Education Portfolio

I am an educator who teaches English and writing. Below are snippets of my teaching philosophies including my stance on the use of technology, a sample assignment, and more.

My Philosophy on Teaching Writing

My philosophy of teaching writing is as follows: students learn best when you meet them at their level, focus on improvement over perfection, and build from the basics upwards. I execute this philosophy through a combination of in-class activities designed to exercise critical thinking skills, and writing assignments designed to be revised. I am presently earning my MFA in Fiction from the University of Kentucky. In the 2024 to 2025 academic year, I served as a TA for Intro to Creative Writing, and for 2025 to 2026, I am an instructor teaching WRD 110 Composition and Communication I.  

My teaching philosophy manifests as two major goals for my students. First, I want them to leave this course feeling more confident about their writing. Second, I want my students to be able to review their writing so they can reconsider how they organize their writing. 

Revision exercises are the best way for young writers to improve. In my courses, students have the opportunity to revise their writing for an improved grade. I also believe in the power of limited peer workshop wherein young writers have the chance to read their peer’s work and learn to consider feedback.

Revision is best when it is focused. To achieve focused revision, after my students turn in their initial attempts at an assignment and I grade them, students who scored below a 90% may turn in revisions for an improved grade. I assign two major revision objectives and then ask them to identify a third. I give my students two weeks to accomplish these objectives, ask them to highlight their changes, and then re-grade the piece up to a maximum of 90%. I have found this to be a highly effective way to convince students to engage with their work and while understanding important areas of improvement. 

I evaluate student work for improvement by evaluating their ability to write clear sentences and examine their work with a critical eye. Meeting students where they are at means that I do not expect all my students to be at the same level by the end of the course. For those students with already-strong writing skills, I look for organizational improvement and creativity on top of strong writing fundamentals. For writers still establishing their essential skillset, I look for strong sentence structure added to their abilities to get their ideas on the page. 

My students traditionally come from a wide range of skill sets and backgrounds, and because of that I believe that an inclusive educational environment is paramount. Students must feel comfortable sharing their work and making their ideas and experiences heard. I give my students multiple paths to success by combining written assignments, group activity, discussion, and public speaking to give them various modes of communication. I make my students feel comfortable writing in dialect by giving them a range of text and media to analyze from a diverse body of writers and speakers. This results in a space where students can focus on exercising their ability to think and communicate, rather than worrying about semantics.

I believe in an educational environment built on a foundation of meeting students at their skill level and providing assignment and instruction built on a foundation of revision and inclusivity. I have faith my students will foster a skillset of earnest, direct communication, and feel more comfortable making their voices heard.

Writing Technology Statement

In the classroom, academic honesty is king. That means critically engaging with research, homework, essays, and assignments. Artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs) are tools that often provide shortcuts that reduce complete critical engagement. AI helps us automate little parts of our assignments and cuts down on the time it takes to brainstorm, but in doing so, robs us of engaging with every facet of the assignment. As an instructor, I am not totally against the use of AI in the classroom, however its use must never interfere with a student’s immersion.

Here is my AI statement in brief: do not use any AI-generated content or writing for any assignments in this class. I cannot stop you from using AI to brainstorm (and I am not entirely against it in all cases). However, I will ask you not to use it as a means of circumventing any reading, writing, and research that you would otherwise do yourself. One of the most important things you will learn in this class is the process of writing and research. Overuse of AI saps your development in this area.

All that said, you can NEVER copy and paste, or transcribe information directly from ChatGPT or any other AI program or LLM. NEVER use ChatGPT or any other AI or LLM as a trusted research source, or as a means of acquiring sources. Remember that plagiarism is using the words of others without crediting them and that is, in the most rudimentary sense, what AI does.

Any AI use that deviates from the rules outlined above will count as plagiarism in this course. 

Be keenly aware of the skyrocketing use of AI in the world around you. Take careful note of the difference between how it can be used to enhance our learning and how it can be used to subtract from it. Ask yourself: what is being rhetorically communicated to me when someone else uses AI content as a means of communication or persuasion? 

Writing will continue to evolve alongside technology. It is our responsibility to ensure that we never lose the basic skills that make us good writers. Technological advancements made it the last few thousand years have made it so nearly everyone can learn to read and write. Carry on this tradition as a contemporary scholar. Use this newest technology to learn more, not to think less.

Sample Assignment:

Video Essay Rhetorical Analysis

Introduction:

In this assignment you will be tasked with choosing a sixty second advertisement that tackles a community-specific issue from the pre-approved list of fifteen ads that I have on Canvas. The four major skills you will practice in this class are 1) summary 2) analysis 3) synthesis 4) research/evaluation. This project will ask you to practice summary, analysis, and synthesis. It is one step above a traditional rhetorical analysis essay.

Assignment Description: 

Select one advertisement from the list OR find one yourself and meet with me so I can approve it. 

