Sample Courses

I have taught a wide-range of undergraduate and graduate courses over the years. Here are examples of four different courses I’ve developed recently that reflect some of this range.

Stretch 101, “Introduction to Composition I and II” (Roosevelt)

Description: Stretch 101 is actually two linked courses, WRTG 101 and English 101-S, offered in consecutive semesters. The course targets students who were previously placed into “developmental writing” based on their ACT English scores.  The course shares identical learning outcomes with the tradition English 101 course, but students  in Stretch complete 150% of the work of those in traditional 101. Stretch students also participate in a range of additional events and programming–including special sessions in the writing center–designed to strengthen their sense of being part of a real academic community.

This course was developed as part of a major curriculum redesign effort, the details of which can be found here.

English 333, “Writing in Academic, Professional, and Public Contexts” (USM)

Description: English 333 is a hybrid course that aims to introduce students to more advanced reading and research tasks they are likely to encounter in their upper-division coursework, as well as genres of writing they will use in their professional and public lives beyond school. The course also seeks to introduce the multimedia composing and design skills they will require to be successful 21st century communicators.

English 333 is the result of a course redesign project funded by a grant from the National Center for Academic Transformation. Watch me teach the class.

English 468, “Epic Fail? Rhetoric and Writing in the Digital Age” (Roosevelt)

Description: English 468 is a graduate course I developed for the Graduate Credential in the Teaching of Writing program at Roosevelt. The course had two aims: to provide students with a basic history of rhetoric and composition studies, while exploring recent debates over the impact social media and digital communication are having on literacy, thinking, and learning more broadly.

English 487, “Internship in the Teaching of Composition” (Roosevelt)

Description: I developed English 487 to serve as a capstone experience for students enrolled in the Graduate Credential in the Teaching of Writing program. As such, it consisted of two major components: 1) students were assigned to full-time faculty in the program, whom they assisted in the teaching of their composition classes each week; and 2) a weekly practicum session, in which we met as a group to critically reflect on these weekly teaching experiences through the lens of a number of articles on composition theory and pedagogy. Over the course of the semester, students also completed several practicum projects designed to assist in their professional development.

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