About Me

I'm a University of South Alabama undergraduate pursuing degrees in English and Education, in hopes of teaching secondary language arts. My limited classroom experience to date includes tutoring in an elementary special education classroom, substitute teaching, and field work as required in the course of my studies. My diverse professional experience includes feature and beat writing for newspapers and magazines, graphic/web design, managing publication production teams and overseeing artistic standards, and providing paralegal support for an international law firm.

My guiding principles

Three tenets comprise my teaching philosophy: clearly defined, rigorous standards; historically and individually relevant curriculum; and fair practice.

Standards
Effective teachers challenge students. I therefore hold students to rigorous standards of effort and responsibility. I will provide and consistently enforce clear guidelines regarding behavior and classroom policies. I will give students ample forewarning of assessments, as well as appropriate instruction and guidance when preparing for assessments. Students are entitled to accurate syllabi, objective grading, and clear explanation of assignment requirements and standards. However, consistent practice does not preclude responsive teaching; presuming adherence to high standards of work ethic, students are also entitled to discretion and flexibility in lessons according to individual and class needs.

Curriculum
Students must develop a literary foundation before becoming better readers and writers; this foundation may not be strictly canonical, but my curriculum recognizes that certain works and authors are historically, critically and unarguably influential. One cannot argue against "the canon" without fairly examining it. Certain texts serve as cultural touchstones by virtue of their historical "importance" as much as their subjective quality. Still, I will incorporate more modern works, as well as those representative of different cultures and language. "Great," "classic," or "important" literature is not necessarily historically important, or relevant only to English-speaking culture. Informed reading and discussion of all literature simply benefits from critically reading and understanding canonical works within historical and cultural context.

Fairness
I cherish humanism and cultural pluralism. In my classroom, students may safely their express ideas and values, and may not shame or suppress the ideas and values of their fellow students. Secondary students should be treated as individuals, with valuable unique perspectives; as intellectual equals, to foster confidence and support high academic expectations; and as adults, so long as mutual respect and appropriate behavior are not compromised. When appropriate and feasible, I will accommodate different, non-traditional learning styles and exceptionalities. As I hold high expectations of students' learning efforts, I expect to be held to high expectations regarding my own professional practice and development; I will continually strive to better develop my curricular knowledge and teaching skills.