Another May

Here we are again, at the end of another school year. One of my very favorite parts about working in academia is the constant refresh of energy and focus that comes with the shifting of the seasons. One season does not fade into the next. Instead, all four are pronounced, either with a new beginning or another ending, and that rhythm is really lovely.

We concluded Olivet's semester with a baccalaureate service and graduation commencement ceremony this past weekend. It was a really beautiful spring weekend on campus, and I got my doctorate gown out and was happy to march with my department, other faculty members, and administrators. We were also glad to celebrate the English and English Education seniors with a celebratory lunch and a photo after the graduation ceremony. This year was especially special to me, as it is the year that one of my most influential college professors, Dr. Belcher-Rankin, is retiring. She served as my advisor, then trip leader to Burkina Faso, Africa, then unofficial mentor through graduate school. I felt so honored to spend a year-- my first and her last-- as colleagues in the same department.

As I said, the end of the school year is marked by the end of my first year as a full time faculty member. After graduating from ASU in May of 2017, I worked as an adjunct for a year while going on the job market, and then started at Olivet in August of 2018. In addition to teaching the four classes, which I discussed in my previous post, I'm very happy with what I was able to accomplish this year, as I think some really productive measures were initiated, like the two following items:

1. Even as a new faculty member, I served on two committees this school year. The first was the Department of English Composition Committee, and we worked on reviewing the composition classroom curriculum. With the committee's support, I piloted using a new textbook in the ENGL 109: College Writing I classroom. The department had previously been using an MLA handbook, but I didn't feel I was able to engage the students in my classroom with it very well. I drew on teaching experience from Madison College and brought the textbook Habits of the Creative Mind into the classroom. I used it throughout the spring semester, and the students responded well. In a survey at the end of the semester, 95% of the students suggested using the text again. As a committee, we decided we are going to do just that, and we will use it in every section of 109 that will run in the fall. I've been working on setting up options for how to teach the text, and I'm excited to see what other professors will do with it. 
2. The second committee I served on was the Department of English Writing Committee, and we took a look at our programatic offerings for writing in general. From this overview and research we conducted in the fall, we brought a new proposal forward to our department. The department members responded positively, so as a group, we spent a good portion of the spring semester ironing out details of our proposal before we will bring the complete idea to deans and administrators. It was exciting to be part of this work, and we are hoping for a positive outcome. 

My position as a faculty member is shifting. This past year I served as a full time faculty member under the title Assistant Professor in the Department of English, with expectations of service on campus. As the commute got to be too tiring and we realized our family would grow this fall, my department chair kindly offered to shift my position in the department. Starting this fall, I will be an Affiliate Professor in the Department of English. I will still be working full time for Olivet; however, my service obligations will be lightened, so I will be able to do the majority of my work from home. I am excited about this opportunity and so appreciative to my department chair and the administrators who opened up this position for me. 

As part of the shift between roles, I am creating a new online course for the university this summer, which I will teach in the fall. This is an online version of the ENGL 306: Advanced Writing course that I taught last fall. I really enjoyed teaching that course and diving into writing and rhetorical histories and theories with my students. The shift to an online format will be different, but I am hoping it is still very rewarding and productive for the students.

In addition to creating this course, I am also teaching an online section of ENGL 311: Business Communication & Technical Writing this summer. I taught B&T both semesters at Olivet. This is an eight week, online, much smaller version of those classes, but again, I still want to make sure the class is beneficial to the students who are enrolled. Between those two endeavors, and starting department work again in just under two months, I think the summer will go by quickly. 

Personally, I've been very blessed with wonderful support and time with friends these past few weeks. At the end of April, my family threw Wade and I a lovely shower over the Easter weekend when my uncle, aunt, cousins, and their families were all in Madison. We had elephant decor, a guessing game, and a delicious Mexican taco brunch. About a week later, my colleagues in the English department were so kind to throw us another shower on the Monday during the last week of school when I know that everyone had so much to do. 

My cousin Candace made a red velvet gluten free cake with cream cheese frosting for the first shower, and my colleague Ann made a chocolate cake with vanilla cream and mirror glaze chocolate ganache for our second shower. They were both beautiful and delicious! So far, these cakes have been two of the best parts about being pregnant. Just in between the two showers we also found out that Baby Bruce is a BOY, so it was fun to let our family and friends know about that! 

