My teaching philosophy

My teaching philosophy is based on my belief that the activities of reading and writing help us construct meaning from our experiences by prompting us to think critically about our world; reading and writing challenge us to live rather than simply to exist. The study of English, therefore, makes us better readers and writers of human experience. To communicate this view to my students, I practice a subjective approach to composition and literature derived in part from reader response theory. My course assignments and classroom activities stress individual thought and the diversity of interpretive processes to assist students in cultivating the cognitive skills necessary for effective interpretation and communication.