Teaching Accomplishments and Connection to Research
My teaching philosophy and practice embrace the MSU Department of Theatre ethos of helping individual students find their areas of strength:
Project-based assessments allow students to customize assignments to their interests. I develop flexible assignments that allow students to explore their existing expertise and to develop new knowledge through creative engagement with course material.
- One student’s anthology review project focused on a Filipino playwright, deepening her knowledge from an RCAH class on Filipinx writers.
- A Chinese student’s pitch project focused on classical Chinese theatre, and her production history project considered Shakespeare in Chinese translation.
- Adjusting assignments in graduate courses to focus on pedagogy: one student developed curriculum for teaching acting to singers.
- Providing opportunities for grad students to present scholarly research: Translation Symposium in conjunction with production of The Serpent Landy. Facilitating opportunities for grad students as teaching artists: in Friends of Theatre scripts class.
Mentorship of individual students in dramaturgy and playwriting; travel as learning opportunity
- Helped an MFA Acting student to plan research trip to Paris
- Encouraged an undergraduate student to submit ten-minute play to MATC and mentored her through conference attendance
- Wrote award narrative for a student’s Excellence in Diversity Award based on his facilitation of international playwriting competition
- Co-led NYC Study Away program
I focus on experiential learning and taking advantage of resources, providing unique and timely experiences for students to tie in with department curriculum and university-wide initiatives.
- Special topics course on China and Intercultural Theatre allowed students to explore exhibits at Broad Museum and MSU Museum to link with themed year on “The China Experience”
- Aligned topics course on History and Theory of Comedy with Rob Roznowski’s Comedy Acting course
- Reframing Play Analysis course to connect with Absurdist theme of Freshman Showcase in Fall 2016
Innovation in Hybrid and Online Courses
- Mentoring grad students in online teaching
- Revising online courses to solidify learning opportunities by reducing potential for plagiarism (THR 350)
- Worked with Deric McNish, Alison Dobbins, and Rob Roznowski on developing new online THR course Sex, Sexuality, and Theatre
- Managed large Gen Ed IAH 241D course; innovation through weekly attendance/engagement assignments; taking lead on writing essay prompts.
- I have presented at national theatre conferences as an expert on online teaching
My teaching is regularly connected to Public Service and Outreach:
- Young Playwrights Festival in collaboration with Wharton Center; reader for Renegade Theatre Festival
- Lectures and leading discussions for community: Whitehills Book Club; East Lansing Woman’s Club; Friends of Theatre; Flint Water Crisis Symposium moderator for Urinetown
I habitually make connections among Scholarship/Creative Activity and Teaching:
- Regularly presenting at national conferences in Theatre Studies and Eighteenth Century Studies; articles, reviews, and translations appear in peer-reviewed journals.
- Pedagogy informs scholarship: publishing on strategies for teaching Brecht to Theatre majors in Brecht Yearbook; publishing on use of campus museum resources in LMDA Sourcebook.
- Theatre as laboratory for translation/adaptation: The Serpent Lady, The Misanthrope
- Published article on dramaturgy and citizenship based on 60/50 Theatre Project
- Focus on making scholarly ideas accessible to a range of audiences
2018-2019 Walter and Pauline Adams Academy for Instructional Excellence and Innovation Fellow