• What Students Can Expect From Me:
    I will always take your creative process seriously. (Even if you sometimes don't.) I will never give up on your creative process. (Even if you sometimes do.) I will always give you the benefit of the doubt. (Unless you give me reason not to.) I will tell you when I don't know something. I will try to notice when I make mistakes, and I will admit it when I do. I think of myself as a writer and a teacher. They go together for me. I can't do one without the other. During the school year, your work comes first for me. That means I will read your work with the energy and intensity I bring to my own work. In grading, I will err on your side. (Unless you don't turn your work in.) I will make room for creative autonomy, self-expression, and personal freedom, but I am responsible for more than just helping you develop as an artist. I am responsible for helping everybody in the room develop as an artist. That means I will sometimes have to play referee. And while you're in my classroom, I am also responsible for something more basic and much more important than any of that: your personal safety and well-being. Physical, emotional, and intellectual. I will take that responsibility more seriously than anything else.
     
    What I Expect from Students:
    I expect you to try. I expect you to try again. I expect you to make art. I expect you to develop a sustainable creative process that can exist beyond an academic setting. I expect you to take risks in your creative process. I expect you to discover (and rediscover) your preoccupations as an artist. I don't expect you to make a living as an artist "someday." (I'm not saying you can't or won't, just that you don't have to.) I expect you to be a "normal" teenager. (Because you are.) I expect you to be an exceptional teenager, human being. (Because you are.) I expect you to change. (Mind. Heart. Direction. Etc.) I expect you to turn your work in on time. If you need an extension, I expect you to ask for it. I expect you to participate (listen and talk) in critiques and class discussions. I expect you to show respect for yourself, your department, your school, and all of us -- your ASFA peers and teachers -- who are sharing this amazing experience with you.
     
    For more detailed reflections related to my philosophy of teaching poetry and prose, please click the links to the PDF files below.