Post-Study Tour Reflections: Now It’s My Turn

Having now returned from my internship with the Uganda leadership study tour, I want to reflect on the experience, not as a traveler, but as an educator. So rather than focus on what I learned as a participant alongside the students (which is a considerable amount!), I want to discuss what I learned about developing a successful and non-neocolonial (see previous post) study tour in … Continue reading Post-Study Tour Reflections: Now It’s My Turn

“Le genre hétéro trèèès curieuse” : Biphobia in Le Bleu est une couleur chaude

Update: this talk is now published as an article in The Central Dissent (FA18) and can be read here. This post is a talk I gave on September 30, 2017 at the 2nd International Gender and Sexuality Studies Conference in OKC. You can find the accompanying Prezi with the relevant images from both the graphic novel and its film adaptation here.  I particularly enjoyed this conference … Continue reading “Le genre hétéro trèèès curieuse” : Biphobia in Le Bleu est une couleur chaude

Denver Comic Con 2017 Educators’ Day (6/30) recap

Energized. That’s the only word to describe how I’m feeling after another day spent surrounded by teachers and curriculum developers bursting with innovative ideas and strategies for using pop culture as a learning tool in classrooms of all levels. This year, I got to share it with fellow Graduate Teacher Program Lead, Kelly (access her  website here and her own recap of DCC here). And geek out … Continue reading Denver Comic Con 2017 Educators’ Day (6/30) recap

The Reason for Alternative Assessment: A Case Study from CU FREN 1200

It’s one thing to study alternative assessment, to watch students flourish with more control and choice over their work, to write about its merits, but it’s quite another to receive an assignment that turns an entire student experience upside-down, simply because they were given a completely different format in which to express their learning. This student, I’ll call them D, struggled all semester. No, that’s … Continue reading The Reason for Alternative Assessment: A Case Study from CU FREN 1200

The Fun Case for Alternative Assessment

“I had so much fun grading papers last night!”  Not a sentiment frequently heard, expressed, or even thought. Yet this legitimately describes my experience a few weeks ago after reading my students’ Beowulf quizzes. Over the last several semesters, I have shifted my idea of what evaluation should look like. We are so accustomed to one type of exam or paper (especially in literature fields), … Continue reading The Fun Case for Alternative Assessment