As a digital humanist and teacher-scholar, I believe that the classroom is a location where research and learning meet and it is my goal to ensure that that meeting place is a productive and positive one. To that end, I work to facilitate opportunities for the exchange of ideas and the critical examination of literature, language and culture at all levels, from beginner language courses to graduate seminars. I see language as a way of thinking. It is a tool by which one can understand others as well as develop new insights about oneself. The study of literature and culture opens up new avenues of exploration and thought. Through a diversified approach emphasizing communication, students in my classes gain an inclusive view of the target language and cultures. In discovering the realities of the subject, I work to help students break through those stereotypes often imposed on other cultures and gain a deeper understanding of their own cultural reality in the process.
In addition to all levels of French and Italian language at the beginning and intermediate levels, I have had the pleasure of teaching a wide range of upper-division courses in French, including:
In addition to all levels of French and Italian language at the beginning and intermediate levels, I have had the pleasure of teaching a wide range of upper-division courses in French, including:
- Imagination and Enterprise: 18th Century French Literature & Culture
- Molière 400 (in celebration of the playwright's 400th anniversary, featuring public humanities through the Sunderland Innovation Lab at the K-State Library)
- Mapping the Francophone World in the Seventeenth-Century (*featured below)
- Encountering the Other: Notions of Alterity, Self, and Nation in 18th Century France
- Translating the ‘Freedom Papers’: Charles de Gaulle & WWII Correspondence (*featured below)
- Honoré d’Urfé and the Rise of the Pastoral in French Literature
- Teaching Literature and Culture in Second Language Acquisition Courses
- Business French
- Introduction to French Literature (Medieval to 18th C)
- French Children's Literature
- The French Revolution
- French Composition and Conversation through Film
Innovative Course Offerings
Google Fusion Table resulting in map of Chardin's voyages.
Advanced Seminar: Mapping the Francophone World in the Seventeenth Century (Spring 2018). This course explored the Francophone world as it existed in the 17th century, focusing on the historical and cultural ramifications of early colonial expansion as well as the way in which French identity is portrayed in art and literature. Themes included travel, constructions of identity (both national and individual), and cartographic representations of space and emotion. The course incorporated the digital humanities (DH) throughout as a means of broadening reading practices and textual analysis strategies. The focus on interacting with the texts extended beyond the walls of the classroom and several students volunteered to rehearse and perform selections from Corneille's Le Cid for the campus community. Syllabus available below.
| fren711_syllabus_cro_spring_2018_mapping_identity.pdf |
Advanced Seminar: Translating the Freedom Papers: Charles de Gaulle & WWII Correspondence (Fall 2016, co-taught with Dr. Kathleen Antonioli)
Digital Humanities Project: Scalar Freedom Papers Student Site
This course combined original archival research of a newly acquired set of manuscript letters to and from Charles De Gaulle during WWII with a digital humanities project that sought to facilitate and increase access to the correspondence for researchers and interested members of the public alike. Hale Library featured our work with the archive in their magazine in Winter 2016: "WWII Letters Bring International Intrigue to K-State Libraries," p. 8. Additionally, we have co-authored two articles on the project: one article describes our approach to the course in French Review 91.4 (May 2018): "Collaborative Perspectives on Translation and the Digital Humanities in the Advanced French Classroom," pp. 130-145. The second article examines the archive itself in French Studies 72.1 (January 2018): "Myth, Dialogue, and Co-operation in the 'Freedom Papers': De Gaulle and Anglo-French Correspondence (1941-44)," pp. 35-52.
You can read more about my work in the classroom at my blog, Arcadian Ruminations.
Digital Humanities Project: Scalar Freedom Papers Student Site
This course combined original archival research of a newly acquired set of manuscript letters to and from Charles De Gaulle during WWII with a digital humanities project that sought to facilitate and increase access to the correspondence for researchers and interested members of the public alike. Hale Library featured our work with the archive in their magazine in Winter 2016: "WWII Letters Bring International Intrigue to K-State Libraries," p. 8. Additionally, we have co-authored two articles on the project: one article describes our approach to the course in French Review 91.4 (May 2018): "Collaborative Perspectives on Translation and the Digital Humanities in the Advanced French Classroom," pp. 130-145. The second article examines the archive itself in French Studies 72.1 (January 2018): "Myth, Dialogue, and Co-operation in the 'Freedom Papers': De Gaulle and Anglo-French Correspondence (1941-44)," pp. 35-52.
You can read more about my work in the classroom at my blog, Arcadian Ruminations.
