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Thomas Berger works as a lecturer and teacher educator in our team and as a German teacher at the ‘UniverSaale’ comprehensive school in Jena, Germany. Holding a PhD in literary studies and possessing several years of experience as a German teacher, he contributes valuable perspectives to our research group. Thomas’ main focus lies on teaching, with a special interest in (teaching) literature. In addition, he offers seminars on grammar and orthography together with researchers in the linguistics department.

• Der Humanitätsgedanke in der Literatur der deutschen Spätaufklärung. Heidelberg: Winter Verlag 2008.
• „Grenzvernunft“ und Theodizee – zum Verhältnis von Skepsis und Heilsgewissheit in Lessings Spätwerk. In: Wezel-Jahrbuch 10/11 (2009), S. 195-219.
• Nachweis und Bewertung literarischen Verstehens in schulischen Leistungssituationen und Testaufgaben. In: Iris Winkler, Nicole Masanek, Ulf Abraham (Hg.): Poetisches Verstehen. Literaturdidaktische Positionen – empirische Forschung – Projekte aus dem Deutschunterricht. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider 2010, S. 98-113.
• Rezeption und Produktion von Sachtexten. In: Helmuth Feilke, Juliane Köster, Michael Steinmetz (Hg.) Textkompetenzen in der Sekundarstufe II. Stuttgart: Fillibach bei Klett 2013, S. 331-353.

Florian Hesse is a doctoral scholar of the German National Academic Foundation and a research assistant at the Chair of German Didactics of Prof. Dr. Iris Winkler. His work focuses on literature didactic professionalization and teaching research. This is also where the current doctoral project is located, in which Florian Hesse is using quantitative methods to investigate how students in the practical semester design learning opportunities in literature classes. Other focal points of his work are the literary and didactic analysis of current texts and media in children’s and young people’s literature, as well as the development and testing of training and continuing education concepts for school mentors in the practical semester.

• *Hesse, Florian & Winkler, Iris (2022): Fachliche Qualität im Literaturunterricht. In: SLLD-Z, 2, S. 1–29. https://doi.org/10.46586/SLLD.Z.2022.9605
• Hesse, Florian (angenommen): Unterrichten üben im Schulpraktikum? Theoretische Überlegungen und Konzeption einer Videostudie zum Literaturunterricht von Studierenden. In: Jochen Heins, Katrin Kleinschmidt-Schinke, Dorothee Wieser, & Esther Wiesner (Hrsg.): Üben. Theoretische und empirische Perspektiven in der Deutschdidaktik. SLLD-B.
• *Hesse, Florian; Winkler, Iris (2021): Textauswahl und Auswahlbegründungen von Lehrpersonen beim Einsatz von Ganzschriften im achten Jahrgang am Gymnasium. In: Leseräume. Forum Literalitätsforschung, H. 7, S. 1–21.
• Hesse, Florian & Lütgert, Will (2020): Auf die Lernbegleitung kommt es an! Konzepte und Befunde zu Praxisphasen in der Lehrerbildung. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. DOI: 10.35468/5821.

• Teaching Literature in Field Experiences
• Cooperative Planning Conversations in the Teaching Practicum of Future German Teachers (KOPPRA-D)

Research and teaching are equally important to Christiane Kirmse, who works as a research assistant and doctoral student in our team. In her research, she explores questions theoretically and empirically, using qualitative research methods. She is particularly interested in the question of how teachers and students deal with point of view in narrative texts (PhD-Project). Questions that concern the reading of literature are not only the core of her research, but also of her teaching. In addition to her seminars with literary scholars, her cooperation with researchers in the field of text linguistics offers interesting networking opportunities. In her teaching, she pays close attention to the opportunities and challenges of digitization. One research project that is closely linked to the further development of her teaching focuses on teacher students’ beliefs about reading. To examine these beliefs, Christiane, together with her colleagues, Anna Seeber and Florian Hesse, analyses the reading autobiographies of students who are still at the beginning of their studies (LeBiS).

• Erasmus von Rotterdam, Paraclesis dt. In: Conradus Mutianus Rufus und der Humanismus in Erfurt. Katalog zur Ausstellung der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha auf Schloss Friedenstein 21. August bis 1. November 2009, hg. v. Christoph Fasbender. Gotha: Univ. Erfurt 2009, S. 48-50.

• Research on Experts’ and Novices’ Literary Reading Processes. Teachers’ and Students’ Strategies for Dealing with Point of View (PhD project)
• Reading Autobiographies of Pre-service Teacher Students (LeBiS; together with Anna Seeber and Florian Hesse)

Birgit Rickmann teaches German and English at the ‘Karl Theodor Liebe Gymnasium’ (High School) in Gera and works as a University Mentor for pre-service teachers during their field experiences. She finds teaching at university rewarding for two main reasons: One, she is able to provide her students valuable feedback concerning their theory-driven plans as well as their actual teaching. Two, it is exactly this process of giving feedback that allows her to reflect more deeply on her own teaching.

Frederike Schmidt currently works in a postdoc position in our team. In general, her research interests are in teacher education, literacy skills in literature classrooms, the assessment of reading skills and film education. Currently, she is examining the role of academic language in classroom conversations about literature (postdoctoral lecture qualification) and student teachers’ ability to plan literature lessons (KOPPRA-D). Her work is theoretically driven and empirically oriented with a focus on qualitative approaches.

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Karin Zimmermann teaches German, History, and Theater and Design at the ‘Otto Schott Gymnasium’ (High School) and works in our team as a University Mentor for pre-service teachers during their field experiences. Switching between the two institutions is what Karin experiences as particularly rewarding. At school, Karin advocates for a holistic approach of learning and teaching, whereas the main focus of her teaching at university lies on the planning of German lessons. Inspired by the OVID-PRAX project, she provides individual feedback concerning the pre-service teachers’ lesson plans. Thus, she aims at enabling teacher students to cross the boundaries between the theory they learn at the university and the practical demands of their field experiences.