I have spent many hours talking with, cheering on, and learning from students that for one reason or another others believed to be ill-prepared or lacking in terms of their writing skills. That and my continued development as a writer have to explore issues of writing assessment, the study of writing in context, the use of technology in the teaching writing.
Though I tend to be a quiet, even shy person, these experiences have caused me to be proactive both as a teacher and student advocate. I have tried not to shy away from challenges whether it was keeping a struggling writing center open in a time of major budget cuts, developing texts for my students, or working with writing assessment on the classroom, program and university levels. This is particularly true when I have felt that the needs of the students are being overlooked. This is also the desire that moved me from a creative writing focus to rhetoric and composition.
In these electronic spaces you will find different things that tell and show my beliefs. My statements of philosophy for teaching, assessing writing, and the use of technology in the classroom and writing center articulate my values, acknowledge the people who have influenced me, and relate how I see interplay of these influences in the classroom. The list of classes I have taught links to descriptions of those classes along with the assignment structure and means of assessment. Accompanying these descriptions are brief samplings from student evaluations. There are also links to undergraduate and graduate courses I have designed though not yet taught, writing assignments I have used, activities that have been a part of my writing classes, examples of how these beliefs play out in my assessment of writing, and some of the thank you notes I have received from students and even parents along the way.
To see a video observation regarding my use of technology click here
Movie by Toby Coley
To see a video observation about how I use technology in class
Movie by Meredith Hurley
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