Teaching Portfolio

Chelsea Rae Meade

This presented portfolio encompasses the following documents: My curriculum vitae, my teaching
philosophy, and a classroom observation report.

Table of Contents
Curriculum Vitae.3
Teaching Philosophy....5
Classroom Observation Report....6

CHELSEA RAE MEADE

4215 Apt 1. Avent Ferry Road
Raleigh, NC 27606
(267) 629-9147
Email: crmeade@ncsu.edu

EDUCATION
M.A. English/Rhetoric and Composition, North Carolina State University, anticipated 2016
B.A. English Literature, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, 2014 (Magna Cum Laude)

TEACHING APPOINTMENTS
Instructor of Record, ENG101: Academic Writing and Research, 2015-16
Conduct 100-minute class sessions twice a week in a BYOT (Bring your own
technology) classroom
Plan lessons according to the First Year Writing WID (Writing in the Disciplines)
program
Distribute and grade four major paper assignments that reflect the values of the
natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities disciplines
Attend two developmental workshops per semester in order to gather new teaching
strategies
Teaching Assistant, English Department, North Carolina State University, 2014-15
Regularly attend and observe a 50-minute ENG101 class taught by an experienced
lecturer (Wanda Lloyd) twice a week
Plan and teach one month-long unit on writing in the humanities
Assess student papers
Attend two developmental workshops in order to gather new teaching strategies

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Writing Fellow, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, 2013-14

Assist development II writing students with all class assignments

Attend developmental II writing class on a weekly basis
Consult groups of three to four student writers simultaneously
Conduct preliminary and concluding surveys
Record session results and deliver to instructor

Writing Consultant, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Writing Center, 2011-14

Assist undergraduate and graduate students with written assignments

Schedule appointments for incoming writers
Help students create online portfolios
Present orientations to classrooms
Document students information in Google Docs
Reference handbooks
Maintain a pleasant demeanor toward all writers and colleagues

HONORS AND AWARDS

Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award, 2016
Deans List (all undergraduate semesters 2010-2014)
Runner-Up for Baillie Literary Criticism Award Spring 2014
Louis F. Thompson Scholarship (English Department) Spring 2013
Outstanding Liberal Arts English Major 2013-2014 and 2012-2013

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Word Smarts with Dr. Mary Bernath and Adina Evans, College Media Association (CMA)
Convention. New York, NY: March 15, 2014
Exactly What is Generated in the Classroom?: How Writing Fellows' Classroom Experiences
Influence Interactions with Students and Faculty, with Dr. Ted Roggenbuck and Sierra
Altenbach, Mid-Atlantic Writing Center Association (MAWCA) Conference. Salisbury, MD:
April 4-5, 2014
Managing Your Media Menagerie, with Dr. Mary Bernath, Vanessa Pellechio, Joe Fisher,
and Tom Ciampoli, College Media Association (CMA) Convention. New York, NY: March 12,
2013.
Dialect in the Writing Center, with Kelsey Updegrave and Annie Reno, International
Writing Center Association (IWCA) Conference. San Diego, CA: October 25, 2012.

WORKSHOPS ATTENDED
Low Stakes Kinesthetic Activities For First Year Writing Classes, facilitated by Kim Lilienthal and Emily Jo
Schwaller, November 18, 2015.
Critical Reading Strategies for FYW Students, facilitated by Anne Auten, September 9,
2015.

References available upon request

Teaching Philosophy
Reflective of McLeods Notes on the Heart: Affective Issues in the Writing Classroom,
my classroom pedagogy incorporates elements of affect theory, particularly McLeods cognitive
theory of emotion. McLeod argues that although affect has often been thought of as distinct from
cognition, its more productive to think of the affect/cognition split not as a dichotomy but as a
dialectic (7). She argues that in the classroom, we observe emotion, motivation, beliefs, and
attitudes, all of which have a role in the cognitive process of composing. In my classroom, I
encourage students to constantly reflect on their emotional response to the assigned unit in order
to gauge how I can adapt my lessons to reach their emotional state and instill some kind of
motivation for them to understand and work through their writing process. This sometimes
comes in the form of index cards in the beginning, middle, and end of the writing process, where
I encourage students to choose whatever composition mode they feel most confident in and
communicate to me their feelings on the assignment. I use this warm-up activity in order to
connect with my students emotionally in regards to how theyre feeling not just as students in my
class, but as students in the university with multiple classes, extracurriculars, social lives, and
possibly part-time jobs. Though McLeod doesnt quite touch on the students personal lives in
depth, my philosophy is concerned with not just how the students feel during the composing
process, but also how their outside lives affect how they approach the composing process.
The major semester activity that best illustrates my philosophy is what I call Classroom
Negotiation Day. At the midway point in the semester, students will have learned principles of
rhetoric and tools of persuasion; therefore, I ask them to choose one element in my classroom
that they believe needs to be changedi.e., create an exigenceand craft a persuasive argument
in favor of altering the classroom element using their understanding of the rhetorical situation.
Based on how well they persuade me, I will negotiate that particular activity in the class, with the
exception of program and university policies that I am unable to alter. Students have drawn
pictures, written poems, and crafted dialogues in order to rhetorically appeal to the situation.
Through this activity, I am often empathetic to their requests and am willing to negotiate how I
run the classroom based on their own needs as people, not just as students. I find this particular
activity the most fruitful because it combines the students emotional response to their
coursework with cognitive processing as they work through why that particular activity does not
suit their needs as writers and/or as people. Then, they can begin to reflect on what process will
work for them most productively in the classroom and during their composing process.
By engaging in a cognitive theory of affect, I hope to create a space for students where
they feel they are not only heard, but acknowledged; I hope to create an atmosphere where they
have an active role in the design of the classroom based on their own needs as students and as
people.

