Classroom Experience

It’s been said that only two questions matter in regards to creative work: “Is it alive, or dead?” I ask students to probe further: what’s alive, what’s dead, and what’s sleeping that could be shaken awake?

I taught creative writing at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon from 2010-2017. My pedagogy is an inquiry-based, process-centered approach that elevates questions above answers, experimentation over the safe fulfillment of requirements, and an appreciation of craft over talent. And it must be fun.

Courses:
  • English 135 Introduction to Poetry
  • English 135 Introduction to Creative Writing: Multigenre Techniques
  • English 339 Prose Poetry and Flash Fiction
  • English 116W Topics in American Literature
  • English 332 Intermediate Poetry Writing

Poetry is ... 

Instead of taking attendance, I ask my students to define poetry. Every day. In just six words. I got the idea from Hemingway's six-word story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." So much can be said and learned within the constraints of those six words. 

Workshops

I enjoy teaching about the power of words in a variety of formats, from one-day guest lectures to week-long intensive creative writing camps. I first discovered my love for teaching while using poems in English conversation classes during my service with Literacy AmeriCorps. I earned my MFA in poetry from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, and I have a BA in literature and creative writing from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. 

Here are a few examples of my recent workshops or presentations:

  • “The Prose Poem,” Northwest Poets' Concord, Newport, OR, May 2014 (link to Prezi)
  • “Effective Peer Review, or How to CARE,” Sara Varnum Institute for Instructional Excellence, Chemeketa Community College, Salem, OR  (link to Prezi)
  • “How Can You Grade a Poem? Creative Approaches to Assignments, Assessments, and Student Assumptions,” AWP, Seattle, WA  [handout here]
  • “Public Acts of Poetry: Coaching/Coaxing Creativity In and Out of the Classroom,” Oregon Poetry Association Conference, Forest Grove, OR
  • "Other Shoes: Persona Poetry and Character Development," Manzanita Writer’s Workshop, Hoffman Center, Manzanita, OR