Celebrate Professional Teaching
Penn State English NTL Faculty
Many congratulations to the winners of the 2016 Excellence in Teaching Awards:
Caiden Feldmiller, Master of Arts Excellence in Teaching Award
Kaylin Mansley, BA/MA Excellence in Teaching Award
Bethany Doane (not pictured), PhD Excellence in Teaching Award
Jan Babcock, Lecturer Excellence in Teaching Award
Judith McKelvey, Nancy Lowe Award in Writing and Rhetoric
by Monique T. Brodie PhD, MBA
Senior Lecturer, Business Writing
…to date, no adjustments have been made to account for racial and gender bias in the results.
The following framework is presented in support of a new approach to interpreting low Student Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTE) and specific global comments. Based in part on perspectives found in the literature and relative to the experiences of teaching professionals, college students may use SRTEs to express opinion about a system in which they perceive themselves as passive participants6. Their comments may be a reflection of their expected grade4 and not a reflection of their learning; learning which they may not realize until well after the course is over8. Students may also write uninhibited and potentially career damaging comments due to anonymity and the lack of accountability for inaccuracies. Unless a teaching professional can know who contributed the comment, one cannot provide a direct response and add meaningful context. The purpose of this discussion is to promote a new framework for SRTEs and advocate for improvement in how the results are utilized. Read more.
Listening to Jessica O’Hara deep in questions and responses to her talk on women in Neil Jordan’s work! #ACIS 2016 by heather corbally bryant
Jessica O’Hara’s presentation, “Is She Fact or Is She Fiction?” examined representations of the immigrant woman in recent Irish film. She took a close look at the works of Irish auteur Neil Jordan and the 2007 film Once, focusing on the use of Irish myth and folklore.
Heather Corbally Bryant, our former lecturer colleague now at Wellesely College, presented on two panels: a creative non-fiction panel in which she presented a piece on her grandmother’s sojourn in Shanghai, and a poetry panel, where she read from her forthcoming volume, “My Wedding Dress.”
Stephanie Smith and Sean Weidman also participated.
ACIS 2016 The Worlding of Irish Studies
On April 1-2, 2016 Tempest Productions presented Accidents of Being based on original poetry by Mary Rohrer-Dann. Cynthia M. Mazzant created the adaptation for the stage. The play is a mix of spoken word readings and character acting. The compilation of poems covers 150 years of life in the neighborhood as retold by Rohrer-Dann. The State Theatre hosted three shows over two days, before the stage company took the show to NYC and Philadelphia. This review is based on the Saturday, 3:00PM presentation which included a special Talk Back segment between the actors and the audience after an approximately 90-minute performance.
The balcony seats were filled with Rohrer-Dann and Mazzant fans and friends – mostly colleagues from the English Department. They came out a dozen strong and formed a feisty line up to support two of their own. Near the front row were the parents of the youngest actor, 11 year old Miranda Marks and a few Penn State alumni who came to town to support their former Creative Writing teacher. Author and poet Rohrer-Dann was in the mezzanine section and Mazzant took to the stage in a classic suit and hat. Her costume, as with all of the others’, enhanced each of the distinguished characters she read.
The brightness of the low 50s April afternoon was obscured by the blackout shades that covered the many windows in the upper room of the theatre. With capacity seating for about 45, the room bustled with energy. Politely, guests took their seats and quieted when the clock neared 3:00PM. The theater lights were dimmed as a few starting actors took their places. Then, bright lights flooded the stage and the orchestra seats to reveal minimal props: a lighted arch at the entrance and various elements which served as stage seating. Music by David Bruce Smith streamed in, along with the additional actors’ lively voices. The play began. Behind the actors, visual effects were projected on a large screen to set the mood for each scene of the play. Choreographed steps took them from left to right and from the background – forward on the stage while their voices filled the theatre. Mike Waldhier, a dreamy baritone, wooed the audience with humor and sarcasm in perfect pitch as read for the male characters.
