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- 1. 1 Teaching Philosophy Studying writingand literature is an active, three-way conversation that involves the instructor, the students, and the author. My role as the professor/facilitator is to help students understand the importance of written communication and that some literature is ageless, as it involves age-old dilemmas within the greater human family. More importantly, I want students to understand that written communication matters and that literature, even creative/fictional pieces are re-presentations of life itself. Students learn that no matter the age of a classical text, we can find ourselves in the lives of the very flawed characters that the author presents. In addition to becoming familiar with the internal/external conflicts of the literature presented to students, I want them to understand that college knowledge is often interdisciplinary. A writing strategy learned in the earliest composition courses will more than likely be used in other humanities courses such as history, anthropology, psychology, or even a hard science such as biology. Another one of my major tasks is to help students understand that literary analysis extends to mediums that are not traditionally considered texts, such as television shows, songs, movies and other popular culture venues. I work diligently to create an atmosphere in my classes where discussion is welcome and comparisons between ancient texts and contemporary situations are encouraged. Finally, my task as a facilitator is to help students understand that technology, even social media, can be used in a productive way that enhances their learning experience. In order to achieve these goals, I use several methods. First, I am a proponent of active learning. This can be quite a challenge in the composition courses in which writing well- planned, organized, papers with minimal grammatical and mechanical mistakes is the primary aim. However, by arranging debates in which students are encouraged to take sides, this obstacle is easily overcome. One strategy is to set aside one class per paper assignment for “topic lottery,” when students produce their own topics as a collective body; another successful strategy is a simple writing workshop in which students exchange papers and use a grading rubric to help each other with corrections. I am a proponent of incorporating technology into the learning experience, not denying or discouraging it. I show students how the college library has a plethora of digital holdings that enhance student research and make it more efficient. I am a proponent of hard work, but also honesty –particularly in literature classes. I encourage students to tell me if they are struggling with a text or a key passage. The aim of this “venting session” is to help students understand that the interpretation of texts is subject to our biases and the amount of knowledge that we bring to a text. If we are unaware of the historical events or cultural facts which inform the writer, we may fail to comprehend as the reader. Since writing is another form of reading, I also require written assignments that are mainly literary analysis. In summary, I am committed to providing a learning environment that is rigorous and exciting. I devise learning assignments which allow me to assess each student’s individual learning style and abilities fairly early in the semester and tailor each class session based upon those results. I treat my students with the utmost respect, and set my expectations fairly high. Students reward me by committing to the class, actively participating in discussion, going on with their educations, and every now and then, dropping me a line to show me how the skills learned in my class helped them along the way.
- 2. 2 Curriculum Vitae LaToya R.Jefferson-James 723 Buttermilk Drive Southaven, MS 38672 Phone: 901-832-0092 email: latoyajeffersonjames@yahoo.com Education 2006-2012 Doctor of Philosophy, English University of Mississippi 2006-2010 Bachelor of Art, Psychology University of Memphis 2004-2006 Master of Art, Literature University of Memphis 1999-2003 Bachelor of Art, Literature University of Mississippi Academic Seminars, Presentations, and Publications Seminars 2015 Metaphysical Sister Scholars Participant Writing Retreat Eatonville, Florida 2006-2007 The Global South Discussion Group, University of Mississippi 2004-2005 African Women Writers Reading Circle, University of Memphis 2004 Incorporating Technology in the Classroom Pedagogical Seminar, University of Memphis Conferences 2015 Presenter, UNCF/Mellon: “Mississippi: the Othered’s Other” Atlanta, Georgia 2014 Presenter, CLA: “A Caribbean Rewrite of Destructive Black American Masculinity” New Orleans, Louisiana 2014 Presenter, CLA: “Black Women in Reality Television” New Orleans, Louisiana 2013 Chair and Presenter, ALA: “When Revolutionary Violence Becomes Normalized: Everyday Zhii in Marechera’s House of Hunger” Charleston, South Carolina 2010 Presenter, University of Memphis Graduate Student Conference: “Reclaiming Black Masculine Identity” University of Memphis 2010 Presenter, NCBS: “Where the “isms” Meet: Ann Petry’s The Street as Cautionary Tale” New Orleans, Louisiana 2008 Presenter, Southern Writers Southern Writing: “Looking for Self and Finding the South” University of Mississippi 2005 Presenter, Arkansas Delta Blues Conference: “Texts that Shaped the Delta’s Image” University of Arkansas, Jonesboro
