Adjunct Spotlight

Asa McMullen currently teaches ENG 155 and 156, Business Communications, but has previously taught composition, as well. Asa knows that students who take Business Communications courses are very career-oriented, so she must cater her class to their interests.

Asa's teaching philosophy is largely based on learning as an individual process:

      "As an instructor of introductory English writing and business communication courses, I believe that learning is a unique process that differs from person to person. Students often do not rely solely on a single learning style to process and retain information. Each student uses a combination of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles to process information. Some may find that one learning style is more prevalent in their learning process; however, the use of multiple learning styles is important to truly master the concepts introduced in writing courses. In order to facilitate the various learning styles, I implement reading, homework, and group assignments supplemented by writing workshops to help students establish the fundamentals of writing and improve their current writing skills."

One of Asa's favorite class activities occurs in her ENG 156 course:

"Students are instructed to choose a company, product, or an event and use the three-step writing process to create an advertisement. The group activity allows students to transition to the next level in business communication and start thinking beyond the traditional forms of emails, memos, and letters. Students must develop an audience profile, visually communicate a business message, and use constructive feedback from their peers to create the best advertisement for their audience. After completing the activity, the students have demonstrated their ability to successfully perform the following skills to create an effective business message:

•  Employ the three-step writing process of planning, drafting, and revising.
•  Adapt messages to the audience and use the reader-centered approach (rather than the writer-centered approach) in communication.
•  Proofread and edit correspondence to appropriately address audience and avoid errors in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure."

Asa loves to teach because she loves to watch students develop into better writers, and subsequently, better employees:

      "My favorite aspect of teaching is being able to see the growth of my students as writers and communicators. I especially enjoy the excitement and new perspectives students bring to each activity and major assignment. I encourage students to relate their aspirations and career goals to the individual and group activities as well as the major assignments . It's always a pleasure to hear students say that they left my class with the knowledge and information needed to move on to the next level in their education and/or careers."

Thank you, Asa, for being a part of our team here at York Tech! We appreciate you!

Jessica Lundby teaches RDG 031 and 100, Developmental and Critical Reading. Jessica has been with us for over a year now and has consistently developed her teaching style and strategy.

             Let's hear what Jessica has to say about teaching and engaging her students.

"My main goal when teaching is to engage my students to maximize learning. I am a proponent of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory and try to incorporate multiple forms of teaching methods into my instruction. Students have many forms of learning styles, so it would be difficult for some students to learn from me if I stuck to my personal levels of comfort in both teaching and learning. By combining multiple strategies each class, I can hopefully engage more students to increase learning."

When it comes to collaborative learning, Jessica likes the Think/Learn/Teach model.

"I have students think about their prior knowledge about a topic, do some research or reading about the topic, then teach a partner about what they learned. The partner in turn replicates the idea, so they learn from each other. There is typically an in-class activity the partners complete together as a measure of assessing their learning of the concept. This strategy allows the students to have ownership over their learning and doesn't require me to always present/lecture. It also encourages participation because students are leading the learning rather than simply listening."

When asked why she chose the teaching field, Jessica stated:

"I was drawn to teaching reading specifically because it is the foundation for so many other courses, study habits, job skills, and for life in general. By teaching at the collegiate level, I can help others on a deeper and more meaningful level as students are becoming one step closer to their own goals."

Keep up the excellent work, Jessica! We appreciate your dedication!

Meet Alexandra Samsell. Alexandra teaches SPC 205, Public Speaking. This is her first semester teaching here at York Tech, and she is already doing some exciting and engaging activities with her classes.

One such activity helps students understand how important and difficult listening can be. Students also get to experience how audience awareness impacts the message and how different listeners receive the same message in various ways.

For the activity, Alexandra divides the class into artists and communicators. Each communicator is paired with an artist, and they sit back-to-back. The communicators are given a small drawing with the purpose of explaining how the artists can replicate the drawing. The artists are provided with paper and pencil to draw their interpretation of the message from the reader. At first, the artists cannot speak. Eventually, they are allowed to ask for clarification. Finally, the artists reveal their work to the communicators, comparing and contrasting their replica to the original.

When asked why she chose this activity, Alexandra stated,

"When I present information to a group of students, I try to incorporate channels for every type of learning style. I always include some sort of group or team-building activity that also directly relates to the material we had covered in the previous lecture. Not only does this help students to get to know each other, but it also gives them an opportunity to apply what they have learned in a hands-on setting. This particular activity illustrates just how difficult the listening process can be both as a speaker and listener."

Alexandra says of her overall teaching philosophy,

 "I believe we learn best when we feel comfortable in our surroundings. Therefore, I create a safe environment where students feel comfortable enough to share, reveal, and be vulnerable in front of their peers. This process starts on the very first day class meets, which is why I integrate so many team-building activities throughout the lectures."

Thank you, Alexandra, for your contribution to our department and our students!