CV

Education

  • A. in English, concentration in rhetoric and composition, East Carolina University, 2015
  • A. in English, concentration in creative writing, North Carolina State University, 2009

Teaching 

  • English 1100 Foundations of College Writing, East Carolina Univeristy
  • Writing Consultant, Bate Writing Center, East Carolina University
  • 5th grade self-contained, Northeast Academy, Lasker, NC

Publication-Academic

  • Presentation, Southeastern Writing Center Association Conference 2014, “Student Misconceptions”

Publication-Journalism

  • Roanoke-Chowan News Herald
  • Technician, North Carolina State University
  • The Agromeck, North Carolina State University

Research Positions

  • Research assistant, Texan Czech Project and Folklore Archive
  • Research assistant, Texan Czech Project and Folklore Archive

Writing Sample Activity

I use activities similar to this to generate writing samples from students in order to help me craft later lessons in teaching writing/composing on the first day of class. This activity, linked to the course ’It’s the End of the World as We Know It’: Apocalyptic Narratives and the Rhetoric of the End Times, also activates students’ prior knowledge of and has them start thinking about materials covered in the course by aiming them toward a socially/culturally constructed view on end-times narratives. This activity also functions to help students become adjusted to using composing as a means of clarifying their thinking and reflecting on their engagement with course concepts and readings. Using composing as means of clarifying thought and reflecting on engagement is carried further by the response assignments within the course. Linking my writing sample assignments to later coursework in some way is something I carry out in all writing sample assignments. Sometimes they serve as a potential prewriting activity for the first major composition. Sometimes they ask students to do thinking similar to what they will be asked to do for later compositions. Another link between this activity and later course work is the freedom to compose in multi-modal ways. The response papers later in the course can be completed with multi-modal composition.

 

 

Instruction to students:

  1. You should write on the questions below for roughly 30 total minutes between class and home. Be as complete as you can. You will return to these questions later in the class. If you do not get everything you want to say down now, you will have further opportunities to explore your thoughts about these questions.
  2. Follow your writing/creating process.
  3. Part of your response needs to be alphabetic text. It does not have to be entirely alphabetic text.

 

Questions to answer:

 

  1. How do you think the world will end?
  2. Why do you think the world will end that way?
  3. Do you have any personal connections to this belief? If so, what are they? If not, move on to the next question. (ex: You believe the world will end because the sun expands as part of its life cycle because you enjoy reading books about the universe)
  4. What connections between culture/society and how you think the world will end do you see, if any? Why? (ex: You think the world will end because of the sun’ expansion during its life cycle, but have no personal interest in astrophysics. However, you link your idea to how culture/society view scientific inquiry as a means of finding truth.)

’It’s the End of the World as We Know It’: Apocalyptic Narratives and the Rhetoric of the End Times

’It’s the End of the World as We Know It’: Apocalyptic Narratives and the Rhetoric of the End Times

 

Purpose:

How do you think the world will end? There are many answers to the question. The purpose of this course is to explore some of them and what they mean for the cultures that produced them. We will also question what culture means and how you participate in it.

 

Objectives:

  1. Interrogate ideas of culture
  2. Analyze the rhetorical situation of myth-making as an activity
  3. Compose myths based on analysis of culture(s) students participate in

 

 

Required Texts:

  1. The King James Bible. Available through Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30
  2. The Elder Eddas of Seamund Sigfusson translated by Benjamin Thorpe and The Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson translated by I.A. Blackwell. Available through Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14726
  3. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.
  4. During class, we will also view part or all of episodes of Who, Neon Genesis Evangelion, The Walking Dead, and the movie Dawn of the Dead (2004).

Other texts will be made available through Blackboard or other course management service including excerpts from:

  1. Faber, Brenton D. Community Action and Organizational Change: Image Narrative

Identity. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002. Print.

