Teaching Portfolio

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Evidence of Teaching: Teaching Portfolio

Texas Christian University

Sample Syllabi and Assignments:

Composition

ENG 10803: Students in this course focus on writing as a kind of inquiry, enhancing their critical thinking skills while they write. Students engage in the processes of invention, critical reading, drafting, revision, and editing as they complete a range of writing tasks—from personal essays to argument essays—that include primary and secondary research. Students in this class are encouraged to use their personal voice and to view their own experiences and observations as a type of evidence. Sample Assignment: This I Believe and a sample essays from my students published on NPR: Krystal and Tomasz. Sample Online Activity: Weekly Online Discussion Questions and In-Class Activities. Sample Discovery Essay Assignment and Sample Student Essay. Sample Profile Assignment and Sample Student Paper.

ENG 111. Students in this course learn to write college-level essays that respond to and critically analyze texts. The class focuses on students' developing arguments that explain their positions while making use of textual resources that support their claims. They also practice reviewing and revising their work through peer and instructor feedback.

ENG 112: Students continue practicing expository writing, applied primarily to textual analysis (fiction, drama, poetry), and culminating in a research paper.

Literature

The West

Women in Literature and Culture: American Women Regionalist Writers

The Rise of Gothic Literature. This course is heavily genre based. Students begin the course by reading Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), often considered the first Gothic novel. As a class, we follow the genre as it evolves through the ages and travels across the Atlantic to America and then the American South. The class observes how the genre evolves and adapts according to social trends and revolutions and differing audiences; they also learn about key elements in the genre: the natural and the supernatural, the ironic and the terrifying, the ghostly specters and the mad scientists, and the chivalrous Southern gentleman and the insane Southern belle spinster. The genres we study are: Gothic literature, Female Gothic, Gothic of Science, American Gothic, Southern Gothic, and Modern Gothic; we also various fiction formats, such as: the novel, the novella, the short story, plays, music, and film.

*Final Project w/Project Overview & Rubric: Students were allowed to write a traditional paper, an

annotated

bibliography (10 sources), a film adaptation, or do a creative project. The creative projects listed were music

videos, live scene re-enactments, film scene re-enactments, and movie posters. The overview details my

experiences with the project.

Sample Student Video Adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been."

Sample Student Movie Poster of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper."

Class Blog Assignment: Students' links listed to the right of class blog.

Grade Distribution Chart: My syllabi for my courses are rigorous, my exams are grueling, my expectations are

high, and my communication with my students is strong; I encourage them to work hard and they deliver. My

grade distribution may not reflect my rigorous demands, but it does show my students' successes.

Professional Development and Service:

English Faculty Integration Conference. Columbia, MO., February, 2016.

D2L (Desire 2 Learn) Online Classroom Training. August, 2015.

Faculty Orientation and Blackboard Training. Tarrant County College District, April, 2015.

“Google Docs Workshop.” TCU New Media Center. Feb 29, 2012.

“Blackboard Comprehensive Workshop.” UTA Center for Distance Education. March 22-31, 2011.

“Rules for Writers and Responding to Student Drafts.” Writing Workshop by Nancy Sommers. UTA Department of English. March 25, 2011.

“Promising Practices: Inquiry and Teaching Anecdotes.” Teaching College Literature Workshop. TCU Department of English. Graduate Students. Fall 2010.

“TLC: No-Learning-Curve Tools to Make Your Teaching and Research Easier.” TCU Koehler Center for Teaching Excellence. September 15, 2010.

Summer 2010. First -Year Experience Programs Assessment Team.

Summer 2010. Learning Traditions in English Assessment Team.

Organizer. Round-table Discussion on Teaching English Language Learner Students with TCU Graduate Instructors, TCU Writing Center Director, Steve Sherwood, & TCU Intensive English Director, Kurk Gayle. February 2010.

Presenter. "Writing and the Online Classroom." TCU New Graduate Instructors Workshops. August 2010.

Presenter. Literature Workshop Presenter. "Following the Generic Path: Teaching College Literature." Promising Practices: Inquiry and Teaching Anecdotes. Texas Christian University. Fellow presenters: Amanda Irvin and Larisa Asaeli. Flyer December 2010.

“Conference Professionalism Workshop.” TCU Department of English. Faculty: Sarah Robbins, Anne George, and April Patrick. November 2009.

“The Job List.” TCU Faculty: Brad Lucas, Melanie Kill, & Ariane Balizet. September 2009.

“Digital Portfolio Workshop.” TCU Department of English. Faculty: Melanie Kill and Carrie Leverenz. September 2009.

“Beyond the Basics Workshop: Multimedia Solutions in Teaching on Online Classrooms.” TCU Koehler Institute for Teaching Excellence. August 2009.

Elected Graduate Representative by Graduate Students. August 2009.

Sought and received funding for Adobe CS4 Design Software in Graduate Instructor offices. Worked with Scot Hanson regarding training sessions for Graduate Students in the Spring of 2010. August 2009.

“Teaching Literature Brown Bag.” TCU Department of English. Faculty: Anne Frey, Dan Williams, & Arianne Balizet. February 2009.

“New Faculty Workshop / Orientation” (for adjuncts) TCU. January 2009.

“eCollege Gradebook.” TCU Koehler Center for Teaching Excellence.” January 2009.

Plagiarism Workshop. TCU Department of English. Faculty: Jill Havens. Fall 2008.

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Additional Materials:

Composition:

ENG 10803 & 20803. In my composition classes, I use in-class activities to enhance writing style, using Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams.

ENGL 10803: New Media Final Project Assignment PDF

ENGL 10803: Sample Student New Media Project Window's Movie Maker

ENGL 10803: A Selection of Weekly Discussion Questions with Sample Student Responses.

ENGL 20803: Students rhetorically analyzed a high-profile subject of their choice in three genres. Then they used these analytical tools to argue a persuasive slant in a film of their choice. By the end of the semester, students used their persuasive expertise to create, as groups, their own advocacy website. For their final exam, students wrote and submitted This I Believe Essays to the NPR website.

ENGL 20803. Two Students' "This I Believe" Essays (selected by and published on the National Pubic Radio (NPR) website): Krystal, Live Life to the Fullest & Tomasz, True Friendship Reveals Itself Through Adversity)