Woodrow believes that education can and should serve as a means towards both individual and community empowerment and a more just and equitable society. To really "live" her philosophy, Woodrow has worked as a state-sponsored, rural migrant education ESL teacher, a bilingual kindergarten and first grade teacher in South Central Los Angeles, and a bilingual upper elementary and middle school science teacher in urban Denver. These formative experiences guide her primary research and professional agenda on educational equity and educational opportunity for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Within P-12 education, her research centers on developing and studying culturally sustaining, asset-centered classroom practices and social organization with a particular focus on discursive practices. The goal of this work is to engage and reflect all students in the curriculum, incorporate their unique funds of knowledge and develop their academic language.
Within higher education, Woodrow's work and research relate to the preparation of educators to work productively and responsively with culturally and linguistically diverse populations. She is currently studying the ways in which educators in courses approach action research and how they view their own role as student advocates and agents of social change.
