As a writing teacher, I strive to provide a learning environment that engages my students with ideas, gives them an opportunity for genuine inquisitiveness, and fosters their competence to succeed in the world not only as employees but also as citizens. I encourage my students to read texts attentively (whether oral, printed, or electronic), to record questions and comments as they read, and to consider the social, historical, and normative contexts out of which the texts arise and out of which their own worldviews are formed. Through this process, I hope they will encounter, consider, and learn to respect new and different points of view and to form responsible judgments and opinions. I expect students to be actively involved in the learning process as they collaborate with me and with each other to articulate their thoughts in writing so that they can convince various audiences that their ideas are worthy of consideration. As my audience, I want them to see my enthusiasm for and dedication to my field. I would like them to know that my job is to help them learn, but that I also enjoy learning from them. Outside of the classroom, I devote my time to one-on-one conferencing (either face-to-face or electronically).
        While I emphasize writing as a process, I also expect my students to consider carefully what kinds of products will result from their recursive writing strategies. I recommend that they spend time engaging in invention activities before they begin to compose their papers so they can have a chance to discover what they want to write about, what they can successfully write about, and what kind of audience they might be writing for. To encourage engagement in and responsibility for their choices, I urge students to construct their own topics. Students bring multiple drafts to class for workshops and peer response prior to submitting a "final" draft for formal assessment. I try to encourage my students to produce texts that are connected to their social and political communities outside the walls of the classroom and that move beyond graded academic exercises and into active cultural participation. Although written discourse is our primary focus, my students frequently compose one text for a webbed electronic multimedia environment. Much of the time in class is spent writing or collaborating about writing, but I also highly encourage general discussion both during class as well as outside of class via electronic bulletin boards.