Teaching

Teaching Philosophy

I started teaching college-level writing classes in 2009 as an M.A. student. I value a writing pedagogy that is meaningful for students—that challenges them intellectually while accommodating their learning needs and interests. Whether I am teaching first-year writing or a professional writing class like document design or technical writing, I try to enact this in three ways: situating writing within meaningful contexts, encouraging students to be ethical producers of texts, and creating an accessible pedagogical space.

 

Course Materials

Accessibility is important to me both as an instructor and as a scholar. I’m sharing course materials for some of the courses that I teach frequently and/or have spent time developing and tweaking the curriculum. For each course, I’ve included a brief course description and a PDF of the syllabus. In many cases, you can also access PDFs of the major assignments. These aren’t all the classes I’ve taught—just a selection.

Ball State University (2019–present)

ENG 231: Introduction to Professional Writing

  • Syllabus: Fall 2021 (face-to-face), Spring 2024 (online, asynchronous)
  • ENG 231 serves as an introduction to the Professional Writing major, familiarizing students with the genres, technologies, and practices of professional writing in everyday and workplace contexts.

ENG 329: Editing & Style

  • Syllabus: Spring 2022, Fall 2023
  • Assignments (from various semesters): Ethics Essay, Style Guide Design
  • ENG 329 teaches approaches to editing, style, and writing conventions; intensive practice in editing, collaborative writing, and critique appropriate for students in professional writing or other writing-intensive majors or careers.

ENG 430: Document Design & Visual Rhetoric

  • Syllabus: Fall 2023
  • Assignments (from various semesters): Visual Identity Package, Print & Digital Zine
  • In ENG 430, we discuss theories of accessible and usable document design and visual rhetoric. Students use professional design software to compose documents for different contexts and audiences in order to better understand the rhetorical, technical, and ethical dimensions of designing texts.

ENG 431: Writing in Digital Environments

  • Syllabus: Spring 2023
  • Assignments: Accessibility Audit, Mobile App Design
  • ENG 431 is the capstone to the Professional Writing major and minor. Students explore rhetorical theory and practice in networked environments; analyze the infrastructures of online writing (including usability and accessibility issues, content delivery, and information architecture); develop accessibility guidelines for digital texts; and produce public, professional content in and for digital environments that is both ethical and accessible.

ENG 690: Rhetorics of the Body

  • Syllabus: Spring 2022
  • Assignment: Multimodal Definition of Rhetoric
  • In this section of ENG 690, we focused on the ways bodies have been rhetorically constructed and how different theories of embodiment inform our understandings of contemporary rhetorical meaning making. We started with disability rhetoric as a grounding framework, transitioned to current discussions within embodied rhetorics, scholarship from BIPOC scholars about their experiences navigating higher education, and ended with scholarship about multimodality and mediated bodies.

University of Central Arkansas (2015-19)

WRTG 1320: Academic Writing & Research

  • Syllabus: Fall 2017
  • WRTG 1320 is a required second-year composition course that introduces students to academic argument based on substantiating, evaluating, and proposing claims. For three years, I taught this course with a disability theme.

WRTG 1374: First-Year Seminar

  • Syllabus: Spring 2018
  • Assignments (from various semesters): Social Media Profile, Meme Critique, Emoji Analysis
  • WRTG 1374 is a first-year seminar focused on diversity in creative works. I drafted and submitted the course proposal for this class, which was approved as part of the WRTG curriculum. I designed the course around the theme “emojis, memes, & digital media.”

WRTG 3305: Writing as Information Design I

  • Syllabus: Fall 2017
  • Assignments (from various semesters): Audio Transcription, Résumé Remix, Infographic
  • WRTG 3305 is a core upper-division course for writing majors designed to introduce students to the role of design in the composing process and gain some familiarity with design software.

WRTG 3306: Writing as Information Design II