Teaching Materials
Dream Course Description
ENGL 203: The Fanfic Was Better: Literature, Adaptation, and Transformative Works
Have you ever argued with a friend over whether the book was better than the movie? Have you ever read a fanfic that you felt completely surpassed its source material? As long as stories have been told, these same stories have been adapted and transformed, told in new genres and exposed to new audiences. In this class, we will examine the ways in which both classic and modern works have been adapted and retold, as well the difference, if any, between adaptation and transformation. Read More.
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In-Class Activity: RuPaul's Drag Race and Revision
This activity was done during Unit 4 of ENGL 101, which focuses on revision. By integrating popular culture into my teaching of this unit, I hoped to make the lesson understandable and engaging for students. I also hoped to emphasize the transfer of skills that would be possible after the completion of ENGL 101, and show students ways of thinking about revision that could expand beyond academic writing and drive home the concept of “re-seeing” a work. Read More.
In-Class Activity: Brian David Gilbert’s Video Cover Letter and Thesis Statements
This activity was born from the realization that my students were struggling to create clear, argument-driven thesis that could fuel their writing projects. The video is fun, engaging, and deals with popular culture, making it engaging for students and more relevant to their lives. It’s also a cover letter, which gives it a clear purpose that students can easily identify. By using this video and having students discuss thesis statements in the full class, my goal is to foster a sense of comradery and allow students to lean on each other as they navigate forming a strong, argument-driven thesis. Read More.
In-Class Activity: Affect-Centered Peer Review
Adapted from my research project on an issue in teaching composition (included below), this peer review assignment was given during Unit 3 of ENGL 101, which focused on creating multimodal texts. My goal in doing peer review in this way was to free students from needing to feel like experts and allow them to explore their reaction to their peers’ texts as purely an audience member instead of a critic. I believe this makes peer review feel more productive to students and allows students to give feedback that is both more honest and less likely to stifle their own or their peers’ expression. Read More.
Research Project: Affect Theory in the Composition Classroom
As instructors, we don’t often pay much attention to the way students feel about writing. Yes, we want them to enjoy our class and feel fulfilled by our wisdom, but in the classroom, writing is often viewed similarly to eating vegetables: it is something done for betterment rather than enjoyment. In the past, students’ negative affect towards writing has been, if not ignored, then certainly left unaddressed. However, some scholars argue that this affect, and indeed the entire embodied experience of students in the classroom, should be given more consideration in composition curriculum. In doing so, they hope to create a classroom environment that addresses the anxiety students feel around schoolwork and helps foster a more positive physical and emotional relationship with the act of writing. Read More.
