My teaching is a constant process of questioning, evaluating, and customizing the learning environment to each diverse group of learners. At University of South Florida, each class dynamic has been distinctive and rewarding. My goal is that each course actively engages students to participate in their own learning. In my creative writing courses, I’ve learned that students thrive in workshop environments where they can engage in giving and receiving positive and productive feedback. I always stress the importance of having a safe writing community. I remind students that writing provides intimate views into our lives and the lives of others. All materials submitted in class should be treated respectfully by all members of the writing community. I tell students that all of us, including me, are in the classroom to learn from one another. All members of the class are entitled to their own opinions; however, we all need to respect individual perspectives and communicate our points of view effectively while being considerate of all members of the class. It is my responsibility that my students feel safe and comfortable in their learning environment, so they can share their honest thoughts with their peers and not be afraid to ask questions. During each semester, I have students fill out three self-assessments to periodically evaluate their intellectual and creative growth. These self-assessments help me customize the course to each diverse student’s needs. Like Robert Frost’s poem “The Secret Sits,” his teaching encouraged our classes to “dance round in a ring and suppose” while “the Secret sits in the middle and knows.” The “Secret” reveals itself to each student differently and within its own timing. It is this gradual process of revelation that is at the center of my teaching philosophy.
In my composition courses, the concept of “the secret” must be grounded through concrete experience. It is important that my students learn the importance of the research process through four gradual steps—close reading and critical thinking, rhetorical analysis and argumentation, written communication, and the translation of argument into a new medium. I always begin my course by building up students’ confidence and telling them they each have the ability to write. We, together, look at some established writer’s quotes, such as Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz, who was successful, well into his nineties, and still had fears and concerns of “not knowing” each time he sat down to write. Students learn that it’s useful to recognize that uncertainty is going to be in their work, and they can use their fears to fuel and motivate them. We then briefly go over the history of rhetoric, what the rhetorical appeals are, and why rhetoric is important. Together, our class examines ads at the front of the board and later they break off into groups and design their own ad for the University of South Florida. I ask students to think about what initially drew them into attending this university and how certain rhetorical appeals spoke to them. Throughout the semester, as a class, we formulate an “evolving” research question about why ads matter and examine a variety of sources—from YouTube videos and TED Talks to chapters in books and scholarly articles. After learning the research process together, students later create research projects based on their own experiences. I ask them, how can their ideas and passion about an issue translate into a tangible act? The focus of this final project is a persuasive essay that promotes social action and a dynamic presentation that informs and persuades. When students finally take a stand on a public issue in their final projects, they apply all that they’ve learned—rhetorical principles such as ethos, pathos, and logos as they write for a real audience of their choice.
By constructing a learning environment that gives agency to both individual and collective voice, students deconstruct argument and test the validity of evidence through research. Through collaborative learning, such as research strategy groups and workshops, students share their ideas in ways that expand and help to refine the significance of their arguments. Students apply the procedural knowledge learned in our shared research project to their own inquiry process in order to discover how research questions change over time, how clearly-articulated claims, reasons, and evidence strengthen arguments, and how the implications of research often progress beyond topic. Ultimately, when students evaluate and construct their own arguments, they learn to negotiate perspective’s relationship to truth.
In my composition courses, the concept of “the secret” must be grounded through concrete experience. It is important that my students learn the importance of the research process through four gradual steps—close reading and critical thinking, rhetorical analysis and argumentation, written communication, and the translation of argument into a new medium. I always begin my course by building up students’ confidence and telling them they each have the ability to write. We, together, look at some established writer’s quotes, such as Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz, who was successful, well into his nineties, and still had fears and concerns of “not knowing” each time he sat down to write. Students learn that it’s useful to recognize that uncertainty is going to be in their work, and they can use their fears to fuel and motivate them. We then briefly go over the history of rhetoric, what the rhetorical appeals are, and why rhetoric is important. Together, our class examines ads at the front of the board and later they break off into groups and design their own ad for the University of South Florida. I ask students to think about what initially drew them into attending this university and how certain rhetorical appeals spoke to them. Throughout the semester, as a class, we formulate an “evolving” research question about why ads matter and examine a variety of sources—from YouTube videos and TED Talks to chapters in books and scholarly articles. After learning the research process together, students later create research projects based on their own experiences. I ask them, how can their ideas and passion about an issue translate into a tangible act? The focus of this final project is a persuasive essay that promotes social action and a dynamic presentation that informs and persuades. When students finally take a stand on a public issue in their final projects, they apply all that they’ve learned—rhetorical principles such as ethos, pathos, and logos as they write for a real audience of their choice.
By constructing a learning environment that gives agency to both individual and collective voice, students deconstruct argument and test the validity of evidence through research. Through collaborative learning, such as research strategy groups and workshops, students share their ideas in ways that expand and help to refine the significance of their arguments. Students apply the procedural knowledge learned in our shared research project to their own inquiry process in order to discover how research questions change over time, how clearly-articulated claims, reasons, and evidence strengthen arguments, and how the implications of research often progress beyond topic. Ultimately, when students evaluate and construct their own arguments, they learn to negotiate perspective’s relationship to truth.
This was an interview published back in December 2012 for the monthly teacher feature in the English Department's First Year Composition newsletter. The feature was completed before I got to teach my first creative writing class. When I finally taught Form and Technique of Poetry in Spring 2014, it was one of the most rewarding opportunities in my life. All of my teaching experience at University of South Florida has been so fulfilling and I'm thankful for the arts and humanities program at University of South Florida!