The above statement by Adrienne Rich is taken from the first article that we read in the courses I teach.  We begin always with this article because many students have seldom been asked to claim for themselves their education, and often they don’t know how or even realize that there is a difference.  At first, this can be a difficult notion for students to grasp.  Because they are faced with the responsibility of intellectual freedom, often for the first time, they want to be told what to do and lament, “But I don’t understand what you want!”  To this, I refer back to Rich’s article and that fundamental distinction between a mind being filled and one that is constructing and questioning, active and engaging.

        
This distinction between passive and active learning, described by constructivist theories and critical and feminist pedagogy combined with Dee Fink’s model for instructional design, are the foundations upon which my teaching philosophy has been built.  I believe very strongly that education can be transformational both to the individual and at the societal level, as envisioned by educators like Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Henry Giroux.  This transformation can be enacted only if students are the agents of their own learning.  As a result, I strive to create active, authentic learning opportunities in my classroom aligned with course learning outcomes and work to stay up to date with current theoretical and pedagogical models for teaching composition and literature.  The outcomes I seek to work with my students to accomplish are: to think and write critically in a variety of different modes appropriate to their rhetorical situation; to engage with their subject, audience, and culture; to be flexible, patient, and questioning writers and readers; to form respectful writing communities inside and outside the classroom; and to develop the skills necessary for successful academic scholarship, career, and engaged citizenship. 
              

While composition theorists will likely battle ad infinitum over process versus product, students must learn to develop both in order to write effectively.  My students develop engaged, reflective, and personalized writing processes metacognitively; when a new assignment is given, as a group we break it down it down into a series of thinking, writing, and research tasks appropriate to the product, purpose, and audience and work through these tasks both individually and collaboratively.  This forces students to start early and work longer on their writing, allowing them to practice time management and a variety of different composition skills, demonstrate “performance before competence,” receive more feedback from their peers and instructor, and spend time revising their thinking and writing strategically and reflectively, all leading to a better product. Assessment is continuous and varied, as well as authentic.  For instance, rather than taking reading quizzes, students complete journals and other informal learning activities, which often simulate “real life” writing tasks, ensuring careful reading but also giving students an opportunity to develop their ideas, opinions, and personal voice as a means for enacting a more equitable education for all.  Students have numerous opportunities throughout the semester to demonstrate their progress and eventual mastery of course objectives, through both formal and informal assessment, including traditional and multimodal essays, collaborative projects and class work, journals, diagnostics, discussions, informal daily assignments, learning activities, workshops and conferences, exams, research, mini-academic conferences, and reading response.   In my classroom, lecture is broken up with videos, PowerPoints, Prezis, discussion, freewrites, and collaborative learning.  Additionally, I give my students (structured) choice in nearly all assignments in order to encourage motivation, but I also structure those choices so as to facilitate development of critical thinking and writing skills.  I grade with rubrics and in stages, as a way to transmit clearly the objectives and expectations for the course while encouraging exploration, risk-taking, and dialogue.  Additionally, for major papers/projects the class often works together to identify and describe the criteria for an effective composition that will be used as the rubric for the evaluation of their work.  One goal that I am currently working toward in regard to my teaching is building in service learning components.  I incorporated a writing service project this semester that was extremely popular with my students, and I plan to attend upcoming workshops focusing on this topic in the future.    

          
Technology is an important tool in my teaching “toolbox” as it is an integral and enjoyable part of my students’ frame of reference as “digital natives” and will be part of their future occupational and educational careers.  Technological learning experiences also provide opportunities for constructing knowledge in new and various ways.  My course materials (and students’ grades) are available via the course management system and in a variety of media, such as podcasts, discussion boards, and online office hours in order to make course content available to students with different learning styles as well as challenging schedules and alternate commitments.  Additionally, I have experience designing e-learning curriculum and teaching online as well as with the Quality Matters rubric and peer review process. 

                      
Most importantly, I have learned that like learning, teaching is a process.  First as a graduate teaching assistant and then as an instructor, I have had the opportunity to teach, reflect, experiment, and ultimately grow as an instructor.  I have been fortunate to teach a diverse group of students with a variety of backgrounds and skills from developmental to graduate level, making me a more versatile and adaptive instructor.  Just as a student should not be a passive recipient, so too must a teacher always be active.  I am constantly working to learn new strategies, reflect on the ones I currently use, and collaborate with my colleagues and students to learn more myself.  As part of this process, I have participated in professional development activities and mentoring and completed a Certificate in University Teaching and Online Instruction Certification.  These programs have been essential in helping me learn different theories of learning and motivation, composition pedagogies, strategies for a learner-centered classroom, and giving me feedback and opportunities for reflection through the teaching practicum.  For me, teaching will always be the best possible job, an opportunity to awaken students to the power and possibility that comes from claiming their education, developing their voice through writing and literature, and using it to transform their world.

“The first thing I want to say to you who are students is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education; you will do much better to think of yourselves as being here to claim one. . .The difference is that between acting and being acted-upon.”  –Adrienne Rich