May also started off on a lovely note, as I attended the annual Original Women's Conference in Rockford, IL hosted by City First Church. I went with most of the members of our Bloom Women's Ministry leadership team and several other ladies from Ridgeway Church. This is my second year attending, and I had a really wonderful, refreshing time. The conference was held fresh on the heels of the last week of school, but I'm glad that I got to go and be a part of the conference and the time with the ladies. 

On top of the work that I'll be doing this summer, I do think the nesting instinct will kick in as we prepare for the baby this September. This morning I already got caught down a rabbit hole of learning about toxicity in scented candles, nail polishes, and non-standard essential oils, and I feel like I need to do a clean sweep of my house! I've switched to all natural facial products and hair products over the past nine months, and I'm thinking brands like Pure Hive, Palate Polish, and Young Living will become my standards for cleaner, more natural products in these other areas, as well. 

I am currently loving the summer break (as of yesterday) and time hanging out at home with the worlds cutest doggos. I am looking forward to what's to come, both personally and professionally as the seasons shift once again! 

Octobering

Here we are finishing up the sixth week of the semester moving into fall break! I am excited about this fall break for a couple reasons:

1) I get two extra nights at home that I wouldn't usually get with my commute.
2) A week from today I will be helping to host our 2018 Bloom Women's Retreat. Our theme this year is "Change Begins With Her," and I'm so excited about what the weekend will look like.

Burke Administration Building

I will talk about the retreat in November, but I want to cover my first six weeks as an Assistant Professor in the Fall 2018 semester at Olivet. The first six weeks have been, in turns, a total blur, a dumpster fire, a smooth sea, a confusing maze, and an unexpected surprise. That is, to say, it has been an adjustment for sure, but it's gone well. My commute from Madison is definitely one reality that I've had to adjust to. I generally leave my house in the wee early morning hours on a Monday, and then I do the reverse drive on late Thursday evening. I work from home (and get appointments done, etc.) on Fridays. I am staying less than a half mile from my office. I have walked a few times, and it takes me  about 10 minutes from the door of my house to the door of my office, and that includes a walk across a busy intersection and walking up four steep flights of stairs. I have one long commute and then literally no commute after, so it works out.

I was excited to jump into teaching at Olivet. As I've recounted a few times now, I feel like a totally different person, and I'm for sure a totally different teacher than I was when I adjuncted two ENGL 109: College Writing I classes in the fall 2011 and spring 2012 school year. Life was very different. I had just graduated with my BA in English, Wade was finishing school, we'd just gotten married, we adopted our puppy, Finley, and we were living in a 600 sq. ft. guest house. One thing that is the same is that on the first day of school this year I wore the exact same red shoes I wore on the first day in 2011. I got those red shoes in college, I think, and I still love them. They're my first day shoes!

First Day Teaching at ONU 2011

First Day Teaching at ONU 2018

One of my favorite parts of the new gig is my office. Wade helped me get it all set up, and with a mix of Harry Potter, travel, and elephant themed decor, it feels homey and cozy to me. I like to come in, turn on my lamp, wax melter, and AC fan to get some soft light, smell, and air moving through the office as soon as I get in. It's a sweet little nook that looks out at a lovely Catholic church and over a large tree that is currently turning from green to red as we move into autumn.

I've enjoyed my classes thus far! This semester I have 84 students. That's far more students than I've ever had before. I teach these 84 students in four different courses: ENGL 109: College Writing I (two sections), ENGL 306: Advanced Writing, and ENGL 311: Business Communication & Technical Writing. I do have two teaching assistants through the English department, and they are wonderful. I could not get the grading done that I would need to without them. My students are currently working on academic proposals, documenting online processes, and reviewing food TV shows on Netflix. The variety of audiences, purposes, and genres that we explore in these various classes continues to astound me. The lived realities and experiences that these students bring with them and those that they are preparing for make these classes dynamic and exciting to teach.

