First-Year Writing
Selected Student Evaluations
Selected Quantitative Responses
“Comments on my papers help me improve my writing” 4.55/5
“When I have a question or comment I know it will be respected” 4.75/5
“My instructor seems well-prepared for class” 4.55/5
“My instructor is friendly and accessible” 4.70/5
“My instructor shows respect for diverse groups of people” 4.73/5
“My instructor is open to differences in perspective” 4.70/5
Selected Qualitative Responses
On class environment
“I really enjoyed this class as my professor had great enthusiasm the entire class. It was really enjoyable and knowing that my professor cares about me and my writing made this class a great experience.”
“[Dee] has a genuine interest in the topic which leaks out into the students, causing them to be interested as well.”
“Very open to everyone’s thoughts and comments and takes everything all into consideration.”
“[Dee] always explains assignments in a way that makes it easy to understand and complete.”
“This teacher is really good at incorporating material.”
On responses to student writing
“The feedback that Dee gives on the assignments is very helpful.”
“Dee is effective at getting feedback back to you and I wholly appreciated that.”
“Dee does an incredible job of providing extremely beneficial and informative feedback.”
On conferences
“I really really enjoyed the group conferences [and] individual conferences because I feel like I really benefited from them and was able to improve my writing from learning from my mistakes and hearing input. It was also very helpful to be able to ask questions and have them be more focused on my specific topic.”
“I personally liked how Dee tried to focus on each of the students in conferences as opposed to letting one person ask about something the whole time.”
On relation to students
“It was nice to have a professor that valued you as a student and was there to assist you in any matter needed.”
“I really appreciated how [Dee] was very helpful and encouraging to our writing.”
“Accepts all thoughts/comments and is always willing to help students.”
“They are very good at being there for us one on one.”
“Incredibly nice and approachable.”
Technology Mentoring
This mentoring position involved delivering pedagogical workshops, typically two per week, to small groups of graduate student instructors in their first year with Introductory Composition at Purdue (ICaP). These workshops typically included technological instruction, introduction to best practices and pedagogical principles, and group discussion or workshopping of classroom applications.
Catalogue of Technology Mentoring Workshops
Bolded entries are workshops I delivered multiple times.
Audio and Video Production
- Creating Podcasts with Audacity and Garageband
- Assigning, Teaching, and Assessing Video Projects
- Video Production Programs: Adobe Premiere, iMovie, and Windows Movie Maker
Visual Rhetoric
- Introduction to Visual Rhetoric
- Visual Rhetoric and Research Posters
- Adobe Photoshop I and II
- Visual Rhetoric and Infographics
- Presentations and Design
Designing Documents
- Adobe InDesign I and II
- Deeper Functions of Google Drive, Forms, and Draw
- Deeper Power of Word: Word Processing and Document Design
Mobile, Social and Interactive Media
- Composing with Social Media
- Procedural Texts and Technologies
Orientation Week
- Making the Most of Your Lab Days
- Intro to Blackboard
Research Practices
- Electronic Research and Documentation
- Primary Research
- Using Online Citation Managers (Zotero, Endnote, Mendeley)
Pedagogical Practices
- Creating and Assessing Multimedia Projects
- Teaching Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons
- Non-Native Speakers of English and Teaching with Technology
- Plagiarism and Technology Concerns
- Developing Accessible Teaching Materials
- Communicating with Students and Teaching Online
Professionalization
- Archiving Your Class and Managing Course Evaluations
- Electronic Teaching Portfolios
- Preparing for English 106 Showcase
- Recording Yourself and Observation Pedagogy
- Designing Websites
Instructor Comments on Technology Mentoring
On developing classroom materials
- “Tech Mentoring allowed me to think about how I might use computer lab time effectively. Tech Mentoring has given me the terminology to discuss different topics with my students, as well as allowed me to think about how to teach different units.”
- “I really appreciate the time that we are given to apply the discussions we have had to our specific classes—so like brainstorming for our own classes and asking questions.”
- “I was able to suggest resources for specific tasks to my students based on my learning of those resources from the tech mentors.”
- “I’ve used materials and discussions from Tech Mentoring to develop my own lesson plans.”
On learning new technologies
- “I would have been lost on BlackBoard and visual rhetoric if not for tech mentoring.”
- “I learned about a lot of cool technologies that I didn’t know about before in ways that helped me create interesting assignments and class activities, and also in ways that just helped me as a student myself. I just feel more technologically literate as a person, and now I can help my students better because of it.”
- “I learned a huge amount about professionalization and using technology in my classroom and my professional life. I feel like I became a more effective teacher and scholar, like I am far better at utilizing technology to make my life easier.”
- “I feel like I learned ways to be creative with using technology in my classroom, as well as to feel comfortable with it more generally, and for that, I’m really grateful.”
- “I think it gave me a model of accessing technology and more confidence to present certain aspects of my lessons to my students, both technically and content-wise (PowerPoint and visual rhetoric, printing and library access, etc.).”
On first-year instructor mentoring
- “Patrick and Dee were extremely helpful and approachable, and made my first year teaching a much easier process!”
- “I used a massive amount of the material you went over, and I even tried to present it how you did, because you are both effective, knowledgeable, and engaging instructors!”
- “The workshops were learning-centered and mentors were sure to ask questions and guide us through any challenges.”
Deanna Tomasin McCormick 