Department of English, Auburn University
Pedagogy
My primary goal for my time at Auburn has been to learn how to teach Literature in the high school classroom while also better understanding the Literature that I would be responsible for knowing and teaching effectively. This meant that much of my research was focused either on clarifying ideas in Literature to be able to teach them or to actually begin that practice by creating teaching documents, such as speculative lesson plans. My teaching methods focus on integrating History and Composition within the Literature classroom to create an interdisciplinary experience for students.
Teaching Philosophy
Through my English education, I have continued to see the goal to communicate an idea effectively and concisely across disciplines. Therefore, through my experience at Auburn engaging with both Literature courses and Composition course, I have sought to combine the two disciplines to create an effective and concise teaching method for students to understand the importance of Composition and History in the English classroom. Despite the increase in information that this interdisciplinary method will bring, I will consistently remind students about the overall goal of understanding and engaging with Literature as a form of historical composition. I also want to encourage my students to view their education beyond the classroom as not just a collection of skills that help them pass my class, but as an opportunity to grow skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. My goal is to remove the stigma of English Composition as painful and unimportant and instead create an adaptive and integrated educational environment for students to see the relationship between Literature, History, and Composition and learn how to respond effectively and clearly in their own writing for both school and beyond.
A Pedagogy of Trench Warfare Poetry (ENGL 7050)
In Dr. Lesh's Studies in Composition course on graffiti and space/place theory, I was initially hesitant to explore spatial theory which was particularly intimidating since I had never engaged with it before. However, I was encouraged by the practicality of the course and the incorporation of pedagogy and practical application within the study of theory. I created both a theoretical framework on the application of spatial theory and Composition within WWI poetry as well as a practical lesson plan. My research for Dr. Lesh's course allowed me to continue to work with 20th century British Literature, as I had done for my bachelor's degree, while also applying a greater emphasis on Composition in the classroom. I wanted to find the intersection between Literature, Composition, and spatial theory and figure out how to teach that to high school students. It was a particularly daunting task, in which I think there is still work to be done. This lesson plan was created to supplement my theoretical study of spatial theory on WWI trench warfare poetry. Therefore, the lesson plan is prefaced with an introduction to what type of course I was anticipating during creation, and it is followed with an in-depth explanation of what the lesson plans mean practically in the classroom. I chose to include this in my portfolio to show how I have prepared to teach Literature in the future as well as how I have grown to adapt an interdisciplinary application of teaching Literature, History, and Composition in the same class.