Teaching

Composition

Rachael has taught a range of Composition courses both online and in person. She often teaches English 100E, the first class in the composition sequence at the University of Southern Mississippi. This course features a Photo Memoir, a Common Read Unit on Elizabeth Acevedo’s Clap When You Land, a Community Profile, and a Final Portfolio. To encourage writing progress, students are allowed to revise all writing projects after receiving feedback. For more information, explore Rachael’s English 100E Syllabus.

Creative Writing

Rachael has taught multiple Creative Writing Workshops including courses specifically focused on Fiction and courses focused on both Prose and Poetry. In one of her Mixed Genre Workshops, students read and write Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction. We look closely at Kirstin Valdez Quade’s Night at the Fiestas, Ada Limón’s Bright Dead Things, and Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s World of Wonders as base texts, which are then paired with various craft readings. In addition to experimenting with many in-class writing prompts, and completing both small-group and whole-class workshops, students compile an Annotated Portfolio that requires revisions for a Character-Driven Short Story, a Collection of Poems, and Nonfiction Mini-Essays. For more information, explore Rachael’s English 223 Syllabus.

Technical Writing

Rachael has taught multiple sections of Technical Writing. One of her Technical Writing courses requires students to complete a Researched Infographic Poster, Job Application Documents, a Professional Website, and a Final Portfolio. Students also complete Memos throughout the semester where they explain their textual and visual decisions for major projects in relation to their defined rhetorical situations. This class is semi-flipped, requiring students to complete smaller homework on textbook readings outside of class and to commit to brainstorming, pre-writing, drafting, peer review, and revision during class sessions. To encourage writing progress, students are allowed to revise all writing projects after receiving feedback. For more information, explore Rachael’s English 333 Syllabus.

Literature

Rachael has taught multiple Literature courses including classes focused only on Fiction and classes focused on World Literature. One of her World Literature courses uses the idea of conversation as a guiding concept for considering texts. In this course, students write multiple papers that place various texts into conversation with each other by identifying and analyzing a major theme or concept presented in each. Readings include The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Tempest, excerpts from The Slate of Life: More Contemporary Stories by Writers of India and José Rizal’s Noli Me Tángere, along with selections from work by Tomas Tranströmer and Teju Cole. To encourage writing progress, students are allowed to revise all writing projects after receiving feedback. For more information, explore Rachael’s English 203 Syllabus.