- 3. 3 Publications Forthcoming: “TeachingAnn Petry’s The Street as a Layered Text.” Critical Black Studies Reader. Eds. Rochelle Brock, Dara Nix-Stevens, and Paul Chamness Miller- Kuriyama. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. 2016 “Looking for Self and Finding the South: Exploding the Myth of Egalitarian Paris in Shay Youngblood’s Black Girl in Paris.” Journal of Pop Culture 2015 “Selective Recycling: Perpetuating Misleading Cultural Identities in the Reality Television World.” Real Sister: Stereotypes, Respectability, and Black Women in Reality TV. Ed. Jervette Ward. New Jersey: Rutgers UP 2014 “When Revolutionary Violence Becomes Normalized: Everyday Zhii in Marechera’s House of Hunger,” special issue of the Journal of African Literature Association Winter/Spring 2013 “No Less Sophisticated: Zora Neale Hurston for the 21st Century” in Zora Neale Hurston: an Annotated Bibliography of Works and Criticism. Ed. Cynthia Davis and Verner Mitchell. Lanham: Scarecrow Press Community Service to the University 2015 Course Developer Summer Bridge Program/Volunteer Teacher, Rust College 2015-2016 Catalog Review Committee, Rust College 2010 Workshop Organizer and Presenter, “Taking Advantage of the College Library,” University of Mississippi Desoto Writing Center 2009 Workshop Organizer and Presenter, “Structuring Large Research Papers,” University of Mississippi Desoto Writing Center *Classes Taught Developmental Writing Composition African American Literature American Literature World Literature African American Studies Humanities Other Employment in the Academy 2010-2012 Writing Center Consultant 2016 Reading Instructor, Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics/Robotics Summer Camp, Rust College Awards and Recognition 2015 UNCF Mellon Summer Research Grant 2011 University of Mississippi Summer Research Award
- 4. 4 Professional Membership AfricanLiterature Association Association for the Study of African American History and Life (ASALAH) National Council of Black Studies College Language Association References Dr. Loretta McBride Professor English Southwest Tennessee Community College lmcbride@southwest.tn.edu 901-333-4604 Dr. Preselfannie McDaniels, Ph.D. Associate Professor, English Box 17600 1400 John R. Lynch St. Jackson, MS 39217 Preselfannie.w.mcdaniels@jsums.edu 601-979-6928 Dr. Alisea Williams McLeod Associate Professor, English 150 Rust Avenue Holly Springs, MS 38635 amcleod@rustcollege.edu 662-252-8000 ext. 4560 Dr. Verner Mitchell, Graduate Coordinator University of Memphis Memphis, TN 38151 vdmtchll@memphis.edu 901-678-3099 *See the syllabus addendum for itemized class list.
- 5. 5 Classes Taught School Year:2006-2007 Course and Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 121 Fall Basic Writing Rust College Eng 101 Fall Composition I University of Mississippi Eng 250 Summer Business Composition University of Mississippi Is there any special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below:
- 6. 6 School Year: 2008-2009 Courseand Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 1010 Fall Composition I Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Spring Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Summer Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Engl 2650 Spring African American Lit Southwest Tennessee Community College Is there any special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below: I learned, through teaching African American literature, that many students do not have thorough grounding in the Hebrew Bible. They were misinterpreting the literature due to a lack of simple biblical knowledge. Since this school year, I have added an entire unit of Old Testament basic study BEFORE the study of literature.
- 7. 7 School Year: 2009-2010 Courseand Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 1020 Fall Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Spring Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Engl 2310 Fall World Literature of Antiquity Southwest Tennessee Community College Engl 2320 Summer World Literature Since 1650 Southwest Tennessee Community College Engl 2650 Fall African American Literature Southwest Tennessee Community College Is there any special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain the box below: I began teaching World Literature of Antiquity as an emergency assignment. The teacher left in the middle of the semester, and I was asked to step in, since I was pursuing a doctorate in world literature. It was a fluid transition, and the class was successful.
