Elise Toedt, PhD

Elise's research interests focus on carework and its place within capitalist systems, critical and embodied writing pedagogies, and feminist, arts-based research methodologies. Prior to her experience in higher education, Elise taught secondary English for eight years in urban schools in the US and in Java, Indonesia. 

Areas of interest for research and teaching: Critical writing pedagogy, Social justice education, feminist theories and research methodologies, social reproduction theory, poetic inquiry, literacies of the body

Recent Publications

Books

Toedt, E. (2026). Teachers pumping in schools: Feminized bodies, first-hand accounts, and advocacy. Routledge.

Toedt, E. (2025). Making Home. Finishing Line Press.

Academic Publications

Toedt, E. (2024). Firsthand accounts of U.S. teachers pumping milk at work: A poetic inquiry. International Review of Qualitative Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/19408447231186584

Toedt, E. and Schick, A. (2023). The slippery spaciousness of whiteness: Critical creative writing pedagogy in teacher education. In P. Badenhorst, S.J. Tanner, & J. Grinage (Eds.), Reckoning with the whiteness of English Education: Transformative pedagogies in English Language Arts and beyond. (pp. 133-144). Teachers College Press.

Toedt, E. & Boehm-Turner, A. (2020). White racial shame. In Z. Casey (Ed.), Critical  Understandings in Education Encyclopedia: Critical Whiteness Studies. (pp. 630-637). Brill.

Boehm-Turner, A. & Toedt, E. (2020). Property, privilege, and power: The intersections of whiteness and social class. In Z. Casey (Ed.), Critical Understandings in Education Encyclopedia: Critical Whiteness Studies. (pp. 638-645). Brill.

Toedt, E. (2019). My skin, my eyes: Re-reading racial identity using white privilege and white racial shame frameworks. Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, 13(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.14288/jaaacs.v13i1.191199

Literary Publications

Toedt, E. (2027). Mother body. In Telling Lives: Mothers and Life Writing. Demeter Press.

Toedt, E. (2026) No one is coming. 5 poems. https://www.fivepoems.com/

Toedt, E. (2025) Bird song (or foreboding joy). The Paddock Review. https://paddockreview.com/2025/05/27/a-poem-by-elise-toedt/

Toedt, E. (2023). Schools eat stories to survive. English Journal, 112(6).https://doi.org/10.58680/ej202332496

Recent Conference Presentations

Toedt, E. (2026). Teachers’ experiences pumping at work: Centering outlaw emotions.[paper]. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Toedt, E. (2026). How lactating teachers feel when they pump at work: Taking outlawemotions into account. [paper]. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Toedt, E. (2026). Lactating teachers’ bodily needs and school design: A cultural historical activity theory analysis. [paper]. American Educational Research Association (AERA), Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Telwana, Y, Hinrichs, D. Toedt, E. Mills-Rittman, M., Saadi, H. (2026). From isolation to collaboration: Classroom activities that build community through vulnerability and risk-taking. [Panel]. Conference of College Composition and Communication, Cleveland, OH, United States.

Toedt, E., Ibrahim, S., Isaac, L., & Pan, M. (2025, April). Remixing first-year writing with a critical disability and arts-based focus: Firsthand accounts and examples. [Roundtable presentation]. Conference of College Composition and Communication, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

Cory, K., Toedt, E., Hinrichs, D. & Vincent, A. (2025, April). Fun scary: Experiential and community-engaged learning as first year writing remix. [Panel]. Conference of College Composition and Communication, Baltimore, Maryland, United States. 

Toedt, E. (2024, April). Lactating teachers: Misfits in the institutional design [Roundtablepresentation]. American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA, United States.

Toedt, E. & Schick, A, (2023, November). Reckoning with the whiteness of English education. [Panel]. National Conference for Teachers of English (NCTE), Dayton, OH, United States.

Toedt, E. (2023, May). Ignoring bodily needs is engrained into teaching. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Champaign-Urbana, IL, United States. https://icqi.org/

Toedt, E. (2023, May). Using poetic inquiry in feminist qualitative research. [Paper presentation]. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Champaign-Urbana, IL, United States. https://icqi.org/

Toedt, E. (2023, March). But it is a lot of work: Teacher mothers and the conundrum of framing lactation as “not work”. [paper presentation]. International Association of Maternal Action and Scholarship, virtual presentation.

Schick, A., Toedt, E., Boehm-Turner, A., and Belusa, M. (2022, May). Humanizing schools for teachers: Pragmatic and collective moves. [Panel]. International Congress of QualitativeInquiry, virtual presentation. https://icqi.org/

Toedt, E., and Schick, A. (2022, April). Approaching and rebelling against white inheritance: Critical writing pedagogy in teacher education. [Paper presentation]. American Education Research Association, San Diego, CA, United States.

Brown, M., McKinney, C., Mickelson, N. Tang, J, and Toedt, E. (2022, March). Exploring embodied and intersectional approaches to community-engaged writing. [Panel]. Conference of College Composition and Communication. Chicago, IL, United States.

Schick, A., Toedt, E., & Boehm-Turner, E. (2021, May). Mother/Scholar contradictions in collective memory work. [Paper presentation]. International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, virtual conference. https://icqi.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/QI2021-Virtual-Preliminary-…