2010 Outstanding University Graduate Student Teaching Award Winner- Doctoral I
Erin Frost, M.S.
- M.S. in Professional Writing and Rhetorics from Illinois State University (2009)
- Ph.D. Student in English Studies at Illinois State University
Teaching philosophy
This centers on the obligation to make apparent to students my own situatedness and to have them consider how other courses also induce them to think and learn in particular ways.
Three most valuable approaches that I bring to my teaching practice
Feminist and critical perspectives and historiographical methodologies.
Important improvement in teaching
To have high expectations for students so they can rise to these expectations. In addition, I have learned to resist allowing students to build boundaries between their work in class and the rest of their lives. I believe that their learning is enhanced when they are constantly confronted with the ways that ideas from class manifest beyond the classroom.
Most important influences on teaching
My parents. My father taught me about perseverance and the importance of doing challenging things, and my mother first taught me about rhetoric, even though she didn't call it by that name.
Best moment in my teaching career
When former students ask for letters of recommendation in ways that demonstrate that they were paying attention to my teaching about rhetoric and communication. From these moments, I have learned that many students are able to make the transfer form course materials to life application and to keep building on that understanding as they continue learning after my class.
