In 1986, Tom completed his teaching credential at Southern Utah State College, now Southern Utah University, in Cedar City, Utah. His first teaching assignment was at Arrowview Middle School in San Bernardino, California. After teaching in Southern California for twenty years, he started work on his Ed. D. in teaching and learning, literacy concentration.

His recent interests include using primary sources to help students understand how history is written and how events were understood by people on the scene at the time. He also is interested in finding methods to improve how technology can improve education for students in K-12 public schools. In part, this means a new approach toward what counts as literacy in the 21st century. Read his article in Reading Online.

A chapter in Teaching Visual Literacy: Using Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Anime, Cartoons, and More to Develop Comprehension and Thinking Skills titled "That’s Funny: Political Cartoons in the Classroom" is due out this month.

Due out soon is Learning to Predict and Predicting to Learn: Cognitive Strategies and Instructional Routines by Thomas DeVere Wolsey and Doug Fisher. Click here for more on this book from Amazon.com.