Teaching Philosophy

The primary focus of my teaching is to build relationships with students grounded in mutual understanding and respect. I believe that the most important part of teaching is in these relationships—especially in creative writing, students need to trust me to create a safe environment for them to share their work. To that end, my goals in the classroom are:

1) to meet each student where they are in their writing,

2) to incorporate diverse stories that can serve as model texts,

3) to help students see that writing, and storytelling, is based on connecting to others. 

A communal growth mindset should be the center of creative writing pedagogy. In creative writing classes, where students are presenting their own work, this begins with me as the instructor laying out and enforcing expectations of openness, trust, and acceptance. The greatest teaching practice for me is using myself to model activities: I begin all my creative writing workshops by sharing the story of my name, ask students to do the same (both in writing and then verbally), and pause to thank each student. This allows my students to begin with an understanding of who I am, and also to share a low-stakes story of their own with positive feedback. The goal is to use that first interaction to build a sense that our classroom is a space where their stories are welcome and celebrated. 

Teaching has to start with showing students the ways that they already do what writing asks of them, and then teaching them to elevate their craft and rigor. With undergrads this often means media they are familiar with, or stories that explicitly touch on their lived experiences. Music like Kendrick Lamar’s “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” can serve as an intro to verse and poetry. I start by having students break down the song at a line level, and then apply those tools to a poem of their choice, and finally to classics like Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman. From there I focus on showing students how they can apply those same tools to their own writing. They can start by imitating, whether it be Lamar or Whitman, but the focus on analyzing language in the writing of their choice allows me as the instructor to focus entirely on their mastery of the English tools. If I were to start with Whitman students would face two boundaries: poems they don’t know and maybe don’t want to engage with, as well as specifics of writing they’ve never been taught. With lessons that use and build on students’ interests, I more often see them grow passionate about the material, and I’ve even had classrooms go after dismissal when we discussed stories like Kristen Roupenian’s “Cat Person” or Junot Díaz’s “The Cheater’s Guide to Love”. 

The most important part of teaching is connecting with students. Creative writing classes offer an opportunity for students to improve their communication and writing skills through their own interests. To take full advantage of this requires being an instructor who is open to students bringing their interests into the classroom and adjusting as necessary. For that reason, my focus in each class is on being flexible so that I can encourage growth and learning. My goal is to build a strong relationship and shared understanding with students so that they become partners in their own education.