In addition to college-level writing, I have a range of other teaching experiences in the university and the community. One major aspect of my work as a teacher has been engaging my peers and colleagues about teaching and professional development through workshops and other professional development programming. I have done this work since graduate school, during which time I helped to run the PLAN Professional Development program out of the School for Interdisciplinary and Graduate Studies. At Santa Clara University, I have built on this experience in my position as Faculty Associate for the Faculty Development program and co-designer and facilitator of a pilot program for Inclusive Teaching.
I have held a number of other teaching positions within universities as well, which have helped me to understand the range of writing and teaching across campus and beyond. For example, in Pittsburgh, I worked as a writing center consultant at the Student Athlete Academic Support Services, where I was trained to work one-on-one and in small groups to help students develop their academic arguments in response to a variety of assignments across disciplines. Prior to that, I taught adult English language learners at the Loyola Community Literacy Center.
I also have experience in a range of community-based and K12 writing programs. Most recently, I have taught writing in the Collaborative Initiative for Visual Arts (CIVA) program. In this program, I used the principles from the Framework for Success in Post-secondary Writing document to guide high school students’ writing practice across a four-week summer course. In Louisville, I did similar work as a volunteer history instructor in the 2013 “Gentlemen’s Academy” for at-risk youth. Likewise, at University of Pittsburgh I taught in Young Writer’s Institute, a National Writing Project summer program for high school students. Prior to these community-based programs, I taught fourth grade for two years at Peabody Elementary School, a Title I school in Memphis, Tennessee, during which time I studied K-12 pedagogy and learning theory at the University of Memphis.
All in all, these diverse teaching experiences have provided me a broad understanding and appreciation of teaching and learning across contexts.