The play is presented in two Acts, but the first hour whizzes by from the opening call of a vendor selling strawberries (Waldhier) and the ladies fussing over news gossip in the “Prelude” to Young Marks’ expressiveness as she playfully steals the scene while “Taking Joey for a Walk” midway through Scene 4. In between these scenes of Act I, Elaine Meder-Wilgus in a summer white suit and Lissa Ramirez in spring dress take turns reading poems that are directorially woven together in duet style storytelling. Common themes emerge. Through character presence and posturing, vocal tones, and stage positions the director and actors reveal everything from the darkness of social ills to the whimsy of phony high society. Each character in Rohrer-Dann’s poetry comes alive through the spoken read. Even the ghosts come alive with the subtle eerie music, lighting, and stage whispers. Accidents of Being is an intentional presentation of history and her-story, drawing in the audience with the rhythm and synergy of the five actors.
The final half-hour feels short after the fifteen-minute intermission. But the actors come back to the stage with electricity. The audience can feel the summer heat against bare bodies “Skinny Dipping at Midnight” or imagine Marks’ rosy cheeks when she is “Sledding at Burholme Park”. During the Talk Back segment, Rohrer-Dann shares that the beautiful boy who is spoken of in “Riding the Y Bus with Hermes”, during Scene 4 of the five scenes of Act II, is a youngster she encountered during a commute. As mentioned, after the Finale, the house lights were brought up and the actors returned to the stage for a casual Q&A with the audience. Wine was served and those in the balcony seats moved in closer, some standing in the aisles to take pictures or video record the conversation.
Applause and hoots from the audience confirm Accidents of Being is an outstanding performance presented by a stellar cast. Hugs and praise were offered to Rohrer-Dann for sharing her gift of storytelling through poetry. If you missed the State College performances, be sure to check out the CPT for news alerts. This must-see, like several of Rohrer-Dann and Mazzant’s other collaborations, is rumored to return to the area.
by Amanda Passmore-Ott
Allegheny Portage Railroad National Park
April, 2016
Some call it the onion snow; I call it transition and it is magical. Onoko and I enter the trail together, booted foot next to paw, and pass the sign post: 6 to 10 trail. The trail is part of the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Park and meanders past borders of state game lands. Snow hiking is a favorite— I often tell people who complain about Pennsylvania winters to just get a husky and hit the trail. Unlike the hard packed crystals of January, this snow hangs to moldering leaves, a deceptive cloak over mud that can suck a boot right off a foot. We skirt the edges, taking deer paths rather than human trails. Always trust the footing of an animal; they see what we cannot see.
Onoko swivels her head like a great fox and pounces, sending a vole from its tunnel of root and leaves to a nearby tree. Up mountain windmills whir at decibels I can only feel as a pulse in the air, a reminder that even here among seemingly endless trees human footprints leave their mark. Today, I’ll follow Onoko’s prints, pads pressed fossils that will disappear come morning, no more than echoes of our passing. Beech Nut and Hemlock close us in and I imagine myself living by the senses as any animal; for this one hike, I belong on the trail as any pad-footed or cleft-toed creature.
At the knob, where the trail begins its long wind down the East face to the old railroad bed, we pause to gaze out at the vista: three mountains disappearing into a fog of wind-whipped flurries. Below, the route 22 is hidden, giving an illusion of wild. This far up, the wind muffles any sound of traffic. I take a minute, let Onoko lift her nose to the arctic wind, her ruff gently lifting on the up and down drafts. Her eyes squint, slits of blue like the patches of sky occasionally poking through cloud. I allow her this moment before we head back down; this one more snow before the clouds give way. Then, people will come out of hibernation, a sleep seemingly longer than that of the bear that have begun foraging weeks ago. Then, the trails will be harder to trek. We’ll push in deeper to find the wild, roam wider circles until the snow herds us back again.
You can follow Onoko’s adventures at: https://www.facebook.com/AdventureswithOnoko/
You can see more hiking photos by following Amanda @huskymom7 on Instagram
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