Teaching
As an instructor my goals are to embolden students to become active participants in their development as composers and critical thinkers and to develop skills that enable them to explore and thrive in the vibrant, diverse world both in and beyond my classroom.
The invitation for students to become active participants in the development of their writing and their inner life as scholars requires that I draw students’ attention to the concrete material goals of their writing. In my online, graduate-level Grant Writing course, for example, students began composing from day one a full application for an actual grant that they could submit once the course was complete. This material objective guided my feedback to them throughout the process even as I drew attention to the practice of composing for such a goal and the ways that process may differ in various contexts. I am committed to cross-discipline engagement and prior to my recent appointment at Texas Tech University, taught for the University of Texas at El Paso's (UTEP) Religious Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, and Entering Student departments.
I am committed to anti-racist and non-violent pedagogy. I am in the process of re-evaluating what that means for me--especially as I wrestle with this piece from 2004 "Declarations of Whiteness: The non-performativity of anti-racism." Previously I had stated:
"I teach by example, performing a critical and empathetic interrogation of my own position, power, and practices within our culture while also evaluating cultural others’ ways of being in the world. To facilitate this, for example, I invited students in my freshman composition class at UTEP to begin the semester reading Ashanti Young’s (2010) “Mama’s Memories” along with a New York Times article from a first generation college student (Crucet, “Taking My Parents to College,” 2015) and Bartholomae’s (1986) “Inventing the University.” Class discussions around these readings lay the groundwork for students to think through their own position in the university’s institutional “culture” and how they can engage it successfully but also critically."
While I think this still holds generally, clearly my capacity as an instructor to speak my commitment to anti-racism into being is limited. Whether this commitment is effective can really only be judged, I suspect, by whether my students of color experience it in the classroom as actively resisting racist pedagogical logic and practice for them.
"I teach by example, performing a critical and empathetic interrogation of my own position, power, and practices within our culture while also evaluating cultural others’ ways of being in the world. To facilitate this, for example, I invited students in my freshman composition class at UTEP to begin the semester reading Ashanti Young’s (2010) “Mama’s Memories” along with a New York Times article from a first generation college student (Crucet, “Taking My Parents to College,” 2015) and Bartholomae’s (1986) “Inventing the University.” Class discussions around these readings lay the groundwork for students to think through their own position in the university’s institutional “culture” and how they can engage it successfully but also critically."
While I think this still holds generally, clearly my capacity as an instructor to speak my commitment to anti-racism into being is limited. Whether this commitment is effective can really only be judged, I suspect, by whether my students of color experience it in the classroom as actively resisting racist pedagogical logic and practice for them.
Non-violent pedagogy, as I attempt to practice it, seeks to limit if not eradicate the coercive dynamics of student-teacher relations. Of course, I have to comport myself somewhat differently depending on where students "are" as learners and as human beings. But increasingly, I have sought to make space for my students to show up in class in whatever way they need to that day. The only limit being of course the extent to which they "way of showing up" disrupts their colleagues' ability and desire to engage our topic or activity.
We understand that we are there to learn, to engage, to respect one another. Learning to do this even when we don't necessarily "feel like it" is certainly part of developing ourselves as professionals. But punitive disciplinarity, be it via my engagement with students in the classroom, or using policies or grades as modes of control, is something I seek to eliminate in my pedagogical toolkit.
While I have no illusions about our (both my and my students') "place" in the university as an institution, its means of organization, control, or discipline, I seek to make our learning goals for the day, the semester, and beyond the organizing objective of our interpersonal relations.
We understand that we are there to learn, to engage, to respect one another. Learning to do this even when we don't necessarily "feel like it" is certainly part of developing ourselves as professionals. But punitive disciplinarity, be it via my engagement with students in the classroom, or using policies or grades as modes of control, is something I seek to eliminate in my pedagogical toolkit.
While I have no illusions about our (both my and my students') "place" in the university as an institution, its means of organization, control, or discipline, I seek to make our learning goals for the day, the semester, and beyond the organizing objective of our interpersonal relations.
Courses Taught
Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
Assistant Professor
Department of English, Technical Communication and Rhetoric program, 2017-Present
Graduate
ENGL 5366: Teaching Technical and Professional Writing (online, 1 section)
ENGL 5389: Field Methods of Research (hybrid, 1 section)
ENGL 5381: Global Technical Communication (hybrid, 2 sections)
ENGL 5377: Special topics--Tactical Technical Communication (synchronous online, 1 section)
Special topics graduate course exploring Kimball's (2006, 2017) concept of "tactical technical communication," its implications for technical communicators and researchers of technical communication as a discipline and profession.
Undergraduate
ENGL 4367: Developing Instructional Materials (synchronous online, 1 section)
ENGL 2311: Introduction to Technical Writing (1 section)
ENGL 2312: Texts & Technologies that Connect the world (hybrid, 3 sections)
New course developed for TTU English’s Technical and Communication Rhetoric (TCR) program. Course invites students to develop cultural usability design skills. Challenges students to consider how culture impacts and is impacted by text and technology use. Course fulfills TTU multicultural requirement.
ENGL 3365: Professional Report Writing (6 sections, including 2 100% asynchronous online)
Guide students through the process of drafting, revising, and editing professional reports, from informal emails, to professional recommendation reports. Students are encouraged as writers to think “rhetorically” about the reporting they do, considering the goals and objectives of their reporting, the audience for their writing, audience expectations for writing, and so on. Throughout the course we consider the larger socio-cultural, political, and ethical concerns that confront us as we write reports in professional settings.
Assistant Professor
Department of English, Technical Communication and Rhetoric program, 2017-Present
Graduate
ENGL 5366: Teaching Technical and Professional Writing (online, 1 section)
ENGL 5389: Field Methods of Research (hybrid, 1 section)
ENGL 5381: Global Technical Communication (hybrid, 2 sections)
ENGL 5377: Special topics--Tactical Technical Communication (synchronous online, 1 section)
Special topics graduate course exploring Kimball's (2006, 2017) concept of "tactical technical communication," its implications for technical communicators and researchers of technical communication as a discipline and profession.
Undergraduate
ENGL 4367: Developing Instructional Materials (synchronous online, 1 section)
ENGL 2311: Introduction to Technical Writing (1 section)
ENGL 2312: Texts & Technologies that Connect the world (hybrid, 3 sections)
New course developed for TTU English’s Technical and Communication Rhetoric (TCR) program. Course invites students to develop cultural usability design skills. Challenges students to consider how culture impacts and is impacted by text and technology use. Course fulfills TTU multicultural requirement.
ENGL 3365: Professional Report Writing (6 sections, including 2 100% asynchronous online)
Guide students through the process of drafting, revising, and editing professional reports, from informal emails, to professional recommendation reports. Students are encouraged as writers to think “rhetorically” about the reporting they do, considering the goals and objectives of their reporting, the audience for their writing, audience expectations for writing, and so on. Throughout the course we consider the larger socio-cultural, political, and ethical concerns that confront us as we write reports in professional settings.