Anastasia Wright Turner
stasia@uga.edu
Teaching Philosophy
I am a teacher because I love to learn. In the job of teaching, learning is perennial; we learn from new pedagogies, fellow teachers, and most of all, from our students. The more our students learn, the more we in turn learn from them. As a teacher, I instill within my students this same love of learning by encouraging them to forget traditionally taught modes of learning and to embrace their own specific learning styles and interests.
Thus, the main objective in my class is to establish open communication. To accomplish this goal, I try to alleviate any anxieties the students may have with either me or their fellow students by assigning group presentations within the first few weeks of class. By beginning the class in this way, classmates form early bonds that last throughout the semester and beyond. Students also realize they can learn not only from me, but also from one another. Perhaps most importantly, this group work puts students at ease in the classroom, freeing them to express ideas and opinions. My classroom style is largely discussion, where both students and I pose and answer questions. No question or answer is ever wrong; it may need to be adjusted some, but each off-kilter answer can turn into a before-missed teaching point or an outstanding paper topic.
As a scholar of literature, I love peeling back layer after layer of a poem to root out nuanced meanings, following each tendril that unfurls before me into whatever discipline or idea it leads to. These tendrils have led me halfway across the world and back, deep into history, and forward into the study of the Chinese language. As a teacher, I want my students to understand this same joy of following meaning where it may go, regardless of the direction. Thus, in an effort to enhance creativity, I do not assign paper topics. I instead encourage my students to look for links between their own interests and the literature we have read. When free to travel and explore their own ideas, I feel students come to a lasting understanding of literature and writing on their own terms.
Yet learning is not a process solely shouldered by my students. I believe in mandatory one-on-one conferences where students can discuss their ideas and questions, hopes and fears for their papers. Writing cannot be taught only through lecture; it requires repeated effort, evaluation, and revision. This one-on-one contact also allows me to devote time to each student’s individual strengths and improving his or her weaknesses.
Finally, I wish for my students to understand the joy of continual questioning. My teaching is above all aimed at opening students’ minds to possibilities they may have never imagined, to pushing the boundaries of their ideas. I believe literature, and most especially the process of writing about literature, accomplishes this goal through asking students to reevaluate previously held beliefs. By discovering for themselves one poem or writing one paper that faithfully reflects their own ideas, my students discover their own personal truths and beliefs and learn to express themselves in a way that may just change their own small piece of the world.
Educational and Professional Background:
BS in Chemistry, BA in English from Wofford College, 2000
Currently a 5th year PhD Student in the English Department
Research interests: multicultural American literature, Chinese language, literature and culture, modernism, travel literature