Courses taught:
Michigan State University Center for
Integrated Studies in the Arts and Humanities IAH 221C (Environmental Imagination the Anthropocene) Grand Valley State University English 203 (World Literature) -- syllabus English 204 (World Mythologies) -- syllabus English 212 (Intro to Shakespeare) -- syllabus English 215 (Literary Study: Genre) -- syllabus English 216 (Critical Approaches and Theory) -- syllabus English 313 (British Literature: Shakespeare) -- syllabus English 382 (Literature and the Environment) -- syllabus English 386 (Literary Responses to Death and Dying) -- syllabus University of Michigan, Dearborn English 3110 (British Literature I: Beowulf to Milton) -- blog Western Michigan University English 3300 (British Literature I: Beowulf to Boswell) English 3110 (Our Place in Nature) (guest lecturer) English 2070 (Special Topics: Mythology and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien) English 1100 (Introduction to Literary Interpretation) English 1050 (Composition and Rhetoric) |
Watch me speak with Dr. Sarah Cox (former Doctoral Associate in the WMU Office of Faculty Development) about methods for incorporating social media tools and technology into teaching.
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Class Observation and Teaching Evaluation -- Grand Valley State University (April 2016), provided by Profs. David Alvarez and Rachel Anderson
Teaching philosophy:
Discussion and contexts
My primary goals in any course that I teach are to raise student excitement, engagement, and curiosity with and about the texts that we read, to foster dynamic discussion about texts and ideas, and to make students aware of interdisciplinary connections between texts, material culture, and history. As a student, I always found that my most positive and productive learning experiences were in classes where instructors emphasized discovery through discussion of texts. As an instructor, I recreate those discussion-based environments in my own classroom. Generally, I like to maximize the amount of time spent on classroom discussion. I will present relevant historical, critical, or theoretical information concerning a text, but then will segue to discussion by asking open-ended questions (or having students pose their own questions) about what we've read, making sure that students can ground their observations “in the text.” My intention here is to prompt students to question what they’re reading, question their first reactions to or interpretations of the text, and question what critics have said about our literature. I intend for students to sharpen their critical thinking skills and close-reading skills, and to learn that literary interpretation is more of a “conversation” between reader and author than a quest for final answers; as such, we will rarely come to a unanimous class-wide interpretation of a text.
Writing in the class
I regularly encourage connection between student writing and discussion in the classroom. Often, I will use writing assignments at the start of class to allow students a chance to focus and develop their analyses of a text prior to class discussion. In many cases, I revise and repeat these writing prompts for take-home quizzes, research papers, and exams. Thus, a kernel of literary analysis in one writing prompt may germinate and continue to develop over a semester’s worth of writing, as students find continuity and evolution of themes and ideas across our texts. Recently, I have provided opportunities and encouragement for students to place their writing in public venues by incorporating blogging into my courses in British literature and the honors seminar in environmental writing. In these courses, I encouraged students to start their own blogs related to course content and provided opportunities for students to engage in online discussions and comment threads on our class blog, thus extending discussion of our texts beyond the walls of the classroom.
Interdisciplinarity and media
Reading texts from the medieval period, a student will often find barriers to understanding these texts in the form of unknown languages, fragmented manuscripts, and gaps in historical knowledge. To overcome these barriers, I believe that an interdisciplinary approach (combining linguistics, history, art history, archaeology, and literary studies) provides a much more informative and engaging context for discussing and questioning texts. For example, studying Beowulf alongside the royal Sutton Hoo hoard can prompt discussion of the economic and social value of treasure; pairing the poetry of early modern courtiers alongside Hans Holbein’s The Ambassadors (1533) helps students to comprehend the power of display and performance in Renaissance England. In order to present texts alongside art, archeological finds, and other historical remnants, I incorporate various technologies into my lectures and class discussion. Slide-shows, PowerPoint presentations, audio clips, and excerpts from films often facilitate discussion and appeal to students who may better comprehend visual and aural media, and benefit those who respond to varied teaching styles.