To begin the year, there have been several events. After new faculty orientation, Wade came down and attended the President's Dinner with me. We also had a meeting to welcome back the majors, and that was fun to get to meet them. Getting reacquainted with Olivet's campus and culture has been somewhat odd, sometimes disappointing, but mostly exciting. I think administrators and teachers really do try to do the best they can, but I think the most refreshing part about being back at Olivet is the students. They are smart, motivated, and open. They interrogate assignments, issues, and theories with respect and an awareness of the world around them that I don't think was as tangible when I was as student. It makes interacting with them very rewarding and engaging.

The ONU English department this year is focusing on the theme: "Voice: Finding Yours, Celebrating Others." I really like this theme because it takes both individual and communal experience into account. It asks students to reflect on what it is they know, how they know, and what they want to learn in the future. In all the arguments for a liberal arts education, I think the recognition of the value of voice and experience has to be one of the most crucial to recognize. I'm glad to be in a department that values that as well.

Apart from figuring out this new teaching life, there have been a few other special moments to celebrate thus far this semester:

1) My friend, support, and writing group member, Casie Moreland, defended her thesis at Arizona State University on Wednesday, August 29th, 2018 and became DR. CASIE MORELAND. I FaceTimed into just the very first part of her defense, and even what I heard in that short snippet was so, so smart, well put together, and engaging. I'm so proud of her hard work and dedication!

2) On that very same day, also the day I started classes, I got an email with an acceptance for two items for the 2019 Conference on College Composition and Communication. I've been to several Cs conferences, and I was so glad to be invited back to this one. The conference is in Pittsburgh, PA this year, and I'm really looking forward to presenting my own work on a panel presentation as well as serving as a committee member for a feminist workshop.

3) My yittle sister stick turned 28! We are now only one year apart which means that my thirtieth birthday must be just right around the corner. I was actually pretty sick from catching the ONU Virus of 2018 that ran rampant across campus about week three, but we went out for a delicious dinner of mussels and frites at Sardine in Madison and celebrated her birthday.

4) This summer I was invited to participate in an event at my MA institution, Illinois State University. As a theoretical framework, the ISU WPA, Dr. Joyce Walker, has championed the pedagogical use of Cultural Historical Activity Theory in the Writing Program. The event in November is a CHAT Retrospective on how alumni from the program have used the theory since leaving ISU. I will be presenting and reconnecting with friends, and I'm looking forward to it!

One of my favorite parts of this past week was how I opened class. I know it can be tricky to be just a few days before a break but still at school. Inspired by The Good Place: The Podcast, I asked my students at the beginning of every class: "What's good?" I told them what was good in my life was that my puppy, Finley, turned seven this week. Since we first brought him home to Bourbonnais, I was glad to celebrate his birthday there as well. My students responded with wonderful responses. Things like, good sleep, boxed water, times with missed family and friends, engagements, and live music. Let's all remember to take the time to celebrate what's good. 

A[nother] New Year

Image from Pinterest

My first post of the year was called "A New Year," as I'm sure many of you remember 😉

January 1st does certainly mark the turnover of a new calendar year, there is always something refreshing and exciting about the turnover from August to September. But as other bloggers have said, there is just something about September 1st that feels "new yeary," especially for those who are on or somehow connected to traditional school calendars. Also, September is the month in which autumn officially begins, and that is by far my favorite season. Personally, I'd like to say that September 1st feels like a good time to declare a new year in my little family. In August 2017 my husband was called away for a two and a half week Army training and then days later for a short hurricane relief deployment. Between that time and now we've faced a lot of hurdles, some of which I have documented here, and I'm really ready for that "year" to be over.

So, here we go. September 1st(ish)! A new start of a new year in a new place! I will detail my first month as an Assistant Professor at Olivet in October, but in this blog post I'd like to go over my last month of summer fun and then the preparation (ahem, or lack of) that I did leading up to the start of the fall 2018 semester.

Personal: Durango Vacation

To round out the summer, Wade and I spent two weeks in beautiful Durango, CO. This was our fourth time there in the same number of years, and we always really enjoy ourselves in this lovely mountain town. We stay at my Grandpa's condo near Purgatory Resort, and we like to venture into town as well as by and through the gorgeous natural landscapes. One of my favorite views in all of the world is Haviland Lake. It's not far off the main road down the mountain, but the accessibility in such a serene setting is one of my very favorite things about it. The lake sits peacefully in the San Juan National Forest at the base of the San Juan Mountains. The lake is no more than two miles up the road from the condo, so we make sure to visit it every time we go.

