Teaching

​Advising
PictureClick to see a student's "Poem in Action."

Courses

 I've had a long career of teaching a variety of creative writing, literature,  and general education courses in a variety of contexts. 

As an Assistant Professor of English at William Jewell College, I currently teaching the following courses in the English Department:
  • Creative Writing: Poetry
  • Advanced Poetry Workshop
  • Creative Nonfiction
  • U.S. Minority Literature

I also teach the courses in the Critical Thought and Inquiry (CTI) program, which is part of Jewell's core curriculum required of all students. In addition to teaching literature and composition within CTI, as a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee, I worked with colleagues on the curriculum proposal that resulted in the addition of the Identity and Society course as part of a new Diversity and Inclusion requirement in CTI. The students I teach in the following CTI courses come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds:
  • Identity and Society
  • World Women's Literature
  • Written Communication

I also teach in Jewell's Oxbridge Honors Program in the Literature and Theory track. Oxbridge is modeled after the Oxford and Cambridge system of education; small group of students take weekly tutorials with faculty in various content areas. Much like graduate study, the program culminates in a series of comprehensive exams for which faculty write questions. 
  • U.S. Literature Tutorial

Pedagogical Interests

  • Multimodal Composition: Though writing is commonly text-bound, recognizing the aesthetic power in blending text with visual and digital elements, as well as growing interest in hybrid genres, I regularly challenge my students in my courses to create multimodal compositions. For example, inspired by the multimodal argumentative essay assignment I employ in my composition courses, I developed a multimodal analytical assignment for creative writing. In my poetry workshop, rather than asking students to do a traditional "close reading" analysis of a poem, students create a multimodal, non-text based response that directly engages, not just the content of the poem, but also the technique. In this way, students develop not only a better understanding of the impact of poetic technique, but also design thinking as they consider the impact of their own non-textual creation on an imaginary audience, and, in the case of students who create films, audio recordings, and websites, their digital literacy as well. 

  • The Science of Learning and Motivation: While my days as an undergrad psychology minor are long over, I remain interested in what science can tell us about how we learn and what motivates us to do our best. Inspired by a recent study that suggests simply the act of articulating goals can help motivate you to achieve, I ask students in all my courses to set goals for the semester. These goals of are to be of two types: 1) based on the students' understanding of the learning objectives I set for the course and 2) based on their own personal goals. At midterm and final, I ask students to revisit these goals to track their  progress. In this way, I hope to reinforce not only the purpose of the course, but also help students consider what they most want to gain from their educational experience.
In addition to advising English majors, I advise the following:
Picture
Faculty Adviser, Inscape, 
​William Jewell College's Student Arts Magazine

Inscape is the student arts magazine of William Jewell College. Appearing annually, we publish publish poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, music, as well as visual and digital art in both a web and print copy. Since assuming the position of Inscape's faculty adviser, I have expanded the editorial board of Inscape to include students from across arts-related departments, facilitated the development of a website companion to our print issue in order to better showcase visual and digital art, and secured additional institutional funding via internal grants. 

Poetry and Creative Nonfiction Honors Project Adviser, William Jewell College

 I have directed three honors projects, two in poetry and one in creative nonfiction. At Jewell, honors projects are a year-long undertaking that mirrors the creation of a master's thesis as students produce both a body of creative writing (e.g., a poetry chapbook, a collection of essays) as well as a critical introduction. In the critical portion of their project, students position their work within the genre as well as within a constellation of model texts. As adviser, in addition to providing feedback on creative work, I suggest model texts and help students understand the nature of their project within the larger framework of the genre. I also assist students in considering the broader themes that emerge as they expand their writing in to a collection as opposed to a single essay or poem. Projects conclude with an oral defense in front of a faculty committee. All of the projects I've advised to date have been successful.

Student Voices

"Dr. Williams is honest about the quality of our work and gives us theoretical tools to understand what creative nonfiction is. She guides us enough to keep us going but not so much, so that we keep the freedom for exploring and creativity." 
                                                                    Student, Creative Nonfiction

​"She is dedicated to helping all students (far beyond English majors or those who are hard workers) pull meaning from their lives through poetry and also see new perspectives in others' experiences with the same medium. Dr. Williams came to understand, appreciate, and celebrate each student's 'poetic voice' and helped them develop this voice with specific and broad suggestions alike."
                                                                     Student, Creative Writing: Poetry

"With Dr. Williams' encouragement and always helpful critiques and comments, I have been able to develop my voice and creative capacities. Workshops taught me how to give criticism constructively and to take it receptively and positively. Thank you! [...] I appreciate the diversity of the poets and conversations immensely. It is an essential thing for courses to partake in and I'm very appreciative that Dr. Williams started this conversation about diversity and awareness."
                                                                  Student, Advanced Poetry Workshop

"Dr. Williams is an awesome professor and person. She made this CTI so much more than I thought it would be. She was welcoming and open to new ideas regardless of if she agreed and she never made anyone's opinions not count. She is extremely passionate about what she teaches and I think that is awesome. Her teaching style is awesome and her discussions were also very focused. Her essays were challenging but a good kind of challenge. Her feedback was always excellent and I knew here expectations from the beginning. This is by far my favorite CTI and she is one of my favorite professors after this class."
​                                                                  Student, World Women's Literature

"This is an excellent course and I feel that my understanding of how to navigate works of minority cultures has improved. I also learned the importance of carefully analyzing such texts and applying what I have learned to the world around me. I especially appreciated Dr. Williams' approach of connecting these texts to modern issues and contemporary cultural representations."
                                                                    Student, U.S. Minority Literature