Why I’m excited to teach here!

I recently was asked why I wanted to focus more of my teaching time on literacy.  This is an excerpt of my response:

Although our course catalog separates English from reading, I have always seen myself as a literacy instructor.  My master’s degree and professional studies focus on reading and writing across the curriculum.  I teach children’s literature and ESL strategies using integrated literacy activities.  My CRE101 students write college-level essays in APA format using elements from the rubrics from ENG101.  My ENG081 students write clear paragraphs after reading quality text written at an appropriately challenging Lexile level.  My greatest joy is seeing an ENG071 or RDG071 student master college-level material in CRE101.  My ESL students tell me that the active learning strategies we use in our classes help them acquire vocabulary and feel successful.

I have become a better teacher at Glendale because of the rich resources we have within our department and across our campus.  I love the support of the CTLE as I revise and improve my face-to-face, hybrid, and online course offerings using Google tools and open educational resources.  I enjoy learning from others to provide meaningful activities such as the ESL peer tutoring experiences with Betsey Wheeler and Larissa Hill.

I currently have a terrific teaching assignment as a reading, education, and English instructor; however, I find that I want to do more in literacy.  My goal in becoming a full-time member of our department is to be able to say yes to opportunities to create new learning communities that integrate reading and writing.  I’m excited about the possibility of accelerated models and creative scheduling to help all of our students attain their academic goals more quickly.

 

3 thoughts on “Why I’m excited to teach here!”

  1. Lori, you and I are doing some similar things in our respective departments. I’m also working on curriculum changes to help math students get through their dev. ed. courses more quickly.

     
  2. That’s what access to education is all about, right, not just unlocking the door to the room but handing over that mental machete to a kid that has never navigated this forest before, fostering that drive to get somewhere new and learn along the way, and showing others how to swing their way through the challenging and rewarding academic jungle all the while making something new and wonderful for us all – a unique path built from diverse perspectives. I’m inspired to be working with you, Lori.

     

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