Experience Summary
I have been in the education field for over 10 years. During that time I have tutored the verbal portion of the SATS, taught study skills, and reading. I also was an environmental education teacher at the Schuylkill Center for the Environment and volunteered in wildlife rehabilitation. Since 2001, I have been an adjunct Professor of English at the Community College of Philadelphia, Harcum College, Montgomery County Community College, Delaware Valley Community College and DeVry University. In all my courses, I developed syllabi and lesson plans, prepared lectures, student activities, assignments and general course design in reading, writing, English Composition and Literature. I am also a writer and am in the MFA program at Rosemont College. In addition, I have taken many courses in writing, specifically short stories at Musehouse and other literary organizations. I served as a reader/reviewer for the Marguerite McGinn Fiction Award in 2012 and am currently editing a novel for a client.
Teaching Style
My philosophy of teaching is best articulated by the famous quote by Michelanglo --" I am still learning." I try to relate to my students that, although I may have a little more knowledge and experience, we are all, hopefully, continuously seeking knowledge about ourselves and the world. My role as a teacher is more one of a fellow journeyman than an 'expert.'
I believe that if you are passionate about what you teach and enthusiastic about the teaching process, students respond. I love the written word in all its manifestations --its beauty, its flexibility and its power to connect and communicate. I teach that writing is not an art reserved for the few but an intrinsic part of being human. We are story-tellers by nature, and if given the opportunity, safety, guidance and skills, anyone can write well.
Regarding my approach to teaching composition, I employ a thematic-based style as well as a rhetorical approach. My rationale for using this format is that I find it more effective in developing critical thinking and writing skills that are the most valuable (and transferable) assets a student can receive from a college education. As a result of this conviction, I encourage my students to think and write critically about their own experiences, both in my class and elsewhere, and not to write what they think they “should” or are “supposed to.” I also share my own experiences and perceptions (as appropriate) with students in an effort to create an atmosphere that promotes equality and freedom for intellectual discussion.
All of my courses have involved instruction in composition, literature, the development of course materials including syllabi, on-line resources, and visual media such as Powerpoint presentations, instructional videos and movies as well as the selection of texts. Additionally, I have created web sites for my courses and am proficient in Blackboard, Web Study, E-College and other inter-active online systems as pedagogic tools for supplementing in-class coursework and conducting hybrid courses.
As is probably the case with most educators, my pedagogical methods are ever-changing, metamorphosing with each new semester, each new assignment. They change to incorporate the events of world outside academia and adapt to meet the individual challenges of each student's particular needs and gifts. As a teacher of English, I believe in the process of writing and emphasize the wonderfully sloppy, fuzzy, and decidedly untidy stages of writing that need to take place before the final product can be presented. I believe in making mistakes and in telling the truth, even if it is only your own. I believe in asking questions, even when you know there are no answers. I believe that all teaching needs to do more than relay facts or models or methods. Teaching should transcend disciplines and cultures and strive to be relevant, in that it should speak on some level about what it means to be human. All disciplines have a past, a present and a future and I emphasize that knowledge is a living thing that requires students (maybe more than teachers) to keep it vital and fecund. I believe a teacher needs to be passionate - about their subject, their students and their world. Teaching should be optimistic, full of possibilities -- a shared journey that is taken by professor and student alike. For, as I tell my students, by the end of the semester, I have inevitably learned far more from them than I could ever teach.
My Hobbies
Writing - short stories, flash fiction, essays.
Reading - prefer fiction, short stories
Pilates/Gym
Animals