Haviland Lake January 2016

Haviland Lake August 2018

In addition to visiting the lake we also ate out at a lot of fun places and had delicious food like a spicy tuna sushi burrito, a chocolate crepe, vegetable curry, and galub jamun. We celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary in Durango, and we ate sushi and seafood ramen and a raspberry sorbet dessert. We also did a couple hikes while we were in the area, but there were a few areas blocked off due to mudslides that occurred shortly before we arrived. A forest fire called the 416 fire burned through almost 55,000 acres of the San Juan National Forest for two months before we arrived. Due to the massive burn areas, rains that fell after caused major flooding and mudslides in the town. We saw remnants of the mudslides, and thus the fire, in the blocked off hiking areas and roads under repair. Durango is a resilient town, though, and the people seemed strong. 

A couple other special things that we did while we were in the area were spending a day at the spa, and Wade got a new tattoo on his right forearm. For our anniversary gift to one another we decided to do a spa day. We had been to The Woodhouse Day Spa in Durango when we went there for the fourth of July weekend in 2015, so we decided to go back. It is a luxurious, relaxing place, and we love spending time in the thick white robes, sauna, steam shower, and quiet room overlooking the river even before getting our spa treatments. As a special gift partly from both of our parents, Wade enjoyed a Swedish massage, and I got a warm agave nectar pedicure. Both were very relaxing.

Another special thing that we did while in Durango was Wade got his third tattoo. Again, we had been to this business before, namely when we got our matching arrow/cross tattoos to commemorate our ten years together when we went to Durango for the new years weekend in 2016. We went back to Your Flesh Tattoo & Piercing, and Wade worked with the artist Brian Hutflies to make his design come to life. Wade got this tattoo done in honor of his older brother Matt who passed away on June 1st of this year. Wade explained that he got the tattoo done in memory of how much his brother loved both to bike and the diner that he managed and planned one day to take over. Matt's passing has been difficult, especially as it was so unexpected, and I'm glad that Wade took this step to commemorate not only Matt's passing but his life.

Our time in Durango was really sweet, and I'm glad we went. We drove there and back, so it was quite a long trip, but we actually enjoyed that as well. The Harry Potter audio books got us through. We finished up Order of the Phoenix and moved on to Half-Blood Prince before we got home. On the way out to Durango we stopped in both Lincoln, NE and Denver, CO. On the way back we made one stop in a small town in Nebraska for one night.

Professional: Semester Preparation

One of the major projects that I worked on this summer was the revise and resubmit that I received from an article manuscript that I submitted to the online journal Peitho: A Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition. I originally submitted the manuscript back in 2015, and I had sent in a second draft since then, but this third revision was long overdue. I did, with the help of a mentor, Maureen, and my writing group, finally send it back in, and just today I received another revise and resubmit! The work the editors are asking me to do is more re framing and clarification. I hope to be able to do that in the next month or so and send it back once more. This publishing work is not for the faint of heart! I think once I have completed this manuscript I will turn my attention to some of the data that I collected from my students' work and draft an article manuscript discussing some of my findings.

Along with this article revision, I have spent much of my working time this summer (when I wasn't traveling, helping family, or recovering from my surgery) putting together my classes for the fall. I will be teaching two sections of College Writing 1, Advanced Writing, and Business Writing and Technical Communication. While in CO I put together syllabi for all four of the courses, and I am glad to at least have that much done, even if there is still much more to get done before classes start.

I will include links to my course syllabi here. I think it is good to have record of these documents, as well as be willing to share them. Whenever I make new syllabi for new institutions I try to include components of the institution in the document themselves. In this case, I've used the Olivet colors of purple and gold throughout the pages, as well as put the logo on the top right corners:

• Advanced Writing Syllabi
• College Writing One Syllabi
• Business Writing & Technical Communication Syllabi

In addition to syllabi writing I've been putting together project descriptions, responding to emails, and getting aquatinted with the Olivet system. Many hours of work are very little seen in these beginning stages of projects, but I am excited nonetheless to jump in! As I've prepared for this year, I've taken the aesthetic, spirit, and words of my Harry Potter house (which I sorted into on Pottermore) to heart! I'm prepared with my golden accents, my mindset of hard work and patience, and even printed a beautiful Hufflepuff poster to hang in my office. Here's to a wonderful new year!

