About Me

I recently graduated with my M.A. in English from the University of South Dakota. While there, I had the opportunity to teach Composition (English 101) in the Fall. Additionally, I have taken a Practicum class during which I developed documents such as lesson plans and examined pedagogical theories. I believe this experience provided me with invaluable training the prepares me well for any teaching environment. In the Spring semester, I decided that I wanted to expand my understanding of teaching theories, and did this through an elective course in the Education Psychology department. This course examines ideas such the cognitive basis for teaching strategies. Through this course in particular, I've developed a passion for understanding the science of learning and exploring questions related to the field of teaching. In particular, I've found during my time as a graduate student that I enjoy working with student individually. Working as a peer tutor as an undergraduate, I was able to see how this individual attention can help a student discover his/her own voice and gain confidence. As a graduate teaching assistant, I found some of the most rewarding aspects of teaching were the moments when I would meet with a student during a conference and the student expressed excitement about a particular writing topic or when, during a conference, I was able to help a student who struggled with a particular concept. I also have several academic interests that help to enhance my teaching. I have a strong interest in creative work which I think informs how I approach teaching writing in the classroom. As a graduate student, I was a member of the Graduate Poetry Workshop which strengthened my ability to give effective feedback on others' writing. Additionally, during my time as a graduate student, I have worked on two different creative writing publications, The South Dakota Review (as a poetry reader) and Atrophil Press (as poetry editor). This experience has been helpful to me professionally in that I have gained skills in meeting deadlines and working as a team member. In addition, it sharpened my eye as an editor and helped me become a more effective writing critic. I have developed several critical interests, as well, and I believe the diversity of these interests strengthens my ability to present material in the classroom or work with students individually. For my M.A. oral defense, I presented two critical seminar papers to my committee, composed of three faculty members. One paper examines the poetry of two African-American poets, Saphire and Harriet Mullen, and the other examines the impact of Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie on American Literature. Through working with my committee members, I gained experience relating verbally my written ideas in a clear and insightful way. I believe I gained invaluable experience from the process of revising and presenting these two papers that translates well to classroom teaching and working with students to become independant thinkers in the humanities. The development of community within our profession is very important to me, and I have had several opportunities to engage in this type of service. For example, I attended the AWP conference last Spring with the South Dakota Review staff and helped with promoting the publication at the book fair. Often what we do as scholars or writers is a solitary endeavor, but this experience, in particular, opened my eyes to how transformational community is in what we do. I am also a member of Sigma Tau Delta, the English honors organization, through which I have participated in activities such as planning campus activities such as poetry contests and volunteering with publicity events. These activities have shown me how central the idea of community is to any work environment which is an idea that I will bring with me to my future endeavors.

Education & Certifications

Q&A with Binny

Tutoring Subjects