I’m a dynamic instructor with nearly a decade of experience teaching in secondary education, as well as extensive experience teaching undergraduate courses in British literature, children’s literature, rhetoric & composition, and film studies.
To help provide some understanding of my general approach to teaching, here’s how I developed two of my favorite courses.
TWO EXAMPLE COURSES
“Weaponizing the Child: The Politics & Social Power of Children’s Literature” (English 2250)
This course engaged the recent discourse surrounding education and library collections by providing students historical context for the complex relationship between works of children’s literature and political movements. We read texts from the Golden Age of Children’s Literature, exploring educational practices, colonial expansion, social norms, and industrial labor movements of the time. To support that historical approach, I brought in extensive archival explorations, even creating an exhibit for my students within the Rare Books Division at Saint Louis University.
Link to the full syllabus here.
“Dreamscapes, Nightmares, and the Imagination” (English 2750/FSTD 2700)
I designed this course to introduce students to the aesthetic qualities of literary dreamscapes and fantasy realms in order to explore one of my favorite novels, Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea (2019). As a cross-listed course, we viewed films throughout the semester alongside works from classic fantasy literature. The final unit then asked students to consider The Starless Sea in relation to the techniques and medium of film to answer the question: could this novel ever be adapted into a movie?
Link to the reading & viewing schedule.
PREVIOUS COURSES AT SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
- English 2250: Weaponizing the Child: The Politics & Social Power of Children’s Literature
- English 4000: Business & Professional Writing
- English 2930: Film, Culture, Literature: Wonder-ous Worlds & Alternate [Un]Realities
- English 2350: The Bad, The Brooding, & The Byronic Hero
- English 2750: Dreamscapes, Nightmares, and the Imagination
- English 1500: The Process of Composition: First-year Introduction Course to Academic Writing
- English 1900: Advanced Strategies of Rhetoric: Faith, Doubt, & Religion in Contemporary Political Discourse
- English 1900: Advanced Strategies of Rhetoric: Contemporary Rhetorical Discourses in Technology & New Media
- English 1900: Advanced Strategies of Rhetoric: Faith, Doubt, & Religion in Medicine
- English 1900: Advanced Strategies of Rhetoric: Social Justice & Advocacy Writing (Service-Learning Course)
Colten Biro 