Name: Melissa Keith
Where are you living? Caldwell, Idaho
What did you do after high school? The majority of my time has been spent going to school. I went to BSU, and I got my B.A. in Literature. After taking two years off from school, I returned to BSU where I finished my Master’s in Rhetoric and Composition (my particular focus is in Composition) in May of '08. I conducted an experiment for my thesis, and as part of my training I had to get certified to experiment on human subjects, so you all should be very, very afraid (and I like to threaten my students with that information!).
What is your current job? What does it entail? Do you like it?I teach English Composition at BSU. (After going there for so many years, I figured why not just hang around until they let me teach?) This is my second year teaching, and so far I’ve taught ENGL 90, 101, and 102. I have entirely way too much fun teaching, but I must admit that responding to 75 papers can be a bit overwhelming from time to time. Because of this, I’ve been incorporating more and more digital projects like websites, wikis, and blogs into my classes. And other than teaching, I also participate in other projects to keep me academically occupied. I’m currently working on a Technology Incentive Grant to fund a project that would allow me to create digital mini lessons for online teachers to incorporate in their classes. I’ve put other digital projects I’ve done on YouTube because I’ve found that students will watch just about anything if it’s on YouTube (even if it’s about research). I’ve just been granted an incredible opportunity for next year—I’ll be directing the Writing Center at BSU, and I’ll be teaching my first upper division course.
Has your family grown: married (when/who?), significant other's name?, kids (ages & names?), pets? I’ve been with my boyfriend, Nate, for about five years now. No kids. (But we do have a pit bull, Bob, and a lab mix, Iago, who think they’re people.) My brother Matt has two daughters, Morgan and Madeline, and I spend as much time with them as possible.
Narrative/story of what's been happening. My thesis has driven me to my ultimate goal—to be a teacher-researcher. I’m continually fascinated with new pedagogical theories, and I enjoy using my students (and my friends’ students) as guinea pigs, so I use my classroom as a testing ground for new ideas (particularly relating to technology). I’m currently working on my first article for publication, and it should be published in 2010. (The peer-review process is lengthy to say the least!) Other than that, not much else is going on. I’m going to use this next year as time to decide whether or not to go on for a Ph.D. I’m also using my spare time to help plan our class reunion! Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
You can contact me at: melissakeith@boisestate.edu.
Where are you living? Caldwell, Idaho
What did you do after high school? The majority of my time has been spent going to school. I went to BSU, and I got my B.A. in Literature. After taking two years off from school, I returned to BSU where I finished my Master’s in Rhetoric and Composition (my particular focus is in Composition) in May of '08. I conducted an experiment for my thesis, and as part of my training I had to get certified to experiment on human subjects, so you all should be very, very afraid (and I like to threaten my students with that information!).
What is your current job? What does it entail? Do you like it?I teach English Composition at BSU. (After going there for so many years, I figured why not just hang around until they let me teach?) This is my second year teaching, and so far I’ve taught ENGL 90, 101, and 102. I have entirely way too much fun teaching, but I must admit that responding to 75 papers can be a bit overwhelming from time to time. Because of this, I’ve been incorporating more and more digital projects like websites, wikis, and blogs into my classes. And other than teaching, I also participate in other projects to keep me academically occupied. I’m currently working on a Technology Incentive Grant to fund a project that would allow me to create digital mini lessons for online teachers to incorporate in their classes. I’ve put other digital projects I’ve done on YouTube because I’ve found that students will watch just about anything if it’s on YouTube (even if it’s about research). I’ve just been granted an incredible opportunity for next year—I’ll be directing the Writing Center at BSU, and I’ll be teaching my first upper division course.
Has your family grown: married (when/who?), significant other's name?, kids (ages & names?), pets? I’ve been with my boyfriend, Nate, for about five years now. No kids. (But we do have a pit bull, Bob, and a lab mix, Iago, who think they’re people.) My brother Matt has two daughters, Morgan and Madeline, and I spend as much time with them as possible.
Narrative/story of what's been happening. My thesis has driven me to my ultimate goal—to be a teacher-researcher. I’m continually fascinated with new pedagogical theories, and I enjoy using my students (and my friends’ students) as guinea pigs, so I use my classroom as a testing ground for new ideas (particularly relating to technology). I’m currently working on my first article for publication, and it should be published in 2010. (The peer-review process is lengthy to say the least!) Other than that, not much else is going on. I’m going to use this next year as time to decide whether or not to go on for a Ph.D. I’m also using my spare time to help plan our class reunion! Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated!
You can contact me at: melissakeith@boisestate.edu.