  1. Ong, Walter J. “The Writer’s Audience is Always a Fiction.” Cross-Talk in Comp

Theory. Eds. Victor Villanueva and Kristin L. Arola. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English, 2011. 55-76. Print.

  1. Halberstam, Judith. The Queer Art of Failure. Durham: Duke Univeristy Press, 2011.

Print.

  1. McLaren, Peter. “Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts.” The Critical

Pedagogy Reader. Eds. Antonia Darder, Marta P. Baltodano, and Rodolfo D. Torres. New York: Rouledge, 2009. 61-83. Print.

 

 

Major Assignments:

More information on assignments will be provided in the form of assignment sheets and rubrics that will be developed through negotiation between student and instructor in order to keep assignments and assessment relevant to student needs for their development.

 

  1. 3 reader response papers: Over the course of the semester students will write 3-5 page papers responding to a course text after completing the text in class. Students will choose which texts to respond to and the genre and mode of the response is also largely left to the student to choose. Students will need to engage with the texts and reflect on their engagement and the text in order to complete these papers. Students will also have input in crafting the assignment after completing the first text and further details concerning the response papers will be available then.
  2. Analyzing a myth: Based on the ongoing interrogation of what culture means within the course, students will research a culture they participate in and one of its end-times myths/narratives and argue for a specific understanding of the cultural practices, concerns, cues, and narratives that provide the rhetorical situation that produces that culture’s end-times myth. Students will need to conduct research, and practice citation in order to produce this work. This project will need to follow MLA or APA style.

 

Grade Breakdown

 

Class Participation: 10%

Response 1: 20%

Response 2: 20%

Response 3: 20%

Crafting a myth: 30%

 

Statement Concerning Course Participation and Attendance Policy:

Your participation as a student in the course is necessary both to your own and other’s learning. You will need to come to class prepared, participate actively in class, and behave respectfully towards your fellow students and instructor. Since your participation is a key element of your and other student’s learning experience, your attendance is expected. Further, not attending class will almost certainly mean that you will not develop the skills and understanding of theories well enough to successfully complete the coursework.

Late Work Policy

I reserve the right to not accept late work. In cases of emergency, please contact me as soon as possible so that I can work with you to develop a strategy for turning in all your coursework.

Technology Policy

Laptops, tablets, phones, and so on are acceptable for class purposes. Non-class use will result in reductions to your course grade.

E-mail Policy and Etiquette

I check e-mail regularly during normal working hours: weekdays, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Please allow 24 hours for a response.

You should also use course e-mail as a time to practice professional communication. Use your official school e-mail; I will not respond to other e-mail addresses. Include a subject that identifies the course and what the e-mail will be about. Include a salutation, a message, and a closing to all e-mail.

Accommodation of Special Needs

I seek to create a safe, productive space for all students to learn. To further this goal, if you need accommodations, I urge you to work with the appropriate office to verify the disability so that accommodations can occur.

 

Academic Integrity

I take academic integrity very seriously and will pursue plagiarism cases to the fullest extent within the institution’s policies. Part of the coursework of the course will be avoiding violating standards of academic integrity.

 

Schedule

Since this is a proposed course for me, I would, if possible, provide the course schedule unit by unit so that I could more easily modify the schedule to meet student needs as I found them within the instruction.

 

Unit 1: The Bible

Unit 2: The Eddas

Unit 3: Hogfather

Unit 4: The films

 

 

Teaching Philosophy Statement

My teaching philosophy hinges around developing students as independent, critical thinkers capable of claiming their own areas of expertise and developing expertise in new areas. I take my role in the classroom as one of negotiating relevancy in material and assignments with students in terms of problems to be approached and interrogated by the students while working with students to develop their ability to compose materials concerning those problems posed by the class for audiences within the academic community and audiences outside the academic community.

