Sherri Ahern

 

This website was created as part of a final project for Professor Cindy Chinelly’s pedagogy class at Florida International University. Our class was split into five groups that each came up with a writing assignment. We then had to form a syllabus for a future course and assignment sheets and weekly plans for the writing assignment. All of the groups’ work is contained in the “Unit Plans” section of this website. Thus, my website contains some valuable resources that will serve as an on-going teaching resource for me and anybody else who may stop in to take a look. Further, I have included classroom activities that I found interesting from the class that I am assisting in. My mentor, Professor Justin Grant, has allowed me to use materials he has both gathered from other sources and come up with himself. Professor Chinelly has also shared with our class many wonderful resources, which you will also see on this site.

With Professor Chinelly, I have learned so much in ENG 6937 (Teaching Composition/pedagogy). Mostly, I have brushed up on how to be a truly open-minded future instructor. In class, we have discussed such things as how to be accommodating when students are having issues with their grasp of English if they are non-native speakers, and we have also had discussions, if not arguments, about how to grade students when they produce what many may think is sub-par work. One thing that Professor Chinelly said this semester that really struck me and has stayed with me ever since was something along the lines of, “Maybe the work some students produce is their best possible effort at the time.” I have really tried to go about my reading of student work in that frame of mind.

About me

Before I go on, I think that in order to understand where I am coming from in this reflection, it is important that I mention my background. I am a graduate student teaching assistant (TA) at Florida International University (FIU). Previously, I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in English from FIU in 2006. In the interim between undergrad and grad school (I started in January of 2017), I have had experience within the realms of law enforcement and teaching writing.

I have five years of teaching experience with the remedial writing program at Miami Dade College. That time truly fostered my love of working with students, especially students from Miami, returning students who are coming back to school after a break or the military, and of course remedial and second-language students. I am hoping that I can use my experience gained through those years and blend it with all the new and interesting things I have learned in pedagogy class with Professor Cindy Chinelly at FIU.

As you will see if you click on my “Teaching Philosophy,” I am a first generation college student, so I hope that influence comes through in the way I teach and also the resources I keep on this website. Some information I think may be useful to first generation students, and also the general population of students can be found in the “Student Resources” section of this site; in addition, some multi-lingual and first gen teaching resources can be found in the “Instructors Resources” section of my site.

Currently, I am on the executive board of National Organization for Women as historian, of Graduate English Association as CSO representative, and of Panthers for Recovery also as CSO representative. Student leadership and involvement are things that I feel very strongly about. Unfortunately, I did not get to participate in any clubs or organizations when I was an undergraduate because I was busy navigating the labyrinth of college life with very little guidance. Therefore, I hope to help freshman get better acclimated to college life so that they feel comfortable enough that they can get involved and start building their social skills and resumes.

I was lucky enough to have been accepted into the Graduate English program and to have been chosen to be a teaching assistant for both Professor Andrew Golden and Professor Justin Grant. I would love to use this opportunity to spread that opportunity to another generation of students and to make sure they understand that I am grateful and honored to both be a student at FIU and also be their instructor.

Something else that I find vastly important that was discussed in the pedagogy class sessions and readings, and also in the teaching of my wonderful professors this semester, is respect for students. I am “so over” the time of students being told to sit down and shut up. I aim to foster a class culture where students are able to communicate with each other and the instructor freely without fear of being silenced. No question is wrong, and no opinion is invalid. I want students to understand that I am a human being who is also learning, jut like they are; nobody is better or worse than anybody else in the classroom.

With that, I hope you enjoy this website and learn a thing or two that I picked up from my pedagogy class!

Learn more about my personal teaching style on the “Teaching Philosophy” page.