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I
wanted to be a cabaret singer; however, teaching provides some of the
same opportunities. And in the end, it is much more gratifying. [What
did Ronald Reagan say? "Teachers get psychic satisfaction."]
I have been teaching since my early 20s, beginning with a (middle school)
in Chicago and then a high school in Kenya. Soon after we moved to San
Diego, I began teaching in community colleges and as a part-time instructor
at San Diego State. When I completed my Ph.D. (1979), I was offered a
tenure-track position at SDSU in two departments: Academic Skills (now
Rhetoric and Writing Studies) and Linguistics and Oriental Languages. Though officially retired, I continue to teach in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing Studies, though I am hired by a local community college.
In addition to having served on more then 25 thesis committees, I have
taught several graduate courses, including:
Graduate Courses
| Second language reading and writing | |
| Reading and writing rhetorically | |
| English for Specific Purposes and Content-based Instruction Materials development for language teaching | |
| Seminars: Assessment and evaluation, research, and genre theory | |
| Theory and practice of ESL (for graduate and undergraduate students) |
Undergraduate Courses
| Writing for bilingual and international students | |
| Freshman Success writing classes: linked with biology, anthropology, economics, business law, and communications. | |
| University Seminar (Freshman Success) | |
| Advanced writing (RW 200) | |
| Business communication |
In 1999, I was given an ideal opportunity: to establish and direct SDSU's
Center for Teaching and Learning. During my years as director, I had the
privilege of working with a large new faculty cohort, in addition to studying
the teaching of academic reading and writing across the curriculum. One
outcome of this venture is a volume written by SDSU faculty called Diversity
in college classrooms: Practices for today's campuses (Maureen
Sipp, Co-editor), published by University of Michigan Press (2004).
Since my official retirement, I have been teaching half-time and working with the Chair of Rhetoric and Writing Studies (Glen McClish) and the English/Language Arts Coordinator of the Sweetwater Union High School District on the establishment of an SDSU Advanced Certificate in the Teaching of Composition in Secondary Schools.
Because I have retired, I cannot officially teach classes for San Diego State. Nonetheless, I have taught a grammar and composition courses for teachers off-site, and I continue to teach developmental writing, for the community colleges, on the SDSU campus. I have also returned to the program I founded, American Language Institute, to teach advanced writing and other subjects.