Here are some of the professional projects and experiences that have shaped me.
Check out the pages linked below to see work samples and descriptions of my experience...
- South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference Presentation: "A Student-Centered Approach to Prison Reform"
- Document Design Poster: "How to Give Effective Peer Feedback"
- Public Writing Ethnographic Report, Editing Samples, and Reflection: "Community Partner Project"
- Document Design Group Design Package: "Explaining COVID-19 to Kids"
- American Authors Rhetorical Analysis: "William Faulkner: Going Down South to the Root of Hierarchy"
- Reflective Memo about Portfolio Choices and Experiences
South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference Presentation:
"A Student-Centered Approach to Prison Reform" |
I presented this paper at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association conference in November of 2018 with the guidance of my professor, Dr. Diana Eidson. After taking her Rhetorical Theory course centered on texts about the system of mass incarceration in the United States, I was struck by the possibility of connection between the work that I was doing at the Miller Writing Center at Auburn and the tutoring needs of students in the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project.
In my research, I establish how the goals of student empowerment in writing center pedagogy and in prison education programs align and begin the framework for instituting writing centers as key components of these programs. This project combines my interest in writing studies, student empowerment, and rhetorical theory and practice in pursuit of social justice. |
Document Design: Poster
"How to Give Effective Peer Feedback" |
I created this poster for my Document Design course in the spring of 2020, using my experience and training from the Miller Writing Center and the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was tutoring weekly with the APAEP’s college degree program and doing a writing-focused session. “How to Give Effective Peer Feedback” was one of my upcoming lessons, because it's a skill that the students can use in their college courses to come, as well as sharing it with other people in prison who aren't in the degree program. I sought design strategies of contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, and enclosure to make this poster both visually-appealing and easily navigable for my intended audience.
With experience both as a writing tutor in multiple settings and someone who has sought writing tutoring, I felt well-equipped to design this resource. I would like to continue my work with this resource by conducting usability testing with students in APAEP’s degree program when the situation allows so that I ensure I’m not just assuming what I have meets students’ needs, but staying informed about the rhetorical situation. |
Public Writing: Ethnographic Report,
Editing Samples, and Reflection "Community Partner Project" |
This project represents my desire to connect the skills that I have in technical and professional writing, such as being considerate of rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, medium of distribution), document design, and technical editing, with community engagement projects. In my Public Writing course, we worked in a team of two to collaborate with a community partner and assist in a project that required public writing expertise. My partner and I teamed up with a community garden in nearby Opelika, AL that needed help making their website friendly, inviting, and easy for the community to engage with.
The most important aspect of this project, to me, was that I understand the needs of community stakeholders, organization directors, and potential investors so that I could most effectively craft community engagement materials to draw these groups together to help them meet and understand each other’s needs. In order to do this, my partner and I conducted an ethnography using web research, meetings with program directors, and observations and interviews with community stakeholders. We remained conscious of our responsibility to participate ethically in the discourse that would represent this organization and community as we were writing and made sure the process was collaborative among various stakeholders to responsibly edit and create these materials. As you will see, our project evolved after the ethnography to account for budget constraints and where our expertise would be most effective in the time given. |
Document Design: Group
Design Package "Explaining COVID-19 to Kids" |
I worked on this design package with four other students in a Document Design course in the final weeks of our spring 2020 semester, when we had transitioned to online classes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our ultimate goal was to create a collection of designs that explained the pandemic and ways to stay safe and well to elementary-school-age children that were approachable and felt like they were created for them.
In this package, we have a social media graphic that children with the technology and caretakers can share, a “design your own mask” coloring book page, a mirror cling sticker with a song that kids can sing to make sure they wash their hands long enough, and an informational poster explaining the pandemic. After this usability testing, we adapted our designs to their responses and built on what we’d learned throughout the semester about effective design principles to ensure the success of these documents. There was also a high level of responsibility with the development of these documents, because we are dealing with relaying information that could affect the health and safety of our users, so we remained conscious of that throughout our design process. My personal contributions to this project were in drawing up design prototypes and collaboratively editing the social media graphic and mirror cling sticker and song. I also conducted the usability testing and ensured that our design team was aware of our responsibilities collectively and individually throughout the design process. We all provided each other with feedback in regular Zoom meetings. |
American Authors: Rhetorical Analysis
"William Faulkner: Going Down South to the Root of Hierarchy" |
This paper was the final essay for my American Authors class, where we focused entirely on William Faulkner’s novels. Our goal was to analyze Faulkner’s work, showcasing that we had a deep familiarity with the work we chose and could extend our analysis to themes either across his works or in different sections of the same work, as I did with his novel, Go Down, Moses. In this essay, I analyze how Faulkner portrays central characters in Go Down, Moses and their relationship with nature and other characters to critique the way that many white Southern Christians at the time used the Bible to justify ownership of land and people. I saw this character and situational analysis as a means to recognize how Faulkner enacted his novels’ lessons, rather than just showing readers.
To conduct this analysis, I considered the rhetorical context that Faulkner was writing from, the people he was writing to and about and what that might mean for his specific choices in framing, organization, and work choice. I also maintained an awareness of my personal rhetorical position in doing this analysis and adhered to the conventions of MLA style and citation that are typical of writing in the English field. Both of these choices affected my organization and presentation of my analysis in a way that I felt would be most effective for getting the point across to my intended audience. |
Reflective Memo
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The following is a link to a memo detailing how these pieces have contributed to my professional development and their basis in professional and public writing theory.
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