I take inspiration from Marc Lamont Hill’s work in selecting materials relevant to students and especially within composition classrooms focus on student writing and student-selected texts as required reading, where texts and reading are constructed broadly to include both traditional alphabetic texts as well as other modalities. I extend relevancy to student work as well as course readings and design assignments to have a wide variety of ways for the assignment to be successfully completed. I provide students with opportunities to select topics of interest by asking students to relate their work to their goals for the course and wider goals for learning. I accomplish this by designing assignments wherein a variety of topics, as selected by students in consultation with me, can be used to accomplish the goals of the assignment within the goals of the course.

I find that I am at my best as an instructor when working within Paolo Friere’s proposal of a “problem-posing method” (Freire 69). I view this in broad and detailed ways. One broad problem of instruction is the selection of course materials and prefer negotiating with students to develop the course reading list and using student work as part of the required reading. Another problem posed within instruction is the development of assignments and I ask students to negotiate with me in rubrics for the assessment of their work. While I recognize that aspects of courses are non-negotiable, I view my role as an instructor to be developing the students abilities to meet those non-negotiable aspects, and that meeting student needs is best done within an environment that gives students agency in what can be negotiated.

My focus on relevancy, student agency, and negotiation comes from a place of respect for students’ current ability and belief in student ability to learn and develop best in an environment of trust between student and instructor. I generate this environment of trust by generating a safe place for student discussion wherein I act as a guide for students to develop their own understanding rather than as a sole authority determining understanding. I generate this space and emphasize discussion because I view understanding, knowledge, and meaning as contextually based and socially negotiated and it is my responsibility as an educator to engage students in thinking and working through context and the construction of knowledge. I work with students to develop their understanding of texts, constructed broadly, as taking place within a conversation that students can and should engage with and enter. Teaching this way keeps me grounded in relevancy because my understanding of student work and the view I encourage in my students is that their course work is linked to their goals for being in class. Focusing on relevancy demands that I assess and reassess my effectiveness as an educator who views my success in terms of helping students to find their productive contexts.

Works Inspiring My Teaching Philosophy

Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University.” Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. Eds. Victor Villanueva and Kristin L. Arola. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2011. 523-553. Print.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Trans. Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014. Nook Book

Hill, Marc Lamont. “Wounded Healing: Forming a Storytelling Community in Hip-Hop Lit.” Teaching Developmental Writing: Background Readings. Ed. Susan Naomi Bernstein. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 52-76. Print.

 

Discussion Activity

One teaching activity I use is to decenter myself as the source of all knowledge within a classroom and instead generate spaces for discussion because this means students have agency and authority over their own learning. I accomplish this by being a focused, reflective listener who asks productive questions, asks for clarification, helps clarify and attempts to open new possibilities for understanding based on the discussion. Students are also encouraged to engage in these behaviors. This activity is one method I use regularly to generate discussions, linked to the Personal and Vocational English syllabus dealing with the résumé and application letter/statement of interest assignment. In this case, my instructional goal is for students to develop their understanding of the specific genre and to discover ways of identifying genre features. I have found that moving students through individual reflection to small group discussion to whole class discussion generates better whole class discussion because it takes into account a wider variety of learning styles.

 

Activity outline:

Individually, consider your reading from the Norton Field Guide as well as the guides to résumé and application letter/statement of interest writing you found for yourselfMake a record of your findings. Remember, this record is for you, so use a method or methods that work for you to find and make meaning.

Given time to think and make records, students are directed to form small groups to discuss their answers for both common findings among students and differences in their findings. I move around the room and talk with each group about their findings.

As this discussion winds down, the groups are called back to a whole class discussion. Groups are asked to discuss their findings with the class. In my role as focused, reflective listener, I also write on the board/make use of projection equipment to keep track of the discussion in order to engage students both aurally and visually. Also within this role, I ask for clarification and propose additional understandings as appropriate.

I then redirect the discussion toward what these commonalties and differences mean for the résumé and application letter/statement of interest as a genre. What is the rhetorical situation for this genre? What are ways you can account for the rhetorical situation in your writing in this genre?

