On this page, you’ll find my Teaching Philosophy Statement, followed by course descriptions for all of the college classes I have taught (with links to my syllabi). I also invite you to read my Inclusive Pedagogy Statement
My Teaching Philosophy
“So it has to be perfect to get an A?” The student has thrown himself back in his chair, arms folded across his chest. His frustration is palpable. I explain that no, A work is not perfect. It is, however, excellent. “I worked harder on this essay than I ever worked before and I did worse than I ever did in high school.” I believe him on both counts. These kinds of conversations are common after the first graded essay is returned. Sometimes students are angry, sometimes panicked. Some students want guidance and others want to argue. After all, if I am the first person who has suggested their work is not “A quality,” it makes sense that, from their perspective, I am the problem. Though they realize, intellectually, that college is a different place with different expectations, when that bumps against all their previous experiences, students often begin by blaming me. I am unreasonable. This is an introductory class, they plead.
According to my students, I am a challenging teacher. This is not accidental. I believe that any class worth taking is challenging; however, because I know my class is difficult, I work hard to support my students in every way I can. My teaching philosophy hinges on the belief that the more challenging a class is, the more responsibility a teacher has to be supportive of her students.
Often that support happens in carefully planned classroom activities. “Let’s have a volunteer display their paragraph to the class.” There is a pause, and then four or five hands shoot up. By the middle of the semester, they know how helpful these in-class reviews can be. I select two volunteers, ideally students who have not had their work workshopped by the entire class before. For the first paragraph, I have a student other than the author read it aloud. We begin by appreciating the strengths of the draft. “There are some good things happening here! What do you like best about this paragraph? What do you think was most effective?” A student pipes in appreciating the way the author introduced a new concept with a real world example. I follow-up with specific questions, inviting the entire class to respond. “Is this something that can be extended? Why do you like this so much? What happens if we re-use this same example in the next paragraph to do something similar with a new idea that the author is discussing?” We make notes on the page, crowding the margins. From here, we move to critique. “Ok. We’ve thought about this prompt and the expectations for this essay a lot. How do you see this paragraph working in those terms, how might we improve it?” Again I follow-up each critique by asking for more information. “Why is that confusing? What are some options for strengthening this? What do you think the author’s goal was? How do you know?” We jot down more plans in the margins. When the second student example is displayed and read aloud I stand back and ask students to discuss it without my guidance. As they talk (and sometimes argue) I take notes about their observations and their suggestions for revision. On these days my students learn how to read critically, and helpfully, and they consider and discuss the range of options available to writers as well as the constraints of the particular assignment we are working on. I am careful to end the activity by explaining that this is a process of revision they can apply to their own drafts, a tool they can use for handing in work that meets the requirements of the prompt and builds on their strengths as writers.
I also support students outside the classroom, inviting them to see me as a reader and resource. A student stops me after class. She is lost and behind on the essay. We make an appointment to meet later that day, when I don’t usually have office hours but when she is available. Another student emails me; he is considering scrapping his draft and beginning again. I help him weigh the pros and cons of this decision and offer to meet during office hours as well. During regular office hours a student drops in with a draft. Can I read it and let her know if she is on the right track? Outside of class I do everything I can to make myself available to students. Almost every class period ends with a reminder that I have office hours and students can make appointments if those times conflict with other classes. I have an email policy promising responses to emails sent before 8 PM. Perhaps because I am so insistent about these opportunities, many students take advantage of them. We workshop their ideas, look over their past papers to help them strategize new essays, and play with their choices—what happens if they delay their thesis or make a major concession? I know that the work I ask them to do is not easy and I know that writing is a messy, recursive, surprising process. I know that it frustrates them. I work hard to underscore that I am here to work with them and to help them reach whatever goals they may have for my class.
