8/19/2019 Workman Letter of Rec
1/2
March 26, 2016Dear Awards Committee,
In the summer of 2015, I had the opportunity to intern in Erin
Workman’s ENC 2135class for four weeks. As part of the internship,
I observed her course four times a week for thefour-week span, and
also helped provide comments on drafts, run conferences, and
facilitate
class discussion. I am a first-year PhD Student in the Rhetoric
and Composition department and,having never taught before, utilized
Erin as a source of advice and support as I learned about
teaching of ENC 2135. Throughout my observations and
conversations with Erin, I have always been impressed by the
pedagogical forethought and theoretical foundation in her
teaching.
As an instructor, Erin is deliberate and thoughtful with each
and every assignment – largeor small – that she assigns her
students. From the platforms that students utilize to compose
in
class and at home, to the discussion questions, to the in-class
writing activities, each act is purposeful and well thought
out. Erin holds her students to a high level of excellence in
the
classroom, but she also provides ample support through previous
student examples andindividualized feedback for both student
journals and assignment drafts. Erin includes
challenging texts and provides ample support to help students as
they grapple with challengingconcepts through intentional journal
assignments, visual mapping exercises, nuanced group
assignments and purposeful in class writing assignments. Erin
integrates technology into herclassroom, teaching her students the
skills necessary to compose in the 21
st century. Erin’s
assignments are both challenging and purposeful, and she
supports them thoroughly throughthese projects.
Erin utilizes Teaching for Transfer curricula in her teaching,
which adds another level ofintentionality to her pedagogy. Erin’s
goal as an instructor is to teach specific content guided by
key terms, facilitate reflection, and help students articulate
their own theory of writing that theywill take with them as they
encounter new writing situations in the future. The students in
Erin’s
course spend the first time developing an understanding of a key
term through several course andoutside texts collaboratively,
teaching them how to synthesize material, define challenging
terms,
and work together to compose a cohesive text. For the second
assignment, Erin’s students write aresearch paper that explores the
various ways writing is used in their intended major, for which
students conduct primary research both observing and
interviewing professionals in their field ofchoice. Lastly,
students remediate their researched paper and develop new genres
that explain the
various ways writing is utilized in their intended major. The
final reflection of the course iscomposed in a genre of the
student’s course and asks students to consider how their
understanding of writing through their integration of key terms
comes together into anindividualized and cohesive theory of
writing. Erin’s pedagogy emphasizes the writing process
and revision, as evidence by her choice to use ePortfolios as an
assessment tool.Erin is both a purposeful and intelligent
instructor who is passionate about equipping
students with the skills to be successful participants in
academic and professional environmentsthrough their acquired
composing knowledge. I have learned a great deal from Erin’s
teaching,
and am consistently impressed with the level of intentionality
and engaging assignments Erin brings to her classroom. Erin is
an exemplary example of an instructor who upholds the
principles and values of the Florida State University
College Composition Program.
