About Me

I am a writing evangelist. That is probably the first thing you need to know about me. I believe everyone is a writer and everyone should be a writer. This blog reflects my ongoing work to be the best teacher of writers that I can become. I share this journey with all its beauty and all its warts because my path has been strongly influenced by the many generous rock star teachers in my life and I feel the need to pay it forward — and because I believe reflection, or metateaching, is an important part of growth.

Learn more about my philosophy of teaching writing and check out the list of posts I have identified as the best exemplars of my reflections on pedagogy and practice.

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And if you are longing for more formal bios…

Short answer:

I teach writers and writing teachers both in person and online, direct the Morehead Writing Project, and run the Writing Studio at Morehead State University. I write about and research writing pedagogy and teaching with technology. I Tweet and Blog and post to Google+ about all these things (as well as post memes on these topics to Instagram). You can also check out my curated collections on ScoopIt to learn more about what interests me about writing and learning.

Long answer:

I earned my Ph.D. in Technical Communication and Rhetoric from Texas Tech University (my dissertation was “Fostering Agency and Writing Self-Efficacy: The Making of a Writer”) and two master’s degree, an MA in English from Eastern Kentucky University and an MS in Secondary Education (English) from the University of Bridgeport (CT).

I started teaching at Morehead State University in 2001 and have taught developmental writing as well as Writing I and II. In addition, I have taught professional writing, technical composition, and creative writing as well as the Morehead Writing Project Summer Institute (six hours of graduate credit). I developed, piloted, and continue to teach online versions of Writing I, Writing II, and the Morehead Writing Project Institute. Professional writing is currently offered as an online class and I taught technical composition as a hybrid class. In addition, I designed a First Year Seminar, From the Walking Dead to Superheroes, which I have taught both online and face-to-face. I regularly use social media (Twitter, Google+, etc.) as well as a variety of publication platforms (Prezi to blogs and wikis to Popplet) in my teaching. My highly-interactive, project-driven classes are focused on community, reflection, and self-efficacy.

My research is in the area of writing pedagogy, in particular self-efficacy and agency, and teaching with technology. I am particularly interested in the ways that technology impacts self-efficacy, agency, and community; and the ways that community impacts writing development. I am currently playing at the intersection of project-based learning and connected learning and can’t wait to see what comes next. Check out my current publications and presentations and contact me if you’d like me to come work with a group of writers and/or educators near you.

4 thoughts on “About Me

    1. Thanks so much! I love the story you shared in your post as well. We have to keep the faith and keep fighting the fight to support these amazing teachers and writers.

  1. I love your blog, and this particular post really helped me, reminding me of my own history with games of various kinds. Gee has influenced my receptiveness to video/computer games and gamification with regard to my educational philosophy, but as an adult, I seem to have abandoned games. The act of writing is the “game” I like to play!

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