Image from Etsy

Hufflepuff Scarf from Amazon

Poster from Etsy

Instructor Introduction

Welcome to Class!

I am Dr. Bruce, and I will be your instructor this semester. I really love to teach, and I hope this semester will be informative and productive for you. I also hope that we all get to know each other. To begin, here are four things that I love:

1) TRAVELING

Durango, Colorado

Oxford, England

2) WRITING & RHETORIC

Writing Quill Tattoo

Typical Workspace

3) DOGGOS

Lacy 

Finley

4) BAKING & YOGA

Gluten Free Cinnamon Cake

Upward Facing Dog

What's Next...

Well, the Ph.D. hoopla is officially over. I received my diploma in the mail today, which was very exciting, and this weekend my wonderful husband and I hosted my graduation party at our home. We had an awesome time. It was an English Garden Party theme, and we hosted over 50 friends and family members in our home with scones, fruit, cucumber sandwiches, cupcakes, and lots of drinks. When I woke up the next morning I was just so overwhelmed by the love and support of our friends and family. As I said in my last post, I never could have done this alone.

Instagram post the morning after my graduation party

One of the most common questions that I got at my graduation party, and that I get now in general is: "so, what's next?" It's a good question, as going to school for ten years and earning a doctorate hopefully leads to something else! I am currently teaching a course called Written Communication at Madison College, and it is basically an intro to professional writing course. I am teaching the course as part of the Marketing and Client Relations Academy that is part of the School of Workforce and Economic Academy. I only have five students, so that gives us a lot of time to discuss, work through kinks, and work on projects. They also ask good, detailed questions which keep me on my toes! We are two weeks into the ten week program, and I am enjoying being back in the classroom.

Instagram post after teaching my first Written Communication course

So, for now, that is what is next. I have three English One classes lined up to teach in the fall at Madison College, and I plan to go on the job market in September. Lots of fun stuff. 

A Facebook Funny

Nothing too interesting or profound here... just a funny (slightly embarrassing) moment in the third week of teaching my Written Communication course that I posted on Facebook.  

Three, Two...

The fall 2015 semester has come to a close! That means that now is the time for editing, reflection, and getting ready for next semester. This semester was the semester of "threes," while I see next semester being the semester of "twos," which will then hopefully lead to the one thing: the dissertation!

Fall 2015

This semester, I taught three different classes. At ASU, I taught the upper division (meant for sophomores and above) courses ENG 217:

ENG 301 students working at the board.

Writing Personal Essays and ENG 301: Professional Writing. At Chandler-Gilbert Community College I taught an ENG 102: First Year Writing class that was comprised of non-traditional students. The variety in classes, schedules, and focuses was a bit challenging to balance at times, but I can really say that I had some of the best students. This is the first semester that I have not taught any 18 years olds. This happened by coincidence, but I noticed the difference in some marked ways:

1. My students were very articulate about their needs from the very beginning of the semester. Many first time college students are not sure what they will need from a professor or a class in order to be successful, but I would say the vast majority of my students this semester approached me within the first couple weeks of the semester to tell me their learning needs or ask me very specific questions. 
2. The students were also able to stake their ground in issues more readily and firmly, most likely because they had already had class discussions and interactions that enabled them to form opinions prior to entering my classroom. 
3. My students this semester were less willing or ready to adapt to new styles of learning. As my teaching is heavily informed by the genre studies model, I have noticed that 18 year olds can understand and adapt readily to that style of instruction and composition. Some of my older students struggled a bit more to grasp the reasoning behind the model or the shift in thinking. 

I really like teaching 18 year olds, but I appreciated the differences in the students populations this semester. Of course, the classes were also very different, and the teaching persona that I had to enact in each class shifted as well, due to the institution, course content, and student goals.

The cover of a children's book composed
by an ENG 217 student for their
final course project.

