Teaching
Courses and Reflections
Courses Taught:
Seminar in World Literature (BSU ENGL 759)
Special Topics in Caribbean Literature (BSU ENGL 370)
Argument and Research (BSU ENGL 102)
Writing Health and Disability (URI WRT 306)
Travel Writing (URI WRT 305)
Intermediate Writing--Critical Thinking and Argument (PC ENG 301)
Writing Our Selves: Writing in the Expressivist Tradition (URI WRT 270)
The Working Life (JWU ILS 2090)
Introduction to Research Writing (URI WRT 106)
English Composition (JWU ENG 1020)
Writing Workshop (JWU ENG 0001)
Principles of Literary Study (URI ENG 201)
Communication Skills (JWU ENG 1030)
Planning for Academic Success (URI 101)
Advanced Composition and Communication (JWU ENG 1021)
Contemporary Literature (URI ENG 379)
Writing to Inform and Explain (URI WRT 104)
British Literature II: 1798 to the Present (URI ENG 252)
Introduction to Literature (URI ENG 110)
African-American Literature from 1900 to the Present (URI ENG/AAF 248)
Literatures of the World (URI ENG/CLS 160)
Intro. to the Literature of the African Diaspora (URI ENG/AAF 247)
African-American Fiction (ENG/AAF 363)
The Short Story (ENG 243)
Seminar in World Literature (BSU ENGL 759)
Special Topics in Caribbean Literature (BSU ENGL 370)
Argument and Research (BSU ENGL 102)
Writing Health and Disability (URI WRT 306)
Travel Writing (URI WRT 305)
Intermediate Writing--Critical Thinking and Argument (PC ENG 301)
Writing Our Selves: Writing in the Expressivist Tradition (URI WRT 270)
The Working Life (JWU ILS 2090)
Introduction to Research Writing (URI WRT 106)
English Composition (JWU ENG 1020)
Writing Workshop (JWU ENG 0001)
Principles of Literary Study (URI ENG 201)
Communication Skills (JWU ENG 1030)
Planning for Academic Success (URI 101)
Advanced Composition and Communication (JWU ENG 1021)
Contemporary Literature (URI ENG 379)
Writing to Inform and Explain (URI WRT 104)
British Literature II: 1798 to the Present (URI ENG 252)
Introduction to Literature (URI ENG 110)
African-American Literature from 1900 to the Present (URI ENG/AAF 248)
Literatures of the World (URI ENG/CLS 160)
Intro. to the Literature of the African Diaspora (URI ENG/AAF 247)
African-American Fiction (ENG/AAF 363)
The Short Story (ENG 243)
Introducing Myself to Online Travel Writing Students
Here's the prompt I recently gave my online Travel Writing students for their first forum post: You're joining a community of writers in this class and we'll support one another as writers, so let's start to get to know one another. On Wednesday, January 24, upload a video or written post introducing yourself. Tell us your name and something about yourself. Here are some ideas to help you think about it:
And here's my video for the forum! It was fun to make and I'm working on meeting the challenge of timing the captions! |
|
Some Reflections on Mixing It Up
So much of teaching depends on the ability to reflect on choices made and evaluate the success of a course. When I taught Writing to Inform and Explain (URI WRT 104) over the Spring 2017 semester for the first time in a couple years, I chose a few different assignments. What a great success! Although the topics and approaches for each assignment were different, they were still similar enough that there was a greater sense of continuity as we worked with the three determinants of the rhetorical situation: purpose, audience, and conventions/genre.
First, I asked students to write a critical analyses of a situations or phenomena they'd observed. This involved taking a close look at something, evaluating it, and trying to understand its causes and effects. Next, after practicing these skills, we turned to making an argument. The movement from analysis to argument made total sense in terms of the skill-building this course provides. Students made thoughtful, interesting arguments about issues they cared about. Our third step was a thoroughly researched informative Investigative Report. Again, students had freedom to investigate what they wanted, but I encouraged them to look into something they could get close to, perhaps with the means of field research. Last we worked on a proposal assignment. This one called for students to define a problem and propose a solution to it. Using the investigative skills they'd been building, they were ready to identify problems, analyze their causes and effects, and argue for feasible solutions.
Even as each assignment built on the skills of the ones that came before it, students had a different challenge each time as they were asked to identify the audiences that need to hear their message and make choices suitable to reaching those audiences. This demanded that their writing be really focused, which they benefitted from. They couldn't write big, broad papers that lacked detail. They learned that, yes, you can write 5 pages on a limited topic when you are well informed, even if that feels like a long paper at first. They learned to organize their messages in audience-centered ways.
And I had the privilege of reading all of it. When I read fascinating papers on issues my students are curious about (gene modification! plastics in the ocean! the effects of tourism! geckos! real estate! the Amazon effect on retailers! bee population decline!), I just feel incredibly lucky.
So much of teaching depends on the ability to reflect on choices made and evaluate the success of a course. When I taught Writing to Inform and Explain (URI WRT 104) over the Spring 2017 semester for the first time in a couple years, I chose a few different assignments. What a great success! Although the topics and approaches for each assignment were different, they were still similar enough that there was a greater sense of continuity as we worked with the three determinants of the rhetorical situation: purpose, audience, and conventions/genre.
First, I asked students to write a critical analyses of a situations or phenomena they'd observed. This involved taking a close look at something, evaluating it, and trying to understand its causes and effects. Next, after practicing these skills, we turned to making an argument. The movement from analysis to argument made total sense in terms of the skill-building this course provides. Students made thoughtful, interesting arguments about issues they cared about. Our third step was a thoroughly researched informative Investigative Report. Again, students had freedom to investigate what they wanted, but I encouraged them to look into something they could get close to, perhaps with the means of field research. Last we worked on a proposal assignment. This one called for students to define a problem and propose a solution to it. Using the investigative skills they'd been building, they were ready to identify problems, analyze their causes and effects, and argue for feasible solutions.
Even as each assignment built on the skills of the ones that came before it, students had a different challenge each time as they were asked to identify the audiences that need to hear their message and make choices suitable to reaching those audiences. This demanded that their writing be really focused, which they benefitted from. They couldn't write big, broad papers that lacked detail. They learned that, yes, you can write 5 pages on a limited topic when you are well informed, even if that feels like a long paper at first. They learned to organize their messages in audience-centered ways.
And I had the privilege of reading all of it. When I read fascinating papers on issues my students are curious about (gene modification! plastics in the ocean! the effects of tourism! geckos! real estate! the Amazon effect on retailers! bee population decline!), I just feel incredibly lucky.