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I believe one of the most important qualities a teacher can posses is being a leader. To me, a leader is not an all-powerful, dictating force. A leader is someone who works alongside those she is leading, serving as a listener, motivator, and challenger. The leader sets the environment and atmosphere of the classroom, and I feel that it should be one that invites thoughtful comments, creativity, and constructive criticism. As a teacher, it is both my job and duty to lead my students in a way that encourages them to step out of their comfort zones. On this page, I have included my teaching philosophy, my role as a program assistant for Auburn's ePortfolio Project, and my work as a writing center tutor. I believe that these artifacts exemplify diverse aspects of my leadership skills, including my ability to facilitate presentations, create helpful materials for students, lead workshops, and collaborate with those around me. My teaching philosophy is centered on my passion to build not only better readers and writers, but also better students that will continue to grow beyond their time with me. I believe that leaders are willing to take on whatever role is necessary of them in order to best benefit the greater structure, and I hope to model this understanding for my students.
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I believe one of the most important qualities a teacher can posses is being a leader. To me, a leader is not an all-powerful, dictating force. A leader is someone who works alongside those she is leading, serving as a listener, motivator, and challenger. The leader sets the environment and atmosphere of the classroom, and I feel that it should be one that invites thoughtful comments, creativity, and constructive criticism. As a teacher, it is both my job and duty to lead my students in a way that encourages them to step out of their comfort zones. On this page, I have included my teaching philosophy, my role as a program assistant for Auburn's ePortfolio Project, and my work as a writing center tutor. I believe that these artifacts exemplify diverse aspects of my leadership skills, including my ability to facilitate presentations, create helpful materials for students, lead workshops, and collaborate with those around me. My teaching philosophy is centered on my passion to build not only better readers and writers, but also better students that will continue to grow beyond their time with me. I believe that leaders are willing to take on whatever role is necessary of them in order to best benefit the greater structure, and I hope to model this understanding for my students.
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As a teacher, I believe it is incredibly important to also be a learner. I never want my students to be afraid to speak up in class because they are afraid of being wrong. I feel like teachers too often come across as all-knowing beings, and I want my students to know that we are learning together. To me, being a learner shows that I am here to serve my students, while also being their leader and mentor. I believe that to teach means to serve, always placing the needs of students before my own. There is so much to learn from them, and I have the opportunity to grow alongside them as their teacher. Choosing documents for this page proved to be much more difficult than I anticipated, and I found myself looking at multiple different assignments, lesson plans, and papers, trying to pick my most impressive creations. In the end, however, I decided it was more important to show a variety of my work, demonstrating the various things I've learned as a student. So, I have six documents here, all of which I believe showcase my strengths and versatility. From a traditional lesson plan to a creative writing piece, I hope you enjoy thumbing through them and learn a little bit more about me!
From Enduring to Enjoying
Throughout my years as an undergraduate and graduate student, my appreciation for William Shakespeare has both enhanced and deepened, as I have had to opportunity to read various works, take early modern courses, and deeply study the language and culture from the time. Despite this increased admiration, however, I realized that I lacked knowledge in one incredibly important aspect of my future: how to teach Shakespeare to teenagers. Even though I have experience growth in my personal knowledge, I have not received any direct education on how to instruct and lead my future students through Shakespeare’s plays. It has taken me three to four years to become truly comfortable with the language and construction of his works, and I am expected to produce that same knowledge in just three to four weeks as a high school English teacher. Throughout this essay, I explore various ways to move teachers beyond just translators of Shakespeare, ending with a unit on The Taming of the Shrew that puts my research into practice. As I reflect upon my time in graduate school, this research project stands out as being one of the most impactful and helpful for me as I move forward in my career. Even though I have ample practice in creating lesson plans and activities, the opportunity to research best practices for teaching canonical texts will be incredibly beneficial.
Using YAL to Enhance Curriculum
As a high school student, I always struggled with the books we read in my English classes. I found them boring, difficult to understand, and I found no way to relate them to my teenage life. After spending a semester in my teaching internship with high school seniors, my eyes were further opened to the lack of both enjoyment and motivation that students have for the texts that they are assigned. I overheard many students make comments such as, “I can’t relate to this,” or “The language is too hard; I can’t understand it,” or “I didn’t even read the book, but the movie was super boring.” Both my personal experiences as a student, as well as my time teaching, led to an increased interest in the role that young adult literature (YAL) could play in my classroom. Despite the newness of the genre, YAL is captivating the attention of teachers, administrators, and researchers, though controversy remains surrounding its place in the secondary curriculum. My research revealed that it is not a question of which types of texts are better than others, but instead how the two can work together to create a better curriculum – a curriculum that is both diverse and culturally responsive to our students’ needs. This research was incredibly encouraging to me, revealing that I have the unique opportunity to pair canonical texts with YAL in order to assist student learning, enjoyment, and understanding of literature.