For this rhetorical analysis, there will be four deliverables:

  1. A rhetorical analysis script (500-750 words) where you set the context for the advertisement (who, what, where, when, why), summarize the ad in one paragraph, and then explain how pathos, ethos, logos, and kairos were used by the ad’s creators, and what effect they hoped each of these rhetorical appeals will have. Write this essay/script with the intention of reading it aloud on video. It does not need to be formal, but it does need to be well-organized. You must cite at least two quotes or paraphrase scenes from the advertisement with time-stamps. You must include one in-text citation from an outside source. MLA format, 12 point font, double spaced. Worth 75 points.

  2. A revision of your script (500-750 words) where you analyze your writing for strengths and weakness. Identify three areas of improvement then implement them into a new draft. MLA format, 12 point font, double spaced. Worth 25 points.

  3. A video essay (3-4 minutes) wherein you read and record your rhetorical analysis script on camera and verbally cite the two quotes and their timestamps. You must include visual elements such as short video clips from the ad, outside images, or b-reel footage to make your video essay more visually engaging. Include at least one source other than the advertisement. Worth 75 points. 

  4. MLA works cited page that includes your advertisement and one other source. Worth 25 points.

This will be your third major assignment and the last before your independent research project and presentation. Worth 200 points total (20% of your final grade). The due date for this assignment will be October 27th. 

Examples: 

Nike commercial Rhetorical analysis

Rhetorical Analysis of Budweiser Super Bowl Commercial - 2015

Rhetorical Analysis of McDonald 2016 brand campaign commercial final 20140934 Ho sun Lee


Teaching Demonstration:

The Rhetoric of Clothing

Have you ever wondered why American politicians wear the same shade of red and blue when they deliver major speeches? Or why North Korean generals' coats are covered with gold medallions? How about the reasoning behind rips and frays in blue jeans?

All of these small embellishments create a rhetorical statement before a person ever opens their mouth. The clothes we wear say a lot about who we are as people. They are physical manifestations of ideologies. Demonstrations of lifestyles. Sometimes we think our clothing is strictly utilitarian, but even then, that doesn’t stop it from making a profound statement about who we are and how we spend our time. 

Purpose of demonstration:

Often, when we as English Composition instructors try to teach students about logos, ethos, and pathos, we give them the impression that these concepts only apply to grand acts of public speech or formal essays. They don’t realize that they are often implementing rhetorical decisions every day.

All students wear clothing, whether that be a full suit and tie meant to help them leverage their way into the fraternity of their choice, or sweats and slippers meant to optimize comfort as they wade into the waking world. Outside the class room, many students are keenly aware of how their choice in clothing influences their social opportunities. 

Discussing the rhetoric of clothing is a great way to behind a unit on rhetorical devices as it starts with a topic with which they are intimately familiar and asks them to consider how others think about how other people use clothing to send messages and leverage social situations to their advantage. 

Episode Breakdown:

  1. Intro:

    1. Have you ever wondered why…

    2. The clothing we wear says a lot about who we are, what we believe

    3. Clothing is an argument we make without ever having to speak. Our outfits aren’t just identity statements, they are active attempts at persuasion. 

    4. Let’s look at ethos, logos, and pathos

  2. Segment One: Ethos

    1. Doctors wear crisp white lab coats, a professor might don a tweed jacket, pilots wear jackets with actual wings on them

    2. Uniforms borrow credibility from larger institutions that people trust

      1. How might your feelings change if the next time you got on a plane the pilot wearing shorts and a t-shirt, of if your surgeon introduced themselves with a pizza stain down the front of their coat?

    3. When people wear uniforms it tells us that the institution agrees that they can do the job 

  3. Segment Two: Logos

    1. Function informs ability. Who will you bet to win a thousand meter dash, the guy in brand name running shoes or the guy who gets on the block in italian loafers?

    2. A mechanic in an oil resistant jumpsuit shows us that he has been there, done, that, and ready to get dirty. 

    3. When people wear clothing that is strictly functional, we expect that they have experience and we trust them over some one who doesn’t look the part and whose clothing can’t hang when the going gets tough. 

  4. Segment Three: Pathos

    1. Our connections with other people are emotional. Clothing texture, color, and style does a lot of leg work in terms of how we relate to others. 

    2. Therapist with soft fabrics and warm clothes may be easier to open up to, a punk band with spiked colors and sleeveless denim vests shows that they are not to be messed with, luxury fashion items show that a person has money to spend in the pursuit of looking good

    3. Clothing determines how people view our social status and how “relatable” they find us. 

      1. Why do you think Steve Jobs changed the look of a tech mogul by dressing in jeans and a tight black turtleneck?

      2. Why does the modern billionaire like Bezos or Zuckerberg tend to opt for a t shirt and slacks?

  5. Conclusion

    1. How we dress says a lot about how we fit into a social space. Although clothing is much less rhetorically important than it once was.

      1. Look at a modern office compared to one of the 1950s. 

    2. Clothing helps us attract potential suitors, fit in with subcultures, and display our social class

    3. It helps us set narratives, like the power colors of a politician, or a window dressed in black to show her mourning

    4. The clothes you wear tell a story. What message are you sending?