My name is Taylor Waits and I am a 3rd Year Critical and Cultural Studies PhD student in the Department of English with a focus on Critical Literature and Pedagogies. I am interested in how students view education, student faculty perspectives, and digital storytelling. Specifically, I am in the proposal and preliminary research phase of my dissertation. This semester I was actively looking for opportunities to immerse myself in readings about critical literature and pedagogues, curriculum development, distribution of support materials amongst pedagogue communities, and dialogues surrounding digital storytelling, as well as curriculum and instructional design amongst pedagogues during COVID–19 precautions. It was difficult finding opportunities that I felt challenged by, might work for my department, and had the resources to support my work.
After talking to a few of my colleagues, I decided to reach out to past mentors I had worked with for a Humanities Engage summer immersive fellowship. The first person I thought to call was Dr. Chawanna Chambers. Her organization, Single Seed Enrichment School, is a small educational nonprofit that “seeks to support innovative educational opportunities for K-12 students.” Historically, they have done this through a myriad of approaches including blended learning, tutoring, and homeschool co-op programs (before the pandemic began). Currently, the nonprofit is looking for ways to serve both students and educators by training educators on new, innovative methods of instruction and engagement.
I have grown interested in being an instructor for teachers and in the possibility of doing this once I leave my program. Given that what I want both professionally and academically were essentially up for grabs with the proposed addition to their programming, by the end of the conversation both Dr. Chae and I knew I would make a good fit for this expansion. My previous experience as a Zoom workshop teaching artist and facilitator gives me enough know-how and technical experience to be able to help facilitate large-scale training sessions meant specifically for pedagogues. My work with Single Seed Enrichment School will allow me to magnify my growing academic expertise about curriculum and instruction using digital modalities while simultaneously helping me to acquire research, development, training, and re – education cognition. This immersive helps my reading list to expand with relevant sources, connects me with pedagogues working with digital modalities, and allows me to grow as a researcher, interviewer, and facilitator. This experience supports my desires to explore curriculum and instructional design, as well as strengthens my work with digital storytelling and social media. Additionally, I will help develop educational collateral that I can use as a part of my portfolio to help with searching for positions in academic administration. Dr. Chae is a helpful model for me, as she acquired a PhD before moving into various administrative positions in education. Working with Dr. Chae gives me the energy boost I need to push through this portion of my dissertation while also giving me hope that the future is bright! I look forward to the rest of my time with Dr. Chae and Single Seed.