Teaching Philosophy:
A Collaborative Approach to Teaching
Feedback, encouragement, flexibility, and humility are the foundational blocks of my teaching philosophy. Feedback and encouragement work very closely together in teaching and learning. As a student, I could not function without detailed feedback from my professors, so I make sure to give plenty of feedback when I teach.
I also feed off of encouraging words (I mean, who doesn’t?), so I encourage my students starting on day one. I engage with them during introductions and pay attention to their unique talents, interests, and hobbies. Then, I tell them they are awesome, and we will have an awesome semester because I will do my best to be awesome with them.
Flexibility and humility are partners too. My students know my expectations and limitations. In being flexible, I allow them to be human beings, who are often confronted with obstacles but will not feel like the world is against them. There are expectations for deadlines, but I work around them when possible.
As far as humility, I do not pretend to have all the answers, instead, I challenge students to seek out those answers with me. Together, we think through topics and, often, we “Google it.” The main goal is to create a space where students are not afraid to approach me and are allowed to view small failures as opportunities to grow and redo.
As time goes on students are likely to forget most of what they've learned, but they will never forget how you taught.
So, teach with kindness.
A reflective quote by me.
Sample Lesson Plan
Lesson Purpose:
The purpose of this lesson plan is to explain the process of Re-envisioning their Researched Argument Paper (Project 4) before they move on to Revising, which I framed as including editing and proofreading. However, I do explain to my students that, in practice, re-envisioning, revising, and proofreading can overlap, as it is often difficult to separate each task once they have feedback on their first drafts.
Lesson Description:
This lesson plan is anchored on a comprehensive PowerPoint Presentation, which also has slides for opening and closing the class meeting. The first slide is an Agenda for that date that points out the activities for the class.
I chose to re-address organization, quote integration, and MLA-8 formatting but mostly organization, in this lesson, on this date, because my students needed a refresher lesson on those components of the writing process. This lesson addressed the most common issues found in their drafts, and this lesson, coupled with the feedback they received, was intended to guide them into re-envisioning and revising their papers.
Preparation in advance and required equipment:
In preparation for this lesson, I asked the students to bring the printed copy of their papers, which contained written feedback from me, and I instructed them to read through that feedback and write notes if they had questions about what I wrote. As for equipment, I sent an announcement the day before class to remind my students to bring their laptops, so they could work on a new document for the in-class activity, which consisted of reverse outlining their papers. Announcements were sent via Canvas to remind students to bring their laptops and their graded draft with feedback.
Placement within the course schedule:
This lesson plan was placed in the course calendar a few days after students received their First Full Drafts with feedback from me and two (2) weeks before the Final Drafts were due. Thus, I would have given all students the feedback and the grade for their first drafts of the Research Argument Paper; they would have had time to read the feedback and reflect on it before this lesson plan was brought to them in class.
After grading all drafted essays from my students, I noticed that most students had issues related to organization (content flow) and quote integration, and some students had not followed any MLA-8 rules. Although I had given previous lessons that covered each of those aspects of composing an argumentative essay, I felt the students needed a refresher lesson right before they started to re-envision their papers for final submission.
Evaluation process:
The reverse outline that each student started working on, while they were in class, was assigned as homework due by the next class meeting. Students were required to upload a Word Doc with their reverse outlines on Canvas.
Their reverse outlines were assessed as part of boosting their grades on the final submission of their papers.
I was able to compare the reverse outline with the re-envisioned version of their papers and notice improvements in content flow and organization, as well as the incorporation of quotes.
Grading assessment:
The ability to compare the two documents assisted me in grading their works by saving me a lot of time in figuring out what they had improved based on their reverse outlines.
Ultimately, I also compared the first full draft with the final paper by combining the Word docs and looking at all the changes implemented.
The final grading assessment of their works were strongly based on the level of improvement from draft to final version.
Sample Multimodal Prompt
M.A.W.R.M. Components: Rhetorical Situation and Descriptive Components
Rhetorical Situation:
Exigency
I created and used this multimodal prompt as a Grad Teacher of Record for the English Composition and Rhetorical Theory course, which I taught for two semesters while pursuing my M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Media program.
Also, this prompt was uploaded into the course platform (Canvas) and shared with all students for their further reference. Thus, they were able to watch, pause and rewatch at their own pace, if needed, anytime during the assignment period.
This multimodal prompt was further used as an example for another assignment wherein my students would create an explainer video about themselves by using the same tool I used.
Audience
My primary audience was Clemson University’s First Year Composition students in my Composition and Rhetoric courses (ENGL1030).
My secondary audience consisted of any of the M.A. students in my cohort since I shared this multimodal prompt in my Composition Practicum course.
Constraints
The constraint in creating this multimodal prompt resided in the fact that I was experimenting with this type of delivery for an assignment’s set of guidelines. I had no models to follow so I was concerned that my students would not receive it well and, consequently, the prompt would fail to fulfill its purpose.
Descriptive Components:
Design and Invention Processes
This assignment prompt was created with Adobe Spark Video, which is one of the best digital tools for creating an explainer video. The content of the prompt is paired with images and a calming soundtrack to convey the information in a well paced manner.
The slides containing questions are left without a companion image to focus the attention of the students in the questions and there is plenty of time in each slide for students to take note.
Reflection
I consider this prompt very effective because my students responded well to it. They engaged with this multimodal prompt more readily than with any other “black and white” digital set of instructions I had given to them previously. This multimodal prompt was uploaded into the course platform (Canvas) so that students could refer to it as often as needed. The feedback I received from them was that it was fun to watch this prompt, and it was easier to remember the information due to the visual content in it. Also, they enjoyed being able to pause and rewatch at their own pace, if needed, anytime during the assignment period.
Besides providing guidelines on the Annotated Bibliography, this multimodal prompt was further used as a model for another assignment in my course—the About Me video assignment—wherein my students were asked to create an explainer video about themselves. They were required to use Adobe Spark Video just like I did.
Demonstrated M.A.W.R.M. Competencies
- The ability to apply visual communication theories to multimodal design practices
- Sufficient knowledge of scholarship and research or design methods to apply them critically
- The ability to apply classical and modern rhetorical theory to contemporary professional communication practices
- Demonstrable technological and media production literacies
- Outstanding writing and editing skills
Apps/Tools
- Adobe Spark Video