- 8. 8 School Year: 2010-2011 Courseand Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 1010 Spring Composition I Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Fall Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Engl 2310 Fall World Literature of Antiquity Southwest Tennessee Community College Engl 2320 Summer World Literature Since 1650 Southwest Tennessee Community College Is there any special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain the box below:
- 9. 9 School Year: 2011-2012 Courseand Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 1010 Fall Composition I Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1010 Spring Composition I Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Fall Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Spring Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Summer Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Engl 2650 Fall African American Literature Southwest Tennessee Community College Is there any special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below:
- 10. 10 School Year: 2012-2013 Couseand Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 1010 Fall Composition I Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Fall Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Eng 1020 Summer Composition II Southwest Tennessee Community College Is there anything special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below: There is a gap in the teaching here. The institution experienced a severe enrollment drop, and my classes were eliminated in the spring. They did not make. The Composition I class was on what they call a Flex Term, a semester which lasts for seven weeks. The Composition II class was taken on an emergency basis – as the original instructor experienced a sickness and death in her family. I took the class two or three weeks into the semester.
- 11. 11 School Year: 2013-2014 Couseand Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution AAS 1063 Fall Introduction to African American Studies Mississippi State University AAS 1063 Spring Introduction to African American Studies Mississippi State University AAS 2363 Spring Introduction to African American Literature Mississippi State University Engl 2202 (2 sections) Fall Literary Heritage: African American Literature University of Memphis Is there anything special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below: The Introduction to African American Literature class at Mississippi State was created and taught by myself. Also, I taught two sections of Literary Heritage at the University of Memphis.
- 12. 12 School Year: 2014-2015 Courseand Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 121 Fall Basic Writing Rust College Eng 134 Fall Composition I Rust College Eng 134 Summer Composition I Rust College Eng 136 Fall Composition II Rust College Eng 136 Spring Composition II Rust College Eng 233 Spring Introduction to Literature Rust College Engl 339 Fall Medieval Literature Rust College Engl 431 Fall Special Topics in Literature Rust College Engl 434 Spring History of the English Language Rust College SOCL Summer (OASIS) Social and Cultural Literacy Rust College Is there anything special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below: Rust College is on what is called a module system. Our semesters last 8 weeks, and we are on a 5/5 course load split with one mandatory summer session during May. This gives us 11 classes per year. I taught two sections of Composition II during the Spring. The Social and Cultural Literacy class was one that I co-created with a colleague. It was meant to be an introduction to African American history class, and was taught during a two-week session for the O.A.S.I.S. pre-semester program. It has now become part of the regular Rust College catalog as a general education course.
- 13. 13 School Year: 2015-2016 CourseName and Number Semester Brief Course Description Institution Eng 121 Fall Basic Writing Rust College Eng 121 Summer (OASIS) Basic Writing Rust College Eng 134 Fall Composition I Rust College Eng 134 Spring Composition I Rust College Eng 136 (2 sections) Fall Composition II Rust College Engl 236 Fall World Literature Since 1650 Rust College Engl 333 Spring American Literature I Rust College Engl 334 Spring American Literature II Rust College Engl 430 Spring Introduction to Linguistics Rust College Engl 437 Fall Major Authors Rust College Is there anything special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below: The American Literature II and Introduction to Linguistic courses were offered as hybrid courses due to my pregnancy and childbirth later in that module. All course work was completed and grades posted for both the classes.
- 14. 14 School Year: 2016-2017 CourseName and Number Semester Brief Description Institution Eng 121 Fall Basic writing Rust College Eng 134 Fall Composition I Rust College Hum 233 Fall Introduction to the Humanities Rust College Is there anything special feature in any class that you would like to add? If so, explain below: Humanities is basically Western Civilization with an African component. Whereas Western Civilization is focused largely on the Near East, Greece, and Rome, the humanities survey incorporates African kingdoms and the literatures they produced as well.