Teaching and Mentoring

I borrow from multiple theories, thinkers, and pedagogies (Ecocomposition, Expressivist, Collaborative, Critical, Feminist, Queer, Antiracist, Radically Inclusive, UDL, Multimodal, Process, Rhetorical Genre Studies, WAC/WID, Writing About Writing, and others) to illustrate to students that writing, close reading, and higher education, in general, are worthwhile and imperative endeavors and, in line with Paulo Freire, true literacy is not a set of competencies in writing techniques, but instead a form of consciousness. I promote agency inside and outside the classroom through creating, articulating, and maintaining rigorous, but clear, realistic, flexible, culturally responsive, and accessible standards and policies for all students. I also aim to provide students with time, space, and bandwidth for rhetorical play and curiosity. I illustrate to students the value of rigorous revision through providing multiple opportunities for them to see, revise, re-see, and remix their work. Ultimately, my classes always come back to reflection. As they complete each unit or milestone and as we begin and end each semester, in line with suggestions made by Kathleen Blake Yancey and Sandra Giles, I provide students space and time to consider what they’ve learned, why it was important, what they have yet to learn, and what comes next.

Awards for Teaching & Mentoring

Teaching:

  • Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.ODU English Department, 2021-2022. 
  • Creative Commons Distinction for Inaugural Signature Course for Special Topics Hamilton: Who Tells Your Story: Race, Rhetoric, and the Revolution, 2018. 
  • Arkansas College English Teacher of the Year. Arkansas Council of Teachers of English. 2016-2017. 
  • Finalist for Honors Teacher of the Year. Arkansas State University, 2016-2017. 
  • Professor of the Month. Arkansas State University, March 2016 and January 2016.
  • Distinguished Faculty Award, Educational Opportunity Program. Binghamton University, 2013. 
  • Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award. Southeast Missouri State University, 2006-2007.
  • Teacher of the Year, TRIO Programs. Southeast Missouri State University, 2004, 2005, 2006.

Mentoring:

  • Joel S. Lewis Faculty Award for Excellence in Student Mentoring Award. ODU English Department, 2021-2022. 
  • A-State Pack Pride Day Scarlet Bella Award for Teaching and Mentoring, 2018-2019. 
  • Howl Students’ Choice Award for Teaching and Mentoring. Arkansas State University, 2014-2015.
  • Graduate Mentor of the Year. Arkansas State University, 2013-2014. 

For a list of courses taught, please see the CV tab.