NCSU ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION REPORT

Teacher Observed: Rae Meade

Class Observed: ENG 101
Date of Visit: 16 September 2015
Observer: xxxxx

Description of Class Session

I visited the first half of Rae Meades 100-minute ENG 101 class. The students in Raes class
were engaged in peer-review and discussed some important aspects of their papers as field
studies in scientific writing. Before the class, students misunderstood some of the assignments
parameters, and thus Rae spent most of her time clarifying and reiterating the assignments goals
while also reiterating some important rhetorical lessons for writing in general. Since it was peerreview day, Rae spent the first part of the class clarifying some confusion that her students had
about the assignment, which helped them tune in more effectively to Raes expectations for the
assignment. Rae responded to her students field notes concerning their first paper in a corporate
manner, i.e. she made sure not to single-out any one students mistake. In doing this, she
addressed very clearly the issues some students have about the length of the assignment. The
second item she talked about in her lecture was the idea of subjectivity in academic writing. She
connects her idea of subjectivity with what students will do in peer-review, noting that
subjectivity is often a key part in evaluation, but that peer-review can help create objective
situations within a written assignment. Rae also talked about organization in her lesson, tying in
her point previously made about subjectivity in writing. Throughout this mini-lecture on
organization, she gave students the chance to ask questions about organizations function in
accordance to the assignments length and her own expectations, and students responded in a
positive manner, as it appeared Raes clarifications were effective for them. Rae moved on to the
results section of her lesson (as it pertains to the class assignment), where students seemed
willing to discuss the topic and also seemed to grasp her point well. The rhetorical lessons she
pulled out of her class discussion on the results and discussion elements of the assignment
become clear to students: results sections do not inherently require a lot of interpretation, but a
discussion section requires more interpretative analysis in the assignment. She next discussed
with her students the sections of the assignment in accordance to some examples she showed on
the screen in the class. Students discussed in groups some of the questions she asked about the
examples, and reported back to Rae their answers, thus further clarifying the parameters of the
6

assignment. As a class, they critiqued static elements in the model assignments and discussed
when the papers should exhibit movement from one point to another, and when they should
focus more deeply on one point compared to another. Rae brought up once more some points for
clarification in students papers again, and talked about exact and inexact usage of some defining
terms in the assignment. As such, she showed examples of these varying types of usage for the
field discussion. Finally, she discussed candidly the imaginative and rhetorical requirements of
writing about the parts and the whole in the paper.

Description of Set of Papers N/A

Assessment & Suggestions

Rae creates a very inviting classroom at the outset, reminding her students indirectly of her warm
personality and engaging teaching style. It is apparent that students have picked up on this, as
they engage in regular conversation with her before class even starts. Raes students were
generally quiet throughout the class, but this may be due to the topic of her class for the day. Rae
had to spend a length of time during her class clarifying some important points in the assignment
(a field report) that students had, I presume, misunderstood. As an instructor working to clarify
significant criteria for an assignment, the way she methodically went through each part and let
students work on it in class fostered an indulgent attitude in the students. From the small amount
of time I observed her class, they came up with ideas that directly correlated what Rae was trying
to get across to them.
Raes pedagogy combines both presentation and small group work. Instead of asking students
tough questions as a whole, she lets students work through those questions in small groups and
then respond to her. Again, the students were more on the quiet side for the day, though Rae
gave much high energy in her questions and manner of teaching for the day.
Although Raes inherent teaching style is inviting, it might become beneficial to physically move
through the room from behind the front desk. Doing this might match the intellectual
engagement she already brings to the class. By matching physical and intellectual energy,
students pick up on your rhetorical presentation. Also, Rae is quick to reveal her own innercritic. For instance, I have an inner-critic that is constantly talking in my head as I teach, but my
students have no knowledge of this. I think Raes teaching itself merits effectiveness, invitation,
and engagement, and she shouldnt think that she should have to admit her small mistakes her
students wouldnt notice already. A huge strength of Raes pedagogy lies in how she mediates
complex material in understandable ways for students. Especially since she spent a considerable
amount of time actually clarifying some points that students mistook at one point.