I wish I could say that every student who has told me I was unreasonable early in the semester came, by the end of the semester, to feel differently. Many do. But others remain frustrated that hard work, alone, does not translate into an A and that the expectations for my class feel different and difficult. I do not take it personally when students fail to respond positively to my claims that any class worth taking or skill worth learning is challenging. Similarly, I do not mind when they tell me that my class is hard. However, I take great pride in helping my students rise to the challenges I set by supporting them every step of the way. Students need lessons that move them toward the goals of the class and ample opportunities for feedback. They need a cheerleader and a critical reader. They need tools to meet the challenges I set and help applying those tools effectively. In both my daily lessons and commitment to making myself welcoming and available to students, I strive to rise to the challenge I set for myself—to support my students as fully as possible. Just as many of my students come to love writing, I have come to relish both challenging and supporting my students; I can think of no more fulfilling work.
The following are the courses I have taught with course descriptions from each syllabus. Links to full syllabi are also included.
The University of Oklahoma:
ENGL 5113: Teaching College Composition
Our purpose in this class is to introduce you to the theory and practice of teaching writing and to help you develop an informed writing pedagogy rooted in reflective teaching practices and Writing Studies research. In addition, the course is designed to provide opportunities to analyze and discuss the challenges, questions, and insights that arise as you teach English 1113 at the University of Oklahoma.
See my 5113 Syllabus
ENGL 3153 Technical Writing (Online)
For people working in Engineering, the hard sciences, and other technical fields, the ability to communicate expertly, while adapting to an ever-changing collaborative landscape that includes both experts and laypersons, is an incredibly important skill. This course is designed to introduce you to the discipline of technical writing and to help you begin to develop key competencies in technical communication, which you’ll further hone as you professionalize into your fields. To accomplish this, you’ll compose a number of print documents in genres common to technical fields. Over the course of the semester, we will explore the most common types of technical writing (employment correspondence, process descriptions, proposals, and reports). Drafting and revision will also be key aspects of this course. We will also examine audiences for technical writing, ethical concerns inside the field, and the effects of technology on communication. More importantly, you’ll learn to recognize the rhetorical basis for all communication, and apply what you learn in a collaborative setting.
See my 3153 Syllabus
ENGL 1213 Principles of Composition II
In this class we will be learning and applying the Toulmin approach to argumentation. In an effort to allow students to make this work as meaningful as possible, our course theme will be work. You will each be encouraged to explore topics and craft arguments about professions and professional issues that you care about.
You will write three essays (one exploratory essay, one ethical essay, and one proposal essay) and prepare an annotated bibliography. Each of these essays will apply Toulmin terminology and criteria, as well as the classical rhetorical appeals. My goal in assigning a variety of essay structures is to model the diverse ways the Toulmin approach can be applied and to give you experience writing several kinds of essays you may expect to encounter at OU.
See my 1213 Syllabus
ENGL 1113 Principles of Composition I
English 1113 serves as your introduction to academic writing and discourse. This rhetoric-based course will use a variety of languages—textual, visual, and oral—to establish the conventions of the sort of writing and communication you will do in most of your other college courses. You will learn to research, analyze, report, and synthesize information in a specific discourse appropriate for your purposes. You will need to think and read critically and commit yourself to the methodology of effective thinking and writing. Part of this process includes inventing, drafting, composing, revising, and editing.
See my 1113 Syllabus
Indiana University South Bend:
ENGL W 350: Advanced Expository Writing
From book reviews to Blogs, from self-discovery to savage critique, the essay continues to be the most flexible, variable, and fun prose form available to writers. In this class you will be studying some of the great essays of the past and present, taking them apart to see how they work, and adapting some of the techniques you admire into your own essay writing. You will have the opportunity to expand your repertoire as an essayist by trying out various approaches to the essay form—the list, the observational essay, the rant—and by studying conventions of voice, audience, and argument that animate the academic essay. You will also have the opportunity to practice some research techniques and to learn from other writers in a workshop atmosphere.
