What this is
This
blog has a new purpose. It will follow and report on my scholarly journey of
earning a PhD in English from Old Dominion University, focusing on two
areas:
- Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse Studies
- Technology and Media Studies
My summer vacation
This
summer I completed Dr. Sarah Appleton’s ENGL 775 English Pedagogy Seminar. The
material was interesting, some students became friends and colleagues, and—more
importantly—the course showed me a new way to look at my teaching. My career
had been focused on the art of communication rather than the study and analysis
of literature. Bringing that literary element of study to my classroom kicked everything
up a notch. For example, by having student writers view their work from aspects
other than their own, their audience, and their editor (as usual), they needed
to consider the challenge of embracing non-readers (those not interested in the
topic). Figuring out how to embrace “skimmers” increased the success of summer students
published in mainstream media from 20% (2 of 10) to over 50% (5 of 9).
The
fall class of twenty students in that writing course looks to produce more
published writers!