The activity ends by bringing the discussion around to reflecting on what the prior discussion means for finding genre conventions more generally.

 

Questions to make sure to ask:

  1. To start
    1. Did you find common advice? What was it?
    2. What advice do you think will be valuable? Why?
    3. What advice do you think won’t be valuable? Why?
  2. To begin small group discussion shift to whole class discussion
    1. What are the commonalities are there between your individual findings and other students individual findings?
    2. What are the differences?
  3. In switching to reflective discussion
    1. What activities in reading will help find genre conventions? How?
    2. What other work do you need to do find genre conventions? How can you engage in these activities?

 

 

Personal and Vocational English Syllabus

Personal and Vocational English

Purpose and Objectives

This course provides a space for students to practice a variety of composing and literacy tasks. Students will engage with composing and reading as multi-modal and alphabetic activities helpful to their engagement as citizens and their career. In pursuit of this I have student engage with everyday texts. I use the term to stand-in for the product of what will be a negotiation with students to find the kinds of texts, constructed as broadly as possible, they read and write, with those terms as representing both the usual definitions and as stand-ins for more appropriate terms for texts understood broadly.

  1. To explore genres of composing found in career/job contexts.
  2. To develop strategies for composing in everyday contexts
  3. To critically engage with everyday texts
  4. To develop the reading, composing, and research skills needed for active, critically engaged citizenship
  5. To identify writer’s use of rhetorical strategies
  6. To develop the use of rhetorical strategies in the production of vocational composition
  7. To develop transferable skills within the areas of reading, composing, and research
  8. To engage with literacy and composition within students’ vocational area

Required Texts and Materials

  1. Bullock, Richard and Francine Weinberg. The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Handbook. 3rd NY: Norton, 2013. Print. ISBN: 978-0-393-93977-4
  2. Notebook for literacy and composition journal
  3. Access to filesharing service (Google Drive if none available through the school) for student and instructor provided texts

A statement concerning the Norton Field Guide: Its primary purpose on this class is to provide a common basis for discussion of other texts and stepping stone/launch point for students from their previous academic experiences.

Assignment Overview

More information on assignments will be provided in the form of assignment sheets and rubrics that will be developed through negotiation between student and instructor in order to keep assignments and assessment relevant to student needs for their development.

