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Instructor:
Heidi McKee My Letter of Introduction Dear Members of English 111, My name is Heidi McKee, and I've been teaching English for thirteen years. After finishing my B.A. in English from Yale University in 1992, I moved to Wyoming and taught high school in the small town of Green River. (Green River had a population of 12,000, which makes it a small town by most standards. However, at the time it was the 5th largest town in the entire state of Wyoming.) I loved teaching high school, but I also felt that to grow as a teacher I need to continue my studies. So in the fall of 2000 I began graduate school, taking courses and teaching for seven years (two at the University of Wyoming and five at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst). I earned my doctorate in May 2005 (writing a 200+ page dissertation). My teaching and research specialties are composition theory and practice, digital rhetorics, computers and writing, and research methods, and I have published a number of articles in these areas. Currently I am working on two book projects. This is my second year at Miami, and I'm delighted to be here. As a teacher, I firmly believe that everyone can write and write well. I also believe that writing is not simply putting words on paper or screen. Digitized technologies have changed the processes, spaces, and products of writing, in academic, recreational, and workplace settings. I look forward to the coming weeks as we discuss what it means to write and to be writers in a variety of contexts, as we explore writing with a variety of technologies (pen/paper, word processing programs, web authoring software, etc.), and as we share what we've written. So that we can explore expository writing as fully as possible, I will ask you to write for a variety of audiences and for a variety of purposes using a variety of technologies. Sometimes an assignment might feel restrictive or just plain weird, but I ask that you give everything a try because the only way we grow as writers is to keep pushing ourselves to try new things.As for my quirks as a teacher--and I'm sure I have lots of them--I think the main thing you need to know is that I stick by the Course Guidelines and Policies pretty rigorously, especially about late work and tardies, so be sure to read the policy sheet closely. When I'm not teaching, researching, and writing academic articles, I enjoy a number of recreational activities. I own two horses, and I love trail riding with friends in Hueston Woods State Park. I also enjoy reading books, playing golf, and surfing the Internet. If you have any favorite spoof sites--like homestarrunner.com (the home of Strong Bad)--please share them. I'm always interested in finding more fun sites on the web. My favorite Strong Bad is the one where he gives advice on how to write a good English paper (http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail64.html). Besides Strong Bad, I also enjoy Strindberg & Helium's "In the Park," which takes the actual text of one of Strindberg's dark writings of the world and lightens it up with Helium's absurd interjections (http://www.strindbergandhelium.com). And too, I'm a youtube fan (http://www.youtube.com), especially since I don't have cable television so the only way I can catch clips of The Daily Show is on the Web. I look forward to being your instructor this semester, and WELCOME to English 111!! --Heidi |