Instructor: Kate Reed
Office Location: 102 English Annex, corner of Astor & Sharp Office Hours: Monday 10-11:50; Wednesday 10-11:45 in the Writing Center; by appointment/Office Phone: 313.6712 Email: [email protected] (allow 2-3 days for a response) After growing up in Spokane, WA, I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from University of Colorado at Denver and a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Creative Writing, Fiction from Eastern Washington University. Over the last six years, I have taught English Composition courses at Eastern Washington University, Gonzaga, North Idaho College, and Spokane Community College. In addition to teaching composition, I have also had the opportunity to teach English Literature and Creative Writing at the high school level and tutor both individually and through the Writing Center at Gonzaga. |
Nerdy English Things
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My Teaching Philosophy*
Let's face it: virtually everything you would ever want to know about beginning English composition is in a book or on the internet. But still, we have a higher education system. Not only online colleges, but face-to-face, get to class on time, listen to long lectures, turn your homework in, get a grade, colleges and universities. Why? I believe going to college, and more specifically a Liberal Arts institution, is one of the most beneficial things you can do to get you ready for a career. A Liberal Arts education is all about educating the whole person because we believe that will not only make your work life more exciting and fulfilling, but your life outside of work, too. Students at Liberal Arts colleges are surrounded by staff and faculty who want you to acquire the skills to improve your life and are experienced in facilitating that skill-acquisition process. That is a rare opportunity. For more, check out Gonzaga's Mission Statement. My role in that whole-person education is teaching English.
I believe that in teaching composition, we are not merely teaching how to record ideas, but also how to invent ideas. The process of struggling to find something worth writing about, researching it, and discussing it with experts and peers, helps us form our opinions and then push them to undiscovered (at least to us) places. I believe that my place in the class room is not "pouring" my knowledge into students' heads, but serving as a guide to the aforementioned process. My experience is that students learn best when they approach and digest materials on their own then bring them to class for further exploration. Whether figuring out the meaning of a difficult text, brainstorming ideas, analyzing an author's argument or creating one's own, I follow this process in my classroom.
It is also appropriate to state that I have high expectations for the students in my class. I expect them to be engaged in their own worlds and to bring that engagement to class. It is only with this engagement that students can fully reap the benefits of class that stresses exploration.
*This is my less academic teaching philosophy. It is more along the lines of something I might tell you if we were sitting down and having a cup of coffee.
I believe that in teaching composition, we are not merely teaching how to record ideas, but also how to invent ideas. The process of struggling to find something worth writing about, researching it, and discussing it with experts and peers, helps us form our opinions and then push them to undiscovered (at least to us) places. I believe that my place in the class room is not "pouring" my knowledge into students' heads, but serving as a guide to the aforementioned process. My experience is that students learn best when they approach and digest materials on their own then bring them to class for further exploration. Whether figuring out the meaning of a difficult text, brainstorming ideas, analyzing an author's argument or creating one's own, I follow this process in my classroom.
It is also appropriate to state that I have high expectations for the students in my class. I expect them to be engaged in their own worlds and to bring that engagement to class. It is only with this engagement that students can fully reap the benefits of class that stresses exploration.
*This is my less academic teaching philosophy. It is more along the lines of something I might tell you if we were sitting down and having a cup of coffee.