  1. Literacy and composition journal: As a way to answer questions such as “I’m here to be a welder, what do I need an English class for?” students will keep literacy and composition journals wherein they will record and reflect on texts both read and created by themselves throughout their daily lives. Texts will be broadly constructed to include visual and audio as well as alphabetic and any other composing or reading students do. This journal is a space for reflection on what students create and, lacking a better word, consume that carries meaning. Students will explore their literacy and composition practices in various media and genres.   Some texts you might consider include job applications, letters, television shows, music, paintings, photographs, and recipes however this is in no way a comprehensive list and the more variety in texts that students have under consideration, the more interesting and useful the course will be. We will add more questions throughout the course as we explore English, but questions to get you started on reflecting are, for texts you read, “What did I do to understand the text?” and, for texts you produce, “What did I do to produce the text?” paying attention to the reading and writing strategies you are already aware of. You might also reflect on why you read/wrote the text, remembering that read, write, and text are to be constructed broadly, and what the text meant to/for you. I look at the journal as a practice space for your composing in terms of assessment and look at it as a space to say yes to what students want to try.
  2. Texts for the course: It is impossible to cover every type of reading and writing expected in every job or situation. Making use of student provided texts helps mitigate this lack of completeness while also allowing students to explore and engage with texts that they have selected as meaningful. To these ends, you will be expected to upload material to the filesharing service on a weekly basis, beginning with the third week. We will use this material to explore and engage rhetorical strategies both within everyday texts and your chosen vocational area. I use material here to cover as broad a variety of options as possible because students are expected to upload based on media they have encountered authentically when there are no specific instructions concerning what to find. This portion of the course will also help develop research skills because students will sometimes be tasked with uploading specific genres of document (one example of this is that students will provide links to guides to producing résumés). Keeping in mind the various uses that providing texts for the course will be used for including practice space for research and generative space for everyday texts considered by the course, details concerning how to go about fulfilling this assignment will be made in conjunction with students involving a discussion on the second day of class and time for students to make me aware of concerns they have regarding what is negotiated in that discussion that they do not wish to make the entire class aware of.
  3. Résumé and application letter/statement of interest: Students will produce a resume as a composition. The purpose of the resume is to demonstrate the writer’s skills within a small amount of space and in an easy to read format. Students will research methods of producing resumes, the class will discuss these and other methods and students will write a resume for themselves. Students will also write a cover letter for a job application. The purpose of this letter is to make a convincing case for hiring the applicant, again in a small amount of space. The letter is meant to highlight aspects of the résumé and provide context for the résumé while demonstrating the applicant’s suitability to the job being applied for. Specific jobs may call for other work to be done by the applicant. To help keep this assignment relevant, you will create these materials based on a job actually being advertised within your field. You will need to turn-in what the employer has provided in instructions for applying for the job because part of my work in assessing this assignment is evaluating how well you have met the potential employers requirements. Should you find that your chosen career field does not make use of the materials mentioned here, we will work to restructure this assignment to be useful to you.
  4. Reflection on vocational area: Student will research and reflect on the history of their chosen vocational area as well as their personal involvement with it. They will explain how their field came into being as well as how they came to choose to participate in it. This assignment allows space for students to think through common job interview questions as well as consider genre.
  5. Analysis of text: Students will examine the rhetorical strategies used in a text to make meaning for readers. In this examination, students will demonstrate their ability to critically engage with a text as well as identify strategies used by a writer to make meaning within a text.

Grade Breakdown

Category Percentage
Participation 10
Journals/Text Selection 15
Reflection on vocational area 25
Résumé and application letter/statement of interest 25
Analysis of text 25

 

Statement Concerning Course Participation and Attendance Policy

Your participation as a student in the course is necessary both to your own and other’s learning. You will need to come to class prepared, participate actively in class, and behave respectfully towards your fellow students and instructor. Since your participation is a key element of your and other student’s learning experience, your attendance is expected. Further, not attending class will almost certainly mean that you will not develop the skills and understanding of theories well enough to successfully complete the coursework.

 

Late Work Policy

I reserve the right to not accept late work. In cases of emergency, please contact me as soon as possible so that I can work with you to develop a strategy for turning in all your coursework.

Technology Policy

Laptops, tablets, phones, and so on are acceptable for class purposes. Non-class use will result in reductions to your course grade.

E-mail Policy and Etiquette

I check e-mail regularly during normal working hours: weekdays, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. Please allow 24 hours for a response.

You should also use course e-mail as a time to practice professional communication. Use your official school e-mail; I will not respond to other e-mail addresses. Include a subject that identifies the course and what the e-mail will be about. Include a salutation, a message, and a closing to all e-mail.

Accommodation of Special Needs

I seek to create a safe, productive space for all students to learn. To further this goal, if you need accommodations, I urge you to work with the appropriate office to verify the disability so that accommodations can occur.

Academic Integrity

I take academic integrity very seriously and will pursue plagiarism cases to the fullest extent within the institution’s policies. Part of the coursework of the course will be avoiding violating standards of academic integrity.

Schedule

Since this is a proposed course for me, I would, if possible, provide the course schedule unit by unit so that I could more easily modify the schedule to meet student needs as I found them within the instruction.

Unit 1: Course introduction, the rhetorical situation, introduction to genre, the writing process

Unit 2: Reflection on vocational area, reflective writing, peer review

Unit 3: Résumé and application letter/statement of interest, application of the rhetorical situation

Unit 4: Analysis of text