Adult Learning

Seminar in Language, Literacy, and Pedagogy
Spring 2014

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This course challenged me to think critically about issues of colonialism, power, and culture in relation to literacy education, not only in rigorous theory but directly impacting my own pedagogical practices. In addition to laying a foundation of theory by reading Brandt, Cushman, Gee, Kirkland, McCarty, and others, I was able to explore these issues by completing an annotated bibliography on current and recent research in adult literacy learning theory and draft a proposal of a reading program designed to build learning communities within a first-year writing program at a community college.

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Curriculum Design and Deliberation
Fall 2013

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In this Teacher Education course, we studied and discussed a broad variety of educational theorists and philosophers, as well as participated in interesting pedagogical experiences and exercises that I hope to implement when appropriate into my teaching. Readings in this course included Dewey, Taylor, Schwab, Hawhee, McWilliam, and Rancière.

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Community Literacies 
Spring 2013

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This course gave me the opportunity to engage with ethnography and critical theory as well as the broad landscape of the study of community literacies, those literacy practices and customs that while not borne of the educational system, can have huge positive benefits to the educations of those who embrace them. Authors read in this course include Freire, Lave and Wenger, Kirkland, Hull, Ruggles Gere, Brice Heath, Royster, and Dimitriadis.

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Literacy Leadership
Spring 2013

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Taking this online teacher education course allowed me to interact with a number of educators and students from around the country, as well as to understand the great pressures and challenges we all face as literacy educators. I was able to investigate and demonstrate what I consider to be both quality literacy education and valuable leadership among educators.

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Composition Theory and Pedagogy

Reassembling Composition and Rhetoric: 
Studying Language and Culture Across Local and Global Contexts
Spring 2014

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In this course, I was able to better understand and apply to my composition pedagogy important themes in linguistics and education such as globalization, translingualism, and multimodality. Readings included multiple pieces by Pennycook and Canagarajah, as well as Basso, Blommaert, Roozen, and Gutierrez.

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Teaching with Technology
Fall 2013

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This course allowed me to consider and engage with various technologies and pedagogical approaches to composition instruction, including facilitating peer review through Desire2Learn and investigating the impacts of automated essay grading. We ended the semester by exploring what our ideal technology-infused classrooms would look like and why.

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Research Methodologies
Spring 2013

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In this course we sampled research done in the field of composition and examined the research approaches that were taken to create those works. Research approaches and stances examined included ethnography, grounded theory and mapping, and classroom and teacher research.

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Composition Studies
Fall 2012

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While History and Theory of Rhetoric (see below) provided an historical tracing of rhetoric, Composition Studies offered an overview of the pedagogical and ideological movements in composition from the mid-20th century, beginning with an examination of the CCCC's "Students' Rights to their Own Language" resolution in 1974, moving to the process movement and activism through composition, and finally by looking forward to technological implications and multigenre compositions. 

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History and Theory of Rhetoric
Fall 2012

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Our readings and discussions in this course traced several abiding themes of rhetoric, such as ethics, audience, language and style, and invention, throughout human history. While we did read a number of texts drawn from the traditional Western canon, we also delved into writings from and concerning cultures traditionally less represented in these discussions, including China, Africa, and Native Americans. In addition to laying a foundation onto which I can build my historical conception of rhetoric, I developed valuable new understandings on questions of research, literacy, epistemology, and historiography.

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