She has extensive experience teaching students labeled emotionally/behaviorally disordered in inner-city schools. She has an abiding interest in teacher research, particularly in relationship to the social, cultural and political dimensions of schooling and how these are enacted in school relationships and curriculum. She has worked with a group of teacher/researchers for several years, researching the impact of constructivist pedagogy in a broad range of educational settings. Currently, she is engaging in research at a school in a youth detention center where she is developing constructivist curriculum with teachers and students. Smith's teaching, research and scholarship spring from a passionate commitment to social justice.