Born and raised in the Dallas area, I received my BA in
English from Texas A&M University and my MA in Education from the
University of Texas at San Antonio. This is my third semester in the MATC
program here at Texas Tech. I am currently a Project Manager for Pearson
Education, an assessment test publisher. Prior to this position (held only a
month), I was a Senior Editor, overseeing the development of assessment tests,
including editing various pieces such as poetry, short stories, passages, and
more. My current position allows me to work with various internal and external
groups to ensure that the development goes smoothly and on schedule. It is my goal
to take this MATC degree and put it to use as an instructor at the
college/university level in the near future.
I always had a desire to help others, whether it was through
teaching, volunteering, or mentoring. I have a particular interest in
disabilities and literacy, more specifically deafness and literacy. As a hearing-impaired
person who loves to write and read, it always burdened me when I would
encounter a deaf person who hated to read and over the years, I learned that
literacy is an obstacle for them because of the use of sign language which, in
syntax, is very different from English. My goal, as an English instructor, is to
work with those with hearing losses on their writing and reading skills either
within a college’s English program or a program dedicated to those with hearing
losses.
What is composition? I believe composition is the art or the
making of creative work. It is the bringing together of words to form a work
such as an essay, paper, book, etc. Composition integrates thinking, writing,
and reading skills that can be transferred to everyday life.
Hi Julie.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to offer comments on others' ideas in their blogs as well. Thanks.
I have an MA in Education as well as an MA in English. Sounds like your work in assessment is particularly important, focusing a lot on perhaps what is the most important component to teaching writing today. Many of your peers at TTU are interested in multimodal assessment, in particular. Glad you're on board in the class, and please bring to the class your experience working with Pearson, with disabilities and literacy, and more.
Even more so than creativity, composition is the art of rhetoric. It's the art of getting an image from a writer's head to that of a reader or set of readers. I really like your focus on transfer to everyday life. Most important.
Hello Julie!
ReplyDeleteUntil reading your post I had not thought about the challenges reading poses for the hearing impaired. I was not aware that there were such differences in syntax between sign language and the written word. It sounds like you have identified an area where your experience and your passions can work together.
Your definition of composition was also very interesting, in particular your identification of the various skills involved in composition. I look forward to hearing more from you during this course.
I appreciate your comments! To give you a visual of the difference between written English and American Sign Language (ASL):
DeleteEnglish - "I am going to the store."
ASL - "Store I go."
Of course, if one signs Signed Exact English (some school districts do this), they would sign word-for-word the English version of the sentence but that tends to be difficult for those native ASL users to fully understand.
I learned sign language when I was about 25 years old. I grew up using my hearing aids, relying on lipreading and spoken language.
Hi Julie,
ReplyDeleteDo you work at Pearson in Austin? I look forward to hearing your opinions and experience as the class progresses, as your background is very different than mine.
Hi Hilary - I work at Pearson in San Antonio. I look forward to getting to know you better. :-)
DeleteHi Julie! I think I know a few people who work at Pearson. I also see we have a similar definition of composition. Your perspective of language from the hearing-impaired population is very interesting. My mother works at the San Antonio State School and is the director of habilitation therapies, including the speech and hearing department, and we've been signing (VERY simply) since childhood. My mom and I have been discussing the difference in the syntactical structures of the two languages and how ASL is truly its own language. I am interested in the nonverbal language exchanges between the deaf population and the non-deaf. Looking forward to your perspective on the class!
ReplyDelete