See my W350 Syllabus
ENGL T390: Literary and Intellectual Traditions
What happens when a novel becomes a movie? In the process of re-imagining a text the screen writer makes numerous choices that subtly (and not so subtly) change the story. This is a class that will investigate recent reinventions of the adaptation. While adaptations have traditionally tried to adhere to the original text in some fundamental ways, a handful of recent adaptations use the original text more as a place of a departure than as a final destination. In order to investigate this shift in adaptation we will read some of the most successfully and most commonly adapted texts. After examining those texts we will investigate their various adaptations. While some adaptations with be faithful, some reinvented, and some multiplied (meaning we will view various adaptations of the same source text) we will investigate the goals, techniques, and meanings of each in search of a deeper understanding of this evolving artistic strategy.
See my T390 Syllabus
ENGL W131: Elementary Composition
English W131 is designed as a course to further your skills in critical thinking, close reading, intensive research, and academic, thoughtful writing. This course is also designed to help you find your own voice within the context of other writers, thinkers, teachers, and students—it is meant to guide you into joining the wide and varied discussion of ideas and arguments that has been going on for centuries, and to help you become a participant in the current debates over several contemporary issues. Reading closely is an essential part of this course; come to class prepared for discussion, with notes in the margins and at least two questions or comments ready to present to the class.
Writing, too, is an essential part of the course. The most important thing to remember is that writing is a process. No one writes a perfect paper the first time around. Thus, this course will focus on revision, discussion, workshop, and further revision. Again, coming to class fully prepared, with complete drafts, is very important in developing your own writing.
See my W131 Syllabus
ENGL W130: Principles of Composition
The first year writing program is designed to help students improve abilities vital to academic success: understanding and interpreting college level readings, explaining their own ideas in relation to the reading, and focusing those ideas into sustained, coherent, and well-edited four page papers. Development of these abilities define the guidelines central to evaluating student writing in each of the three first year writing course W031, W130, and W131.
See my W130 Syllabus
ENGL T190: Literary and Intellectual Traditions
For most Americans, work is an integral part of our lives. It both helps to identify who we are and what we “do,” but, more basically, it also takes up a large amount of our time. We work a lot. You might not think so, however, if you used movies to understand the role of work in American lives. In most films, work is a passing mention of a “cool” career (which, perhaps, affords the protagonist the expensive vacation/dinners/social activities the fuel the action of the film) or a montage of assorted degrading drudgeries. Some films, however, do address work in more meaningful ways, and those are some of the films we will be studying in this course. To help us place the films into a meaningful context, we will read some theories of work and its importance in our lives. To help us discuss the films with complexity, we will read about how to interpret, discuss, and write about films in an academic way. But most of all, we will watch and discuss movies, looking for the arguments they make about when work is valuable, how much control we have over our work lives, and what kinds of actions (if any) the films support.
See my T190 Syllabus
ENGL A190: Arts, Aesthetics, and Creativity
“Trashy” romance novels, “sensationalized” crime fiction, “bizarre” fantasy worlds—popular writing genres are often dismissed as pulp fictions that have nothing substantial to say about our world or human nature- often simply because they are so enjoyable (how could they possibly be important?). Because each genre follows specific conventions, it is commonly thought that there is no room for exploration, creativity, or true artistic excellence. But, perhaps, those same conventions allow not only for the kinds of subversive ideas that delight literary scholars, but do so in a way that reaches a larger audience. If the latter is true, then such writing is not only a delightful way to spend an afternoon, it has the potential to do incredibly important cultural work. In this class we will read novels from two to three key genres and explore the ways that they conform to/trouble their genres and do important cultural work. Students should expect to research a genre of their own choosing (and read a novel from that genre; again of their own choosing), write short fiction (there are many possibilities about the form) in a genre, and participate in group presentations.
See my A190 Syllabus
IVY Tech State College:
ENGL L093: Introduction to College Writing
This course focuses on paragraph and essay writing and prepares students for the demands of writing in a variety of college-level courses. In addition, the course provides students with the necessary skills to compose focused, organized, and well-developed expository writings on a number of topics. The course requires students to revise their work according to standard writing conventions; including style, grammar, and mechanics as well as introduces the process of research. This course will also include writing assignments that introduce and require the use of MLA and APA documentation styles.
See my L093 Syllabus
Return to About Me