BACKGROUND

HOW TO USE THIS WEBSITE:

Students, teachers, general readers: simply read "blog" posts of interest. Note that posts are organized into three topics: 1) pedagogy on writing, 2) U.S. government and history, and 3) biological sciences with natural history. Note overlap -- in some cases more than one of these three topics is included in a post. (So my posts here resist categorization and incline toward the interdisciplinary. Or as Archilochus and Isaiah Berlin might put it, I am less the hedgehog than the fox.) The title of a post indicates its basic topic.

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The introductions to several of the posts may be particularly relevant or valuable. For example, for current events on social science and government, you might try reading just the updated introductions to “Argumentation” and “Evaluation”. For reflections on the research and editing experience, check the italicized introductions to the crayfish and two cicada papers. ​

 

• "Blog" posts explicitly on the writing process:

1. Writing Prompts: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/writing-prompts-reading-lists

2. Audience & Voice: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/teaching-about-audience-and-voice-in-the-writing-classroom

3. Ethics in the Professions: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/teaching-ethics-in-professional-writing

4. U.S. History, Intercultural Settings: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/where-in-the-world-is-parson-weems

5. Biological Sciences: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/periodical-cicadas-reunite-17-years-later  and  https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/protandrous-arrival-of-periodical-cicadas-magicicada-septendecim  

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• Gathering ideas on critical reasoning and civics?                     Argumentation: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/fourth-of-july-declaration

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• Summarizing a lecture?

       Civil War History: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/faust-on-war-humanities-lecture

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• Interested in how the U.S. government reflects and improves? 

       Evaluation: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/g-s-a-evaluation-for-greater-efficiency

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• Encouraging the study of nature?

1. Gardens: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/happy-earth-day-urban-garden (You may find here, unique among my blogs, depiction that is largely nonverbal: links to my photo albums of insects -- pollinators, helpful predators, and pests -- that visited gardens I maintained or observed. The colorful images include text that is alert to taxonomy and naming.)

2. Crayfish: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/a-citizen-scientist-reports-on-local-crayfish-cambarus-bartonii-and-their-shelters

3. Cicadas: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/protandrous-arrival-of-periodical-cicadas-magicicada-septendecim     see also   https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/periodical-cicadas-reunite-17-years-later

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• ​Want fun in the writing classroom?

       Humor: https://englishingle.wixsite.com/mysite/post/funny-stories-for-the-classroom-seriously

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My website showcases a variety of forms of composition through my writing samples and publications.  I reflect on my experiences as a student, teacher, and writer. Periodically, I add new information or current perspective -- hence the term "blog". The posts about teaching offer writing prompts and reading suggestions; the eclectic compositions support writing across the curricula and "writing in the majors". Many of my ideas for pedagogy serve online learning and instruction.  

 

Like many writers, I yearn to share my compositions, especially those published. And like many teachers, former or current, I retain the inclination to teach. This website allows me to post my writing and teaching.  Cautionary note: When I learned and first taught college writing, English language students and teachers aspired, as Kurt Vonnegut complains, "to write like cultivated Englishmen of a century or more ago". (So shares Ian Frazier, editor, introducing the 1997 Best American Essays.) I value the traditional writing process and craft; it coaches writers to think deeply, reason, self-reflect, and empathize, and to communicate eloquently. But I am aware in these days of social media posts, and  the post-pandemic, that writers' experiences, expectations, and needs, and the academic climate for writing, have changed. Reading materials and writing prompts should comport with student audiences. Of course, I hope and believe that what I recall is useful.

 

In about two decades, I have taught almost every variety of undergraduate composition.  Most recently, I designed and taught, in online and traditional classrooms, professional ethics and writing courses for undergraduates studying medicine, nursing, computer science, business, and engineering.

 

I was certified to teach English as a Second Language (ESL), and have much experience in that field; most, though certainly not all, of my pedagogical content in this website, however, is intended for readers whose first language or fluency is English. Please note possible ESL pedagogy material in my blogs on intercultural setting ("where in the world") and fun in the classroom.

 

Thank you for your interest. . . .

(To view sample writings, click the underlined links above, or return to "HOME" and click "BLOG".)