One last note about teaching this semester is that I can really say how thankful I am to have been initially taught how to teach in a genre studies model. I really struggled with the concepts at first, but once I got on board, I can say it has revolutionized every class that I have taught and taken. Stemming from scholars like Anis Bawarshi, Mary Jo Reiff, and Elizabeth Wardle, the genre studies model states that genres are not just static categories, they are dynamic compositions that are created for a purpose and a specific audience. In the classroom, that means that I don't teach essays (except for the first assignment in my ENG 101 class), I teach white papers, professional letters, memos, advocacy proposals, blogs, memoir chapters, podcast scripts, research reports, and the list goes on and on. This makes my time teaching and grading so much more enjoyable, and it makes the students take aways from the class so much more tangible and rewarding. Here are just three student comments on genre use in the classroom from this semester:

• ENG 102: "I'm glad that in your class you had different assignments done in different formats. I think before this class I only knew one, but now I know a few more that will help in the future." 
• ENG 217: "I never would want to be an English teacher unless it was teaching the stuff you taught us, real life writing." 
• ENG 301: "I really appreciated [learning] how to construct with memos and how to use genres. I am already using it in my job now when speaking with other companies or prospective employees."

This semester I also took three classes. Well, really, I took two classes and completed an internship. I took a class on how to teach professional writing from Dr. Mark Hannah, which obviously helped me teach ENG 301. I took a class on feminist and composition theory from Dr. Trish Boyd, and that helped me to prepare for my dissertation work. Finally, I completed an internship with Dr. Ellie Long that was eye opening in terms of institutional communication and opportunities. The logs from the internship as well as the final products of this work can be found under the "Internship" tab on this blog.

I also submitted three documents towards the completion of my doctoral degree this semester. In a simplification of the requirements, my Ph.D. will be completed in five steps:

1. Course work 
2. Two portfolio papers & a bibliography submission
3. A comprehensive exam based on the bibliography
4. A dissertation prospectus setting up my dissertation work
5. Writing and defending the dissertation work. 

I plan to have steps 1, 3, and 4 completed by May, but I was able to submit step 2 at the end of last semester! The portfolios and bibliography can be tough to get approval on, but I have a wonderful committee who gave me feedback and approved my work for submission. The above elements, as well as three cross country trips, a trip to Europe, my participation at Fem/Rhet, and planning for SWES has made this semester a busy one. Glad it's done, but I had a lot of fun.

Spring 2016

In a preview for spring 2016, I see things slowing down at least a little bit and coming in set of twos instead of threes:

Abby and awesome SWES committee
members sending proposal responses and
mapping sessions. 

• I am taking two research methods courses, both outside of the English department, but I hope that both will very helpful to me in coding and using data collected from my ENG 217 class in my dissertation. 
• I will be teaching two hybrid courses. I have never taught hybrid courses before, so I am looking forward to that change. I will again be teaching ENG 301 at ASU and ENG 102 at CGCC. 
• I will be attending two conferences. The first is obviously the Southwest English Symposium, which my co-chair, Abby Oakley, and I have been making good progress towards, and the second is the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) in Houston, TX in April. I am presenting work with my ISU colleague, Laurenn York, which I am really looking forward to. 
• I also plan to complete at least two, and hopefully three, of the steps towards degree completion listed above. Fingers crossed! 

Starting a week from today, I plan to take a two week break. Breaks are important, even if there is still a lingering guilty conscious saying "you should be working!" But I will break. And eat. And breathe. And laugh. My parents will be spending Christmas with us in the desert, and then I will be going to the mountains with friends for New Years. I don't think it gets much better than that.

I will conclude with a quote and a photo of, what I think, is one of the most beautiful places on earth: a small portion of the San Juan Mountains in Durango, CO, that I can't wait to visit again soon.

I opened each of my classes with this quote this semester, and then in a round table reading that concluded my ENG 217 class, a student read it again. I believe that it beautifully and honestly encapsulates the work and struggle of a Ph.D. student, as well as the hope and purpose of the work we do:

“And then you just do it. You just dig in and write it. You use your body. You lean over the computer and stretch and pace. You write and then cook something and write some more. You put your hand on your heart and feel it beating and decide if what you wrote feels true. You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing. That is what I know.” ~ Amy Poehler

Wishing all a truly happy and restful Christmas season and start to the new year. Cheers.