Teaching Philosophy
How do I begin to define a teaching philosophy that currently exists within a moment of transition? Writing a teaching philosophy is a curious and tricky rhetorical act for any early career scholar, but especially one who is only starting to teach in her field like I am. Rather than describing my teaching philosophy for the field of digital rhetoric and professional writing (PW), I feel like telling you who I am as a teacher and how I arrived at this transition.
I have the sheer luck of learning how to teach from my two mentors at CSUSB: Jackie Rhodes and Mary Boland. Together, they taught me the fundamentals of embodying a critical, queer pedagogy. The foundation of this pedagogy requires that I establish a space that allows all classroom participants to build a genuine and specific community of writers and thinkers. This means that I cannot think of a curriculum without first considering the institutional contexts in relation to the students who will help me create that community—a process beginning on the first day of class. My courses will always start by my asking students to question how they see themselves as individuals, as writers, as readers, and as professional researchers. By honoring our individuality and collectivity, I try to establish a space where composing grants the possibilities of agency, encourages the deliberate use of voice and identity, and inspires an appreciation for intellectual curiosity.
Since I have begun my doctoral program at MSU, I realize that our professional writing curriculum teaches students how to write into their professions. I approach our PW curriculum through my experience with analyzing different discourse communities. My students could study the professional discourse communities to which they belong, and analyze them based on the James Paul Gee’s discursive categories: words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, social identities, gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes. As a class, we would work together to best apply these rhetorical analyses toward creating textual artifacts for specific communities affiliated with our academic institution.
The PW curriculum here at MSU asks that students design websites, infographics, pamphlets and brochures, promotional videos, and presentation materials for organizations communally connected with our university. For instance, this year’s PW 202 students composed all of these textual documents for a health organization that provides medical insurance for students of migrant families. I watched how they formally delivered these documents to representatives from the organization. Each student approached their role in the composition of these documents as professional writers collaborating with the purpose of making living documents that help shape the larger East Lansing community. In seeing this formal delivery as a guest, I felt great pride and inspiration for the work the PW students are capable of doing.
While I have yet to teach professional writing classes due to being on fellowship this first year of my program, I am dedicated to learning everything I can about our professional writing curriculum. When the time comes, I hope that our students will find in me someone who believes in being a student of our university and someone who will participate with them as part of our academic community. I want to teach them that writing and thinking are ways of living; but, most of all, that living in this world means making things that give others meaning. It is only with time and experience that I will determine what this kind of teaching philosophy can become.
I have the sheer luck of learning how to teach from my two mentors at CSUSB: Jackie Rhodes and Mary Boland. Together, they taught me the fundamentals of embodying a critical, queer pedagogy. The foundation of this pedagogy requires that I establish a space that allows all classroom participants to build a genuine and specific community of writers and thinkers. This means that I cannot think of a curriculum without first considering the institutional contexts in relation to the students who will help me create that community—a process beginning on the first day of class. My courses will always start by my asking students to question how they see themselves as individuals, as writers, as readers, and as professional researchers. By honoring our individuality and collectivity, I try to establish a space where composing grants the possibilities of agency, encourages the deliberate use of voice and identity, and inspires an appreciation for intellectual curiosity.
Since I have begun my doctoral program at MSU, I realize that our professional writing curriculum teaches students how to write into their professions. I approach our PW curriculum through my experience with analyzing different discourse communities. My students could study the professional discourse communities to which they belong, and analyze them based on the James Paul Gee’s discursive categories: words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, social identities, gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes. As a class, we would work together to best apply these rhetorical analyses toward creating textual artifacts for specific communities affiliated with our academic institution.
The PW curriculum here at MSU asks that students design websites, infographics, pamphlets and brochures, promotional videos, and presentation materials for organizations communally connected with our university. For instance, this year’s PW 202 students composed all of these textual documents for a health organization that provides medical insurance for students of migrant families. I watched how they formally delivered these documents to representatives from the organization. Each student approached their role in the composition of these documents as professional writers collaborating with the purpose of making living documents that help shape the larger East Lansing community. In seeing this formal delivery as a guest, I felt great pride and inspiration for the work the PW students are capable of doing.
While I have yet to teach professional writing classes due to being on fellowship this first year of my program, I am dedicated to learning everything I can about our professional writing curriculum. When the time comes, I hope that our students will find in me someone who believes in being a student of our university and someone who will participate with them as part of our academic community. I want to teach them that writing and thinking are ways of living; but, most of all, that living in this world means making things that give others meaning. It is only with time and experience that I will determine what this kind of teaching philosophy can become.