Teaching
As a professor, I am committed to cultivating diversity in the classroom and embracing Montréal’s unique position as a linguistic crossroads. I am trained in Course Design and Blended Learning, and I work with the Québec Ministry of Education as part of the English Exit Exam working group.
Courses Taught
Champlain College-Saint Lambert
English 101: Introduction to College English
English 102: Tragedy, from Ancient to Modern
English 103: Crossing Borders
English BXE: Truth, Power, and Non-Fiction
Concordia University
English 386: Caribbean Literature
Dawson College New School Program
English 102: Writing while Black in the Americas
English 103: Crossing Borders
New York University
Comparative Literature: Unravelling Magical Realism
Graduate Student Workshops
Confronting the Academic Job Market (Concordia University, English Department)
The Ins and Outs of Writing an Academic Book Review (McGill University, Graphos Center)
Publishing Your First Article in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (McGill University, Graphos Center)
Writing a Strong Grant Application (McGill University, Graphos Center and English Department)
Sample Course Descriptions
ENGL 386: Caribbean Literature
Concordia University: English Department
This course examines literature from the Caribbean, with an emphasis on the Anglophone tradition, though it also includes material originally written in French, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. Our readings stretch from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first, and we cover topics including Middle Passage, the system of plantation slavery and Asian indenture, decolonization, dictatorship, and transnational migration. With work ranging from the Nobel-Prize winning poetry of St. Lucia’s Derek Walcott to Rita Indiana’s trans, time-travelling, Dominican dystopia Tentacle, this course introduces you both to the region’s classics and to what Caribbean literature may yet become.
ENGL 103: Crossing Borders
Champlain College-Saint Lambert: English Department
Why do we have borders, and what determines who is allowed to cross them? How do borders affect the lived experiences of human beings? This English course has three key components. First, we will examine texts and films about international travel, ranging from train trips across Russia to imaginary voyages through fantastical cities. Then, we will turn to critiques of travel writing and the damaging consequences that tourism can have. Finally, we will examine the stories of people who are forced to cross borders, or forbidden from doing so, reading materials and watching films about the experiences of refugees, undocumented immigrants, and labour migrants. Together, we will explore ideas about citizenship, belonging, and exclusion through creative assignments and analytic essays.