Teaching is a performative act. And it is that aspect of our work that offers the space for change, invention, spontaneous shifts, that can serve as a catalyst drawing out the unique elements in each classroom.
bell hooks, _Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom_ (Routledge, 1994), 11.
As an Associate Professor of English, I teach various courses as needed by the department, which offers a variety of literature and composition courses. While there are certainly exceptions, most of my students take English courses because they are required parts of their degree programs, rather than because they plan to become English majors or because they enjoy reading and writing. This affords me the opportunity to generate new and sometimes unconventional assignments and activities in efforts to reach my students where they are, and to do so with the same enthusiasm that brought me to this field in the first place.
The composition courses (1101, 1121) use department-generated grading rubrics; the course content of these classes is the academic writing process itself. The department’s writing-intensive literature courses (I’ve taught 2000, 2001, 2150, 3401, and 3402) expect the professor to generate the methods of evaluation and assessment; in these classes, the course content is the literature of the relevant genre(s) or period(s), and writing is used not only as a means of evaluation, but also as a pedagogical tool to supplement students’ engagement with the material.
In all classes, I generate my syllabus, grading policy, course calendar, reading list, and assignments in order to create a learning environment conducive to my students’ development of proficiency in the course outcomes identified by the department.
English 1101, English Composition 1
3 credits, 4 hours // 22 students. A course in effective essay writing and basic research techniques including use of the library. Demanding readings assigned for classroom discussion and as a basis for essay writing.
In this course, I assign several challenging non-fiction readings that we discuss in class. Students are assigned formal papers, many of which ask them to write in response to the shared readings. An annotated bibliography, including student reflections on the sources, is also assigned in more recent semesters.
Individual class meetings might focus on any one of a variety of topics, from discussing a reading, to preparing for and participating in a debate, to working on a specific writing skill (like quotation usage), to in-class writing and workshops. I may use a lecture style of delivery to communicate necessary information (like how to format according to MLA), but I often use discussion to engage students in the topic. I also use group work regularly.
Iāve taught several sections of 1101 that were part of First Year Learning Communities. These sections will feature readings and assignments that focus on the shared theme of the Learning Community. For example, in a Learning Community with Communication Design, I teach a section of 1101 in which students focus on issues related to food, food accessibility, nutrition, and health; in conjunction with their introductory course in COMD, students design and produce visual texts that communicate key themes or information.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2016. This class was part of a learning community with Raster Vector Graphics in the Communication Design Department.
English 1121, English Composition 2
3 credits // 22 students. An advanced course in expository essay writing that requires a library paper. Further development of research and documentation skills (MLA style). Assigned literary and expository readings.
This course resembles 1101 above, in that the ācourse contentā is composition strategies; it differs from 1101 in that the assigned readings include literary texts and students are expected to master more advanced strategies of composition.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2011.
English 2000, Perspectives in Literature
3 credits, 25 students. Writing Intensive. Readings in and writings about literature across genres, eras and locales. Themes include family, the individual and society, good and evil, gender, faith and āthe human heart in conflict with itself.ā Essays and exams based on readings.
In this course I strive to meet the departmentās objectives through assigned readings that represent as many genres of literature as possible (novel, short story, play, poetry, graphic novel). Students learn how to read literature carefully and analytically, and they demonstrate these abilities through formal writing projects, a final exam, and reading quizzes. I design and develop these assignments and assessment tools; they are not provided by the department or by a text book. Readings represent a breadth of literary styles but also address several common themes, which lets the class discuss different āperspectivesā on specific ideas or topics.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2016.
English 2001, Introduction to Literature — Fiction
3 credits, 25 students. Writing Intensive. Analysis and critical understanding of selected fiction. Exams and essays based on readings.
In this class, students are first expected to master a conventional definition of fiction, using the six elements of fiction as defined by Ann Charters (setting, point of view, plot, character, theme, style). They read fiction in various genres (e.g., short stories, a novel), and are expected to demonstrate their ability to use these terms accurately in class discussion, quizzes, and formal paper assignments. I design and develop these assignments and assessment tools; they are not provided by the department or by a text book. In some semesters, students also read texts that challenge these conventional definitions (a graphic novel or a fictionalized memoir), and must work to revise and challenge (or justify) those conventions that they mastered weeks before. Students formal writing projects, a group project, quizzes, and a final exam.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2011.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2022. This section was asynchronous, online.
English 2150, Introduction to Women Writers
3 credits, 25 students. Writing Intensive. Introduction to the writings of selected women writers, both major authors and less well-known women writers. A variety of genres including essays, fiction, poems and plays will be explored.
My reading list for this class includes texts in several genres (a novel, short stories, fiction, drama, nonfiction, and a graphic novel) which were written by women and which contribute to a more nuanced understanding of themes related to womenās rights, revolution, family, race, and identity. Students are expected to use the terms of literary criticism accurately in class discussion, quizzes, and formal paper assignments. I design and develop these assignments and assessment tools; they are not provided by the department or by a text book. Students write three formal papers (5 pages each), take quizzes, and there is a midterm and a final exam.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2014.
English 3401, Law through Literature
3 credits, 25 students. Writing Intensive. An exploration of concepts of justice, higher law, customary law and written law expressed through works of fiction and non-fiction. The course seeks to enhance the studentās sensitivity to issues of ethics, gender bias and class consciousness as they affect the administration of justice. Readings improve communication skills and strengthen legal skills of identifying, articulating and locating problems in the context of underlying legal issues. Written assignments emphasize expository writing skills.
In this class students read and listen to texts that present themes associated with justice, innocence, investigation, oppression, identity, and the role of literature in society. Students learn to use the six elements of fiction to discuss and write about assigned texts, and they demonstrate their facility with these terms on quizzes, in formal writing project, a group project with a presentation component, and a final exam. I design and develop these assignments and assessment tools; they are not provided by the department or by a text book.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2018.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2022. This class focuses on the theme of food justice, and was asynchronous, online.
English 3402, Topics in Literature — The Graphic Novel
3 credits, 25 students. Writing Intensive. Specific critical and thematic approaches to selected works in literature written in English. Selected works are studied in relation to a special theme, technique, theoretical issue, or cultural consideration. Possible topics: the geographical journey as a metaphor for maturation; stream of consciousness as a literary technique for heightening reality; the role of Shakespeare as a Tudor propagandist; the issue of how culture shapes identity, as depicted in diverse works of fiction.
I designed a course in graphic novels to run under this rotating topics class. This course is designed to introduce students to the genre of graphic novels. Required readings represent both Eastern and Western comics traditions, and range in publication dates from around 1930 through the 21st century. Looking at these primary texts alongside an important critical work (Understanding Comics), students will learn to identify the key components of graphic narrativeāincluding technical aspects of visual storytelling as well as more traditional elements of prose narrativeāand how they work together to form a graphic narrative. Students will also be asked to identify the major themes addressed by the genre over time, and to evaluate the ways in which those themes, and the ways they are addressed, have changed.
Click here for a sample syllabus from 2012.