Mind, Body, and Shakespeare
As English majors enter their final semester at Auburn University, we are required to take a research writing class titled "Capstone." This class is a seminar course, working to develop our research abilities and techniques, as well as prepare us for graduate school. My research combines the unlikely pair of Prince Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet and Peach Friedman, author of her personal memoir Diary of an Exercise Addict. In the beginning stages of writing this paper, I was overwhelmed to say the very least. I had never created anything of this magnitude, and I definitely did not trust myself to complete it or do it well. Looking back, the biggest thing I gained from this assignment was an understanding of the importance of organization (something I thought I already had at the time). I had to learn to pace myself, set clear and reasonable timelines, stay on top of my work, and believe in myself. The last one is cheesy, I know, but I quickly learned I wasn’t going to get anything done if I kept looking down on my own abilities. Beyond enhancing my work ethic, however, this paper was also incredibly helpful to me as a teacher. When I teach, I am constantly working to show my students how and why the texts we read are relevant to them (especially Shakespeare). By writing about Hamlet and Diary of an Exercise Addict, I was able to do just that: relate the early modern text with one from my lifetime.
The Tale of Savitri and Satyavant
and the Deathly Hallows
Disclaimer: I am a huge Harry Potter nerd; continue reading at your own risk. During my final semester of classes in undergrad, I was given an assignment that required either writing a traditional essay or transforming the original assignment into a new, creative one to complete. So, naturally, I decided to re-write the Indian myth titled "Savitri and Satyavant" by combining it with the "Tale of the Deathly Hallows" from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I took these two very different stories and attempted to morph them into a one new, unique product. Even though this was slightly out of my comfort zone as a writer, I enjoyed the challenge of combining the language, tone, and overall plot of the two stories. If I had to choose a valuable lesson from this process, it would be the importance of thinking outside the box, both as a teacher and a student. I feel like too often we, as teachers, recreate the same types of assignments we were given as students, instead of thinking creatively and taking risks. Even though not all things can be changed, it is our job to invent new ways of learning that demonstrate higher levels of thinking and encourage our students to engage in different types of assignments. I believe that this assignment showcases my creativity as a writer, as well as my ability to create unique assignments for my students. The link above includes my final product, the re-written assignment, and a more extensive reflection.
The Great Gatsby
When I did my pre-teaching, the teacher I was working with had just finished her unit on The Great Gatsby a few weeks before. I remember her telling me how much she loved teaching the novel, and it sparked an interest in me to teach it one day, especially because I greatly enjoyed the age group. During my junior year of undergrad, I was given the opportunity to create a lesson plan that includes activities for each chapter of the novel, a five-day lesson plan, a summative assessment, and more. One of my favorite aspects of this unit is the creative summative assessment. After finishing the novel, I do not feel that testing students with a traditional multiple choice test is the most effective technique. At this point, we will have discussed the plot and themes in great detail, so I feel that creating a modern adaptation of a scene will best demonstrate their knowledge of the text, while also engaging in a fun, creative activity. As a teacher, I try to incorporate as many creative projects as I can into my instruction because I feel that they are incredibly effective in testing student knowledge in a way that they enjoy. Even though I love The Great Gatsby, I know that not all of my students will appreciate it to the extent that I do. With that in mind, I created this lesson plan with hopes that it will demonstrate the text's relevance in their lives today, resulting in their genuine enjoyment and interest in it.
Not Everyone Wants to be White
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Cofer
During the Spring semester of my junior year, I was able to take an African American Literature class. Over the course of the semester, we discussed both current issues of racism in America, along with exploring various slave narratives and texts. I can honestly say that this was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I've had at Auburn, as it has forced me to ask the tough questions that are so often avoided in today’s society. It challenged me to consider how I move throughout the world, considering people other than myself. It also showed me that as a white female, there is a lot I will never have to endure, simply because of my race and gender, reminding me that we are all unique human beings that cannot and should not be categorized. My time in Zambia further enhanced my opinion on this topic, as I experienced first-hand what it is like to be part of the minority race of an area (but you can read more about that under the Listen tab). Because of all of these things, I wrote my final paper on the evolution of white supremacy in America, focusing specifically on the impact it had on individuals. I believe this paper showcases my ability to address controversial issues with sensitivity, as well as an understanding of the diversity that surrounds us in this world.