Literature helps us develop our analytical and creative engagements in the world, and permits us to understand others and ourselves. My teaching philosophy reflects my desire to help students become increasingly self-aware, empowered, and active members of their intellectual communities. These tenets have been central to all of my teaching, including my academic writing, literature, and foreign language courses. In fact, my French classes have greatly informed how I teach writing and literature classes. In the spirit of Peter Elbow, I approach teaching academic writing and literature as a “foreign language” of sorts that contains its own vocabularies, discourses, and surprises. While learning another language often allows a person to express him/ herself/themselves differently and to discover new perspectives, I show my students the new experiences to be gained from the transformative potentials in poetry and literature, more generally.

*My complete teaching philosophy available upon request.