Tiffany Richmond

Teaching Philosophy

Writing is both challenging and rewarding for composition students. I have frequently heard the
groans at the introduction of an assignment and sat back and laughed to myself as my students enact

the role of authority when it comes time to share and workshop writing in the classroom. That sense
of ownership I is very valuable to writers at all levels, and I believe it provides the drive to improve

their work. Students are authorities on somethingtheir own life experiences. It is my hope to draw
out more ways to connect and enrich their own experiences with their development as an academic
writer through incorporating personal narratives and digital compositions. Authority is both role
and constitution. As students move through different spaces they will shift in positionality to those
spaces and the roles that they fill within those spaces. At the same time, students are experts on their

own experiences and their growing constitution reflects that expertise. In my classroom, students

enact and cultivate ownership and the role of authority as citizens, community members and writers.
A confident writer is a better writer, so providing the classroom space and assignments that give
room for that confidence to blossom, makes transitioning into other genres of composition much
more effective. I try to make these connections and build confidence through extensive interaction.

These interactions take many forms: individual conferencing, in class workshopping, and virtual

communication--twitter, audio feedback and more. It is my habit to provide feedback early and often
with my students. Workshopping allows the students time to share their writing experiences with

me one-on-one and gives me the opportunity to hear them think through their work and share how
it relates to their personal experiences. I find this to be one of the most rewarding aspects of being an
instructor. It frequently informs class assignments, activities, and my own interaction with them in

and outside of the classroom as well as one-on-one. There is a clear human element to digital modes
of composition that is fostered through these interactions and that aides the transfer of experience to

student work. Composition is a conversationone that occurs in and out of the classroom.

Incorporating personal experience into class assignments often allows students the familiar tracks to
extend their writing into new areas of composition, deepening their constitution and expertise.

There are several key points that I consider are the structure for achieving academic and professional
success through writing involves teaching the genres of composition as related to both the academic

and professional world; providing a non-confrontational setting through open discussions and group

activities to solidify concepts presented in class instruction; safe, digital environments that allow
students to play; and peer collaboration to develop and receive constructive criticism as well as to
reinforce that composition is a conversation, no matter what the field of study or career.

Peer collaboration is crucial in the classroom. Sometimes it takes the form of small group discussions
that end with a response given in various modalities. This method allows students to see other

perspectives and work with them to create a composition that represents the group. At other times, I
have had students team-teach, which gives them the ownership of the readings/lesson and the benefit

Tiffany Richmond
Teaching Philosophy

of having a peer to support and collaborate with for ways to engage and teach their peers. In turn, I

have frequently found an increase of respect and classroom interaction from this form of assignment.
I believe that this kind of collaborative work introduces them to skills, spaces and principles that they
will need as they continue through their academic experience as well as in the role of professionals.

While I am committed to my research and scholarship, I value my interaction with my students as

the most important aspect of my work. From my first day teaching in the writing classroom, I realized
that this was the space I wanted to work in. Over the last five years, I have taught a variety of learners

from a range cultural backgrounds, academic experience, language proficiency levels, both face-toface and in hybrid learning spacesspaces that I am familiar with both as student and teacher. I
have benefitted from the knowledge that my students bring to the classroom and have since
developed curricula that draws from that knowledge to advance student writing and writing

strategies. In my courses, Writing the Community and Writing With(in) the Community, I

designed assignments and class activities around literacy practices and experiences that students
bring with them from community that they participate in. Through readings across cultural spaces,
students learned how to embrace and hone their communal knowledge in their own writing. Course
readings, assignments, and discussions taught students to value their identity. Through these

activities students understand their roles as members across multiple spaces and communities,
becoming engaging citizens both in and outside of the classroom.