His research focuses on urban youth popular culture; language and literacy; teacher research; and urban teacher education. For five years, Dr. Kirkland taught secondary reading and English language arts in Detroit and Lansing, Michigan. Currently, he is writing two books: A Search Past Silence: Literacy in the Life of DeShawn Stevens and The Promise in their Eyes: Using Youth Culture to Teach Secondary English. His most recent book, Narratives of Social Justice Teaching: Negotiating Preservice and Inservice Spaces (With Others), is currently in print.