I love fall most of all!

Look at this amazing view! Our lovely Madison is really showing off the fall colors as we move into the autumn season. It has been a good one so far.

As of this week, I am teaching four different classes for the remainder of this semester. That brings me up to a total of about 80 students between the four sections. Thankfully, I am working with two wonderful TAs who help me manage the grading and responses to the students, so that way they get timely feedback and often times multiple people looking at their work to make revisions and suggestions.

Just this week, I will start teaching ESL 370, which is a class primarily for future teachers of ESL, and we will be working on ideas and types of assessment. Continuing now, and in the first half of the semester, I was teaching ENGL 109, ENGL 210, and ENGL 306. These are all writing focused classes. 109 is generally for first and second year students, while 210 is generally comprised of sophomores and upper class students. 306 is such a wonderful class... probably my favorite one to teach because of the assignments the students compose, the interrogation of previous and new conceptions of writing, and the opportunity for students to submit their work for publication outside of the course. I think the students are enjoying the work, too. In their midterm survey, one student said:

"This course has increased my knowledge of advanced writing processes and practices! Before taking this course, I had interviewed people and written book reports, but I had never written an academic interview or a professional book review. Through this course I have been introduced to these genres and therefore have expanded my knowledge of professional writing. Thus far in my academic career I have written several literature reviews, research papers, and other "essay-like" works. These genres are specific to the academic sphere and therefore could be published within a university setting. On the other hand, the genres we have written in this course mirror more mainstream works that could be published within a journal such as The New Yorker."

Similarly, another student responded to the survey by saying:

"I think this course has mostly helped me refine my writing abilities to be more direct and clear. I haven't seen a ton of improvement yet, but I know that I am improving. I have been really interested in the research I am doing for my article, and I really hope that I will be able to make something worthwhile from it.... I have found that I become almost excited when I get to work on my research for this class."

As I had previously posted, a student, Jordan Neese, from this Advanced Writing class in the fall of 2020 had her article, "Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on U.S. Employment Rates" published in the seventh volume of the Butler Journal of Undergraduate Research. Then from Advanced Writing in the fall of 2021, my student, Cassidy Elmer, had her article, "Tune Up Your Wellness" published in a journal out of the University of Pittsburgh called Forbes and Fifth. Cassidy also won the English Department's critical essay contest with this same article! I'm so excited that my students have been published and have this opportunity for their work to be read by outside audiences, as well as for my current Advanced Writing students to be able to examine articles

that have been published from the course as they compose their own work!

The first half of the semester concluded just before fall break, and Wade and I were able to get away to a beautiful, beachside resort for a few days in Cancun, Mexico over the break, thanks to our lovely parents for each staying with our boys.

Speaking of the boys, September brought in so much fun as we celebrated both of their birthdays! We had family parties and a friend party for both of them with a very fun "Donut Grow Up/ Sweet Ones" party theme, and we had so many donuts and all had so much fun and felt so loved!

We've had a lovely fall, but thinking back, our summer was also really great. We started off May with my sister's wedding in Lake Geneva, WI, and we had so much fun being a part of that.

In June we spent time with friends and enjoyed the warmer weather and time off together! We had a special visit from cousins who were living overseas, too.

Then in July and August we got to do some fun trips with grandparents! We took our first beach vacation to Wilmington, NC in July, and then we took our first cabin trip to Arkdale, WI in August. We enjoyed our time away at the beach and the lakes.

Over the summer I also participated in a book club through the Instagram account, Sharon Says So. Sharon leads paid book clubs through three trimesters of the year, and I participated into the second one of 2022. It was a really great group, and we read two books and got to meet with the authors of both. My favorite book and book club meeting was with John Green about his book The Anthropocene Reviewed. I really didn't know what to expect, but it was a lovely, vulnerable, impactful book, and it made it even better to get to hear from him, too! I reviewed his book for our departmental Facebook, so I'll leave you with that review and wish you a year that ends with love and joy!