I taught British and American literature at the University of Virginia from 2002-2006 as well as courses specifically on writing. From 2006-2010, I taught English and Humanities courses at Centre College, in Danville, KY. My English courses encompass wide range of genres and time periods, including Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, T.S. Eliot, Dickinson, Whitman, Pope, Bishop, Wharton, and many others.
Philosophy and Approach
For lower-level students, I focus on comprehension skills. I teach students how to identify the most significant parts of what they are reading, work on vocabulary and verb tenses.
For higher-level students, I focus on interpretation. Too many students think literature is “all subjective,” that a poem means whatever the reader think it does. Good interpretations are often creative, but they are also always grounded in the text. The best interpretations emerge from a genuine question—why would a character in that situation make that particular choice? Or why did the poet choose an adjective that seems negative when describing a positive experience? Looking back over the work as a whole, a student can begin to formulate his or her own answer to the question. The next step is to gather the evidence that will make this interpretation compelling to others. The goal of an excellent interpretation is to discover something that others have not noticed about the literature, which they too can see once you point it out.
english literature
Experience
I taught British and American literature at the University of Virginia from 2002-2006 as well as courses specifically on writing. From 2006-2010, I taught English and Humanities courses at Centre College, in Danville, KY. My English courses encompass wide range of genres and time periods, including Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, T.S. Eliot, Dickinson, Whitman, Pope, Bishop, Wharton, and many others.
Philosophy and Approach
For lower-level students, I focus on comprehension skills. I teach students how to identify the most significant parts of what they are reading, work on vocabulary and verb tenses.
For higher-level students, I focus on interpretation. Too many students think literature is “all subjective,” that a poem means whatever the reader think it does. Good interpretations are often creative, but they are also always grounded in the text. The best interpretations emerge from a genuine question—why would a character in that situation make that particular choice? Or why did the poet choose an adjective that seems negative when describing a positive experience? Looking back over the work as a whole, a student can begin to formulate his or her own answer to the question. The next step is to gather the evidence that will make this interpretation compelling to others. The goal of an excellent interpretation is to discover something that others have not noticed about the literature, which they too can see once you point it out.