I have a Doctoral degree in English and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. I enjoy advising, mentoring, and teaching students. I am in based in the Atlanta area and would welcome the opportunity to work closely with Humanities and Social Science students of any level. I have extensive experience working with students from a diverse array of backgrounds and preparation levels, and have been actively involved in developing programming and curriculum to support student achievement. My credentials and experience directly pertain to tutoring the subjects of English, Writing, and Rhetoric, Literature, and Philosophy; however, my expertise is interdisciplinary and as a result, I could tutor in Humanities, Spanish and Elementary French, Social Sciences as well as the Verbal and Argumentative Reasoning sections of the standardized tests. I also specialize in helping students to revise college admissions essays and the statement of purpose for admission to graduate school.
Since the Autumn of 2001, at four types of institutions, I have taught students who reflected diversity in race, class, sex, gender, age, ability, language of origin, and citizenship. Their proficiencies have ranged from “pre-college” to “pre-professional” or “pre-graduate studies.” In addition to Literature and Critical Theory, I taught developmental English and College organization and study skills to a group of at-risk students who would not otherwise have been allowed to attend. These students had high GPAs but low standardized test scores, which indicated to that they had studied at below-average high schools. Most were of an ethnic minority, poor, and many were first-generation college students who would garner scholarships if they succeeded in my course. During the two years that I taught in that program, all of them succeeded—most earning an “A.”
Another of those institutions was recently voted the sixth best community college in the nation and has now become a degree-granting body for certain four-year degrees. Another institution, has recently also begun to offer a few four-year degrees; there I worked on the curriculum sub-committee to help design a future bachelor of fine arts in creative writing, was Social Media Editor for an international literary magazine, and taught Composition, Creative Writing, World Literature. I have also taught developmental English at an institution where the majority of the students speak Spanish and many speak it as a first language; I am near fluent in conversational Spanish and have written short stories in the language.
In courses that I teach, I try to confer one-on-one with each student for at least ninety minutes both inside and outside of class; commonly some students confer for three hours in multiple sessions. During my writing courses, we emphasize regular paper conferences and multi-draft revision processes through digital change tracking. This central tenet of my pedagogy ensures quality in the revision process, creates rapport, produces a continuing dialogue, and builds confidence in students’ own abilities to write well. During student conferences, we also discuss any difficult readings from common texts or from their fields. I enjoy entering the discussion but always with a feeling of contingency, excitement, anticipation, and enthusiastic curiosity.
As Linda Brodkey observes, students often recognize that although instructors are not peers, they are democratic equals. Such an environment fosters not only a safe place where students feel that they can learn, but also a precedent that mandates that they question while they recognize that they have a guide. Many students want to attend sessions in that environment. These precepts also help to create a feeling of belonging for students. Moreover, I believe that, students can be made to feel that they can have a place in their own learning which will prepare them to succeed in college, graduate school, the public or non-profit sectors, or the professions. Such awareness itself builds confidence. Ultimately, what we accomplish with students has less to do with our ability as tutors, and more to do with students’ personal quests and drive. I can think of no better or more apt duty, its honor, and its benefits, than in helping to further students’ education because I am convinced that with their drive and critical scholarship, they will contribute to those endeavors for which we educate citizens in the first place.
My pedagogy centers around multi-media and academic technology. Both the portfolio method and the introduction of multi-media presentations help students to read analytically and to write professionally, and proves a valuable archive for the student of their own reflections and achievement. I support an environment that prizes revision and emphasizes the critical reading skills that students need to examine our interpolation by competing ideologies in order to foster active citizenship. I am well-versed in the pedagogy known today as Writing Across the Curriculum for teaching Developmental Writing, and Composition to students in the arts, the humanities, the sciences, the information and communication sciences, and the professions. I have taught writing courses of no fewer than 6,000 graded words in surveys of literature and rhetoric.
I would be happy to provide, upon request, copies of my curriculum vitae with references and transcripts as well as additional information regarding my teaching, mentoring, and research experience. I look forward to an opportunity to speak with you about my qualifications and the contributions that I would be able to make.
back to top