I am honored to have received the department's Culbertson First-Year Composition Teaching Portfolio this year. This award is designed to recognize the winning portfolio from the pool of instructors in their first year of teaching FYC (first-year composition) at IU. One of my goals this year was to bring more intention to my teaching practice, so this recognition feels particularly impactful. It's nice to be recognized for my work! I'm sure, though, having seen the work of my colleagues here at IU, that the decision couldn't have been easy.
I love having the opportunity to talk about what I do in the classroom. In fact, it's a priority in my teaching to discuss the purpose behind activities, lessons, and assignments with students. In my experience, knowing the why as well as the how is empowering for students, especially for those who are first-gen or otherwise need more support for their academic success.
This teaching portfolio submission also gave me a chance to talk about my "Writopea" re-design of our standard composition class. In the Writopea class, students embark on a fantasy-adventure style journey as the class itself, complete with character sheets, quests, skill points, and achievement badges through Badgr, integrated with our course Canvas page. It's been a blast!
Here's a preview of my Writopea course material. Each "realm" is a 5 week unit of the course.
The Writopea composition course this semester has given me a lot to think about in how I design future courses. I'm particularly excited about the prospect of a future special topics class where we can go all-in on the game experience, but more on that another time!