Kelly
Kelly, the creator of (un)Enlightened English, is a PhD student who not only has a passion for writing but a passion for helping others learn. As a tutor in her CUNY Queens College's Writing Center and adjunct composition instructor, Kelly has tutored students of all backgrounds–from English majors to English as Second Language (ESL) students.
Posts by Kelly
The Implications of Google + on Classroom Hybridization
Jul 26th
You may not have heard of Google +, which is commonly heralded as “Facebook but not Facebook,” a social networking site that works in myriad different ways than Facebook. It’s run (obviously) by Google and has, I believe, many different features that can be viewed as beneficial to a classroom environment. But before I get into specific features, I want to talk a bit about what I look for in web tools for teaching/being a student.
- Accessibility: This is why Blackboard can be a difficult tool to implement–you can only access it from going from annoying link to link and generally More >
What Makes a Bad Teacher?
Jul 2nd
So frequently we have discussions about the qualities we should (and would like) to see in a “good” teacher. With Cameron Diaz’s Bad Teacher looming in the box office, however, I couldn’t help but wonder why we don’t discuss the traits that create a “bad” teacher. In the movie (which I have not seen, but have read summaries about), it seems the things she brings into the classroom are disdain for children, drug usage, heavy drinking, cheating, stealing state test exams, and blackmailing people.
Ok, that IS pretty bad.
But it’s not particularly realistic either. Teachers who are that abysmal get kicked More >
OMG TECHNOLOGY IZ KILLING ENGRISH!
Jun 7th
So I was in my composition theory course, and I commented on how pathetic it was that an author claimed technology and the increasingly globalized economy are killing the “academy” (essentially, education). I said it was a bit of a cop-out, that everyone immediately turns to technology as the destroyer of language. The professor commented on how she could see that point and another student jumped in, saying something along the lines of “Kids don’t know how to write or spell full words now because all they do is write LOL” etc. And she was a bit of a bitch More >
New Pedagogical Techniques with Classical Topics
Jun 2nd
I’m constantly conflicted in my pedagogical beliefs and methodologies, primarily because I believe so strongly in technological implementation into the classroom but also believe in a more classical form of education. These practices frequently class with each other: there’s nothing classical about implementing blogging and gaming into a classroom. Yet, on the other hand, as a means to rectify these issues, I find that the two can interact quite well to achieve great ends. Perhaps this is where English education needs to head.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. I suppose I should begin with some of my proposed methods and More >
Welcome to (un)Enlightened Academy!
Jun 2nd
Hi all! If you were looking for (un)Enlightened English or (un)Enlightened Philosophy, you may have noticed some changes afoot, so I wanted to make a quick news post to explain what is happening to the site.
We have merged (un)Enlightened English and (un)Enlightened Philosophy and have added two more categories (Education and Technology) as well. While the goal of the site is primarily to help answer students’ questions, we now have the space to accommodate the queries of educators who are looking for new pedagogical techniques, and those who are looking for discussions on technology. Some of these pieces will be More >
It’s vs. Its
Jun 1st
I suppose I never thought it was necessary to do this post before, but after seeing so many of my students not knowing that “its” actually exists and after seeing how many people look up the difference between the two words, it became clear that this is a necessary post. I can see how these two words are confusing, and they will most likely be a bit difficult to remember. However, this should be a pretty easy explanation, so let’s get started.
It’s
“It’s” is a contraction, which means it is a combination of two words that are made into one with More >
What it Means to be a Scholar
May 28th
Being a scholar would seemingly be a dream job. Sit and think. Read. Come up with something new. Sit on your laptop and peruse Facebook amidst stacks of dusty library books, expensive anthologies and texts that you bought, printed out essays and articles, and crumpled up pieces of crappy material you’ve written. Sit on a broken couch with plywood under the cushions to prevent it from caving in. Sit with oatmeal. Sit with Ramen. Sit with oatmeal again.
Sit.
And think.
But being a scholar isn’t always that easy. Especially if you’re considering pursuing a Ph.D.; you have the lovely “pre-Ph.D.” work, “in-Ph.D.” More >
CCCC 2011: Atlanta, GA
Apr 15th
Hi all! You may be stumbling upon this site because of this year’s 4Cs, in which case I want to let you know what I’m doing this year, etc.
Unfortunately, I’m only doing a workshop this year and not a panel–but the workshop is amazing. I’m part of the gaming workshop entitled “Play/Write 3.0: Connecting Game Studies to Composition Pedagogies,” which will cover various levels of implementing games into the classroom. We range from high-tech machinimas to low-tech choose your own adventure narratives. It promises to be very cool and very engaging.
The other thing our workshop team is doing is the More >
It vs. He/She vs. They
Apr 3rd
(For those of you who don’t know, this is Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. )
My boss gave me an awesome article about pronouns and how English does not have a gender-neutral singular pronoun. It’s been a problem that has annoyed grammar-junkies everywhere. In typical conversation, these things don’t matter–and we’ll use the plural “they” as a gender neutral singular noun. In writing, this becomes problematic. You can’t use a plural pronoun to replace a singular noun. But then again, you also don’t want to omit a gender. So what do we do? How do we know what to use?
Why More >
Writing for your Audience (Rhetoric)
Apr 3rd
Hi all! Today’s post will cover writing for your audience. To most–if not all–of you, this will seemingly be no big deal. “I’m a student. My professor has to read my paper. Who cares about writing specifically for him/her?” I bet your professor does, even if he or she doesn’t explicitly say so. You know when professors tell you not to summarize a book? Well, a small part of reason involves the fact that your professor knows the text and he/she is your audience. Hence, by not summarizing the text, you are writing to your audience. Today’s post will cover More >
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