poster session presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  Orlando, FL.
  • Adams, J., Sewell, W., & McNerney, S.  Secondary English teachers:  Meet Gen m-the multitasking generation.  (2008).  A panel presented at the National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  San Antonio, TX.
  • Sewell, W.  (2006).  United we stand:  How interagency cooperation can enhance English education in America’s public schools.  A paper presented at the Academy for Educational Studies Second Annual Conference.  Missouri State University. Springfield, MO.

Regional/State Conference Presentations

  • Sewell, W.  (2019).  A soundtrack for democracy: Music as political discourse.  The Missouri Humanities Symposium. Springfield, MO.
  • Sewell, W.  (2015).  Pow! Creating engaging vocabulary and concept development activities via “powtoons.”  South Dakota Council of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Sioux Falls, SD.
  • Sewell, W.  (2014).  Inspiring logophilia through vocabatooning.  Missouri Write to Learn Conference.  Osage Beach, MO.
  • Sewell, W., & Butterfield, D.  (2014).  Enhancing Field Experiences:  Implementing tutoring programs in middle level English education courses to strengthen preservice teacher development.   Missouri Association for Colleges of Teacher Education Fall Conference.  Columbia, MO. 
  • Sewell, W.  (2009).  Rockin’ and researchin’:  Using students’ musical interests to facilitate research projects.  A paper presented at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Wichita, KS. 
  • Sewell, W.  (2008).  Never let the truth get in the way of a good story:  Using the lie-search method to spark interest in student research projects.  A paper presented at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Wichita, KS. 
  • Sewell, W.  (2008).  Voices from Siberia, Kansas:  Creating a student-centered classroom.  A paper presented at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Wichita, KS. 
  • Sewell, W.  (2008).  Taming student portfolios:  Creating and managing portfolios for the busy language arts teacher.  A paper presented at the Colorado Language Arts Society.  Denver, CO.
  • Sewell, W.  (2007).  Building better books.  A paper presented at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Wichita, KS. 
  • Sewell, W.  (2007).  Assessing portfolios:  Strategies for the busy classroom teacher.  A paper presented at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Wichita, KS. 
  • Sewell, W.  (2006).  Portfolio assessment in the classroom.  A paper presented at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Wichita, KS.
  • Sewell, W.  (2006).  Composing with the man in black:  Using Johnny Cash’s music to teach writing. A paper presented at the Kansas Association of Teachers of English Fall Conference.  Wichita, KS.
  • Sewell, W. (2006).  Affecting social change:  The struggle for educators to transform society.  A paper presented at the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society.  Georgia State University.  Atlanta, GA.
  • Sewell, W.  (2006).  Teach me, Elmo: Using document cameras to enhance composition instruction.  A paper presented at The Writer’s Conference.  University of Kansas.  Lawrence, KS.