The 2024-2025 school year will be my sixth year of full-time teaching at Chesapeake College. In addition, I have completed 30 graduate credit hours, bringing my educational requirement to a Masters + 30.

I feel that I have demonstrated to my students, colleagues and administrators, my passion for academic excellence and commitment to a student-centric learning environment. I continually reevaluate and adapt my curriculum to meet the ever-changing needs of the 21st century learner and enjoy sharing what I have developed and learned with my peers.

Although I have always incorporated technology into my class, my return to graduate school has ignited a passion for me to help my students strengthen their digital literacy skills. This skill set is valuable not only inside the classroom, but in the work environment as well. Therefore, I have continued to incorporate technology into my assignments, specifically the Flipgrid video app this past year. This video app allows them to become more comfortable with being on camera and with public speaking. It takes the place of a traditional written Discussion Board, although they are still required to prepare a “script” for Flip to aid them with preparation. Also, in collaborative learning, groups are encouraged to use platforms such as Wikis and Google Docs to make collaborative communication efficient and effective. These endeavors are in addition to the projects that they have that require PowerPoint presentations with either audio or an oral presentation, depending upon class modality.

Additionally, I revised my Literacy Narrative project. Traditionally, it requires the narrative to be a significant experience regarding reading and/or writing. However, I updated it to also include social media, since so many of our students are digital natives.

New in 2024-25 for Composition, there will a couple of assignments culled to make room for a larger sub-project connected to the final Research Paper. This year, I will introduce a Research Plan into my curriculum to give students an opportunity to explore, describe, and explain their project to help them organize their thoughts more cohesively. I have also shared this template with my colleagues in case they would like to incorporate it in their classes.

I continue to keep my modules available in my Face-to-Face classes, as I do in my online classes. I have had many compliments from students for this because the module acts as an “agenda” each week, which keeps all of us more organized. Next, since some learners are visual, it is beneficial for them to have access to all the documents and PowerPoints that I use available at a moment’s notice. Third, it allows them to engage in Discussion Boards to further their digital literacy and technology skills.

To help them be the best global citizens possible, my students explore and analyze works by authors that share different perspectives. This includes authors who hail from countries like Afghanistan, Russia, and Colombia; Native-American and African American writers; and female authors who create through a feminist lens.

Always in my classrooms, I emphasize that we do not have to agree with one another, but listening to, considering and respecting other’s perspectives is an integral part of the human experience and as a member of a learning community. In or out of school, we learn from one another every single day.
©2021 Susan LeRoy