Literature and spiritual discovery
For me, teaching literature also provides unique opportunities for spiritual discovery and debate. I was raised in a relatively non-religious family that eventually joined our local Lutheran church. While I was drawn to the friendships that we developed in that church community, I found more spiritual purpose and peace in my academic passions of medieval studies and environmental writing than in that house of worship. In the classroom, when I discuss the divine justifications of John Milton or the transformational poetry of Wendell Berry and Walt Whitman with my students, I ask them to consider how poets and philosophers have wrangled with questions such as “what is humankind’s relationship to God?” and “what are our responsibilities as stewards of Earth, or as mere inhabitants?” Perhaps more importantly, I ask them to consider how we struggle to answer these questions today, to view their own journeys toward spiritual enlightenment and self-knowledge as an inheritance of the same intellectual struggles which authors of early literatures faced.
Education and enthusiasm
My own time as a student afforded me opportunities to pursue education in several humanities disciplines, to participate in varied teaching and learning environments, and to attend universities in the United States and abroad. I earned a dual B.A. in English and history from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, a small state school, where my program also allowed me to spend a year at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Energized by the interdisciplinary nature of my courses in Celtic Studies at Aberdeen, I returned to the United Kingdom for an interdisciplinary M.A. in early medieval studies from the University of York. After several months working as a substitute high school teacher for Baltimore County Public Schools, I moved to Michigan to complete a Ph.D. in English literature at Western Michigan University, a mid-sized state institution. Through my time as a student (and instructor) on these campuses, I have learned and taught alongside colleagues of diverse academic, economic, social, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds; I have worked with and been an international student. My experience leads me to shape my classroom as an environment wherein students of varied academic and personal backgrounds can consider and respond to each others’ ideas with respect and compassion, and can sharpen their abilities to analyze, interrogate, and debate written texts.
Over the past nine years, I have taught undergraduate courses in J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythologies and medievalism (at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and at Western Michigan University), introductory courses in composition and literary interpretation (at Western Michigan), an honors seminar in environmental and conservation writing (at Western Michigan), and surveys of early British literature (at Western Michigan and at the University of Michigan-Dearborn). In these courses, I encourage students to arrive at their own conclusions and insights through close reading, intellectual exchange and discourse with their peers and with me, and consideration of texts in interdisciplinary contexts.
Even as an instructor, I consider myself a “lifelong student”; I have no plans to stop exploring new fields and ideas, nor will I resist making changes to my pedagogy when new techniques or technologies will serve the class better. I also believe that we should model our passion for education and academic curiosity whenever possible for our students. Often in course evaluations, my students comment on my enthusiasm for the course material, remarking that my excitement and passion for medieval texts is contagious. This kind of energy not only increases student engagement with our assigned texts and class discussion, but communicates the value of education and academic inquiry beyond one classroom or university.
My primary goals in any course that I teach are to raise student excitement, engagement, and curiosity with and about the texts that we read, to foster dynamic discussion about texts and ideas, and to make students aware of interdisciplinary connections between texts, material culture, and history. As a student, I always found that my most positive and productive learning experiences were in classes where instructors emphasized discovery through discussion of texts. As an instructor, I recreate those discussion-based environments in my own classroom. Generally, I like to maximize the amount of time spent on classroom discussion. I will present relevant historical, critical, or theoretical information concerning a text, but then will segue to discussion by asking open-ended questions (or having students pose their own questions) about what we've read, making sure that students can ground their observations “in the text.” My intention here is to prompt students to question what they’re reading, question their first reactions to or interpretations of the text, and question what critics have said about our literature. I intend for students to sharpen their critical thinking skills and close-reading skills, and to learn that literary interpretation is more of a “conversation” between reader and author than a quest for final answers; as such, we will rarely come to a unanimous class-wide interpretation of a text.
Writing in the class
I regularly encourage connection between student writing and discussion in the classroom. Often, I will use writing assignments at the start of class to allow students a chance to focus and develop their analyses of a text prior to class discussion. In many cases, I revise and repeat these writing prompts for take-home quizzes, research papers, and exams. Thus, a kernel of literary analysis in one writing prompt may germinate and continue to develop over a semester’s worth of writing, as students find continuity and evolution of themes and ideas across our texts. Recently, I have provided opportunities and encouragement for students to place their writing in public venues by incorporating blogging into my courses in British literature and the honors seminar in environmental writing. In these courses, I encouraged students to start their own blogs related to course content and provided opportunities for students to engage in online discussions and comment threads on our class blog, thus extending discussion of our texts beyond the walls of the classroom.
