With any institution, I anticipate and look forward to meeting the diverse students who enroll in my course. These students arrive with a variety of experience in writing and with a wide range of expectations for the class, but they share the common goals of improving composition skills and earning a career in their chosen profession. One of the reasons I went into English was convenience; I have always found writing easy and enjoyed helping my friends with theirs by offering a second set of eyes, fixing typos, and supplying constructive feedback. I learned to channel these skills into a degree that also allowed me to analyze and discuss literature. I fell in love with literature early in life, from my mother reading to me every day, exploring picture books on my own, and eventually reading Great Expectations in the fourth grade. Reading and sharing literature for a living sounded wonderful on its own, but adding the pedagogical component meant spreading the enjoyment of writing and reading to others. Writing about literature is empowering; it prompts us to articulate the unique experience of literary interpretation through our own words. Writing is nothing less than infusing agency into our ideas, broadening our very identities by developing autonomy and voice. The ability to aid others in honing this most valuable skill—critical to success in any workplace—is above all, a privilege.

I believe all students, regardless of demographics and college experience, can, with the right instruction and personal accountability, succeed in higher education and earn the career of their dreams. Student-centered learning is the most important aspect of my approach to teaching. Pedagogy scholars Sheridan Blau and Robert Scholes advocate empowering students in their ability to learn new fields, which for a literature class translates to interpreting texts with confidence. I encourage students to develop interpretive autonomy by avoiding presenting myself as the expert who holds all the answers about what a written work might mean. Students should feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and pursuing authentic readings without the fear of being told that they are wrong. Student-led discussion, peer critique/review, and group activities require students to learn actively and to participate with one another in the interpretive process. Peer review is vital for learning from other students and building professionalism in examining the efforts of a classmate, which often generate productive reflection of one’s own work.

Teachers should also take into account the busy collegiate lifestyle, often accompanied by the demands of parenthood and/or full-time jobs, and work to create course policies and teaching methods which appeal to the students’ desires for control, choice, and creative expression. I believe in making a fair effort to accommodate the needs of my students (by make changes after reading responses to a mid-semester survey or extending a due date, for instance) while designing lessons around meaningful engagement with course material and intellectually challenging assignments that rely on critical thinking.

With that said, it is also a teacher’s duty to guide her students in effective learning practices by sharing knowledge and offering critique when necessary. I recognize that students look to me for important historical and contextual information about our course material and for direction during class activities and discussion, which my education has prepared me to provide. Ultimately, I hope my students recognize that I value their thoughts and want them to succeed.

I hope that by completing my English courses, students realize several things: the importance of clear and compelling writing; the benefits of higher education, the rewards of perseverance, and the personal growth that stems from reading literature and working to improve the expression of one’s ideas. The skills gained in my classes are applicable and vital to any career and will further student success in future courses. I enjoy getting to know my students over the semester and staying in touch with them afterwards for their professional needs, such as recommendation letters. Toni Morrison once stated that education frees us, and once we are free, we have the duty of freeing others. I always approach any course I teach and any students I meet with this manifesto in mind. As an English instructor, I provide the information, direction, and tools that my students need, but at the end of the semester, it’s the student who has done the work and earned the grade—hopefully one they can be proud of. From this feeling of pride, empowerment is born. The best thing to discover through education is personal empowerment, the capacity to free ourselves and free others.