Breaking Down Barriers: Teaching Students to Communicate Effectively

This portfolio explores the journey of learning English language and composition from reading to understand, to writing to be understood. A major research essay, “Truth and Lying in Dystopian Literature”, compares and contrasts the theories presented in Plato’s Republic and Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Truth and Lying in a Non-Moral Sense” with the main themes of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984. This essay is used to show students the importance of reading to understand the author’s intent. One teaching-based project, “I Put the AP in Happy”, explores the intricacies of teaching AP English Language and Composition by looking at the readings, writing prompts, and other assignments to meet the Advanced Placement standards set by the Department of Education. Another teaching-based project, “Technical Writing Course”, narrows down the language and composition field even further by exploring the different technical writing assignments implemented to teach students the skills needed and the importance of technical communication. The final piece, “Editing Portfolio”, showcases the different types of editing that can be used to create a polished piece of professional writing. Together, all four pieces represent the different stages of creating composition, giving English language and composition instructors tools to help them provide a better, more rounded educational experience for students. All pieces include links to additional resources for instructors