Interdisciplinarity and media
Reading texts from the medieval period, a student will often find barriers to understanding these texts in the form of unknown languages, fragmented manuscripts, and gaps in historical knowledge. To overcome these barriers, I believe that an interdisciplinary approach (combining linguistics, history, art history, archaeology, and literary studies) provides a much more informative and engaging context for discussing and questioning texts. For example, studying Beowulf alongside the royal Sutton Hoo hoard can prompt discussion of the economic and social value of treasure; pairing the poetry of early modern courtiers alongside Hans Holbein’s The Ambassadors (1533) helps students to comprehend the power of display and performance in Renaissance England. In order to present texts alongside art, archeological finds, and other historical remnants, I incorporate various technologies into my lectures and class discussion. Slide-shows, PowerPoint presentations, audio clips, and excerpts from films often facilitate discussion and appeal to students who may better comprehend visual and aural media, and benefit those who respond to varied teaching styles.
Literature and spiritual discovery
For me, teaching literature also provides unique opportunities for spiritual discovery and debate. I was raised in a relatively non-religious family that eventually joined our local Lutheran church. While I was drawn to the friendships that we developed in that church community, I found more spiritual purpose and peace in my academic passions of medieval studies and environmental writing than in that house of worship. In the classroom, when I discuss the divine justifications of John Milton or the transformational poetry of Wendell Berry and Walt Whitman with my students, I ask them to consider how poets and philosophers have wrangled with questions such as “what is humankind’s relationship to God?” and “what are our responsibilities as stewards of Earth, or as mere inhabitants?” Perhaps more importantly, I ask them to consider how we struggle to answer these questions today, to view their own journeys toward spiritual enlightenment and self-knowledge as an inheritance of the same intellectual struggles which authors of early literatures faced.
Education and enthusiasm
My own time as a student afforded me opportunities to pursue education in several humanities disciplines, to participate in varied teaching and learning environments, and to attend universities in the United States and abroad. I earned a dual B.A. in English and history from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, a small state school, where my program also allowed me to spend a year at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. Energized by the interdisciplinary nature of my courses in Celtic Studies at Aberdeen, I returned to the United Kingdom for an interdisciplinary M.A. in early medieval studies from the University of York. After several months working as a substitute high school teacher for Baltimore County Public Schools, I moved to Michigan to complete a Ph.D. in English literature at Western Michigan University, a mid-sized state institution. Through my time as a student (and instructor) on these campuses, I have learned and taught alongside colleagues of diverse academic, economic, social, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds; I have worked with and been an international student. My experience leads me to shape my classroom as an environment wherein students of varied academic and personal backgrounds can consider and respond to each others’ ideas with respect and compassion, and can sharpen their abilities to analyze, interrogate, and debate written texts.
Over the past nine years, I have taught undergraduate courses in J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythologies and medievalism (at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and at Western Michigan University), introductory courses in composition and literary interpretation (at Western Michigan), an honors seminar in environmental and conservation writing (at Western Michigan), and surveys of early British literature (at Western Michigan and at the University of Michigan-Dearborn). In these courses, I encourage students to arrive at their own conclusions and insights through close reading, intellectual exchange and discourse with their peers and with me, and consideration of texts in interdisciplinary contexts.
Even as an instructor, I consider myself a “lifelong student”; I have no plans to stop exploring new fields and ideas, nor will I resist making changes to my pedagogy when new techniques or technologies will serve the class better. I also believe that we should model our passion for education and academic curiosity whenever possible for our students. Often in course evaluations, my students comment on my enthusiasm for the course material, remarking that my excitement and passion for medieval texts is contagious. This kind of energy not only increases student engagement with our assigned texts and class discussion, but communicates the value of education and academic inquiry beyond one classroom or university.