courses_taught

Learning By Giving: Nonprofit Organizations and American Cities in the 21st Century (1 section, team taught with Lee Cuba, Fall 2013)

This combined Sociology and Writing course gives students the opportunity to partner with local nonprofit organizations in the Boston area and to research and write a grant on their behalf. The course's current focus is on nonprofit organizations that work on homelessness and affordable housing. This course is supported by a $10,000 grant from the Learning By Giving Foundation as well as a Course Grant from Wellesley's Committee on Educational Research and Development. More information on the course can be found at: http://learningbygivingatwellesley.blogspot.com

Literature, Gender and Sexuality (2 sections, Fall 2013)

In this course, we analyze and write about stories that focus on experiences and expressions of gender and sexuality. We consider how writers have represented and interpreted men's and women's lives, exposed social hierarchies and inequalities, and engaged in acts of resistance and subversion.

American Women Writers (2 sections, Fall 2011, Fall 2012)

This course explores a diverse range of modern American women writers with an aim toward understanding what their fiction tells us about the commonalities and differences among women, the ways in which class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and geographic location shape women's experiences, and the formal and aesthetic contributions of their writing to the American literary tradition.

Alternative Worlds, American Dreams (4 sections, Fall 2011 -- Spring 2014)

This course focuses on a range of American science fiction stories. We ask how these texts represent, critique, and imagine alternatives to existing social, political, economic, and environmental conditions and allow us to reflect on American values, norms, and cultural practices.

Staging Science (3 sections, Spring 2011 -- Spring 2014)

Designed original, writing-intensive course that explores a range of 20th-century "science" plays with particular attention to how scientific themes and content shape both the formal structure of the plays as well as various aspects of the production. Writing assignments include a performance review of a live play (e.g. Wellesley's own production of Auburn's "Proof" and Zindel's "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds").

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Identity (1 section, Fall 2010)

Created and led an original, writing-intensive course focused on 20th-century speculative fictions, with a particular focus on how these genres explore new ways of representing gender, sexual, and ethnic identities. Students complete a variety of writing exercises, including weekly e-journaling, an "Interview with the Critic" assignment, a "research roadmap" assignment, and a final portfolio showcasing revisions to and reflections on their comparative, analytic, and research essays.

Literature and Experience: Technologies of Literature (1 section, Fall 2009)

Designed and led an original course in which students explored technology's role in the development of literary forms as well as how literature reflects, constructs and critiques our perceptions of and relationships to technology. Students created their own "commonplace" books, including critical analyses of quotes or passages from the course materials, engaged in weekly e-journaling on interactive course management system, and experimented with artificial conversational agents or "chatbots."

Introduction to Fiction (Advanced Composition) (3 sections, Fall 2005 -- Spring 2007)

Designed and led advanced composition courses to introduce students to literary terms, genres, and periods and to give students practice in literary interpretation and argumentation. Designed courses around various frameworks such as genre fiction (detective fiction, sci-fi, romance) and author pairings; developed integrative "Cliff Notes" reader and "dueling perspectives" writing assignments.

Introduction to Film (2 sections, Fall 2007 -- Spring 2008)

Designed lectures and discussions on the formal aspects of film and introduced students to critical approaches to film and strategies for writing about film. Developed unique storyboard assignment, writing assignment on film made "before you were born," and extensive clip library for key concepts.

Critical Approaches to Literature, Teaching Assistant (1 section, Fall 2006)

Evaluated student writing, conducted review sessions and an in-class discussion in a course designed to introduce students to literary and cultural theory.

Business and Technical Writing (8 sections, Fall 2004 - Fall 2007)

Designed and led advanced composition courses to prepare students for writing in various professional contexts. Created original reader to structure course around the intersections of workplace communication and issues of gender, ethnicity, class, religion, and nationality. Students, for example, develop their own writing assignment based on a scholarly article, complete a television news analysis assignment, and prepare a business plan for an original magazine or periodical.