Kathy A. Fitch
Winter Quarter, 2002
College of DuPage
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Kathy A. Fitch |
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Then I look into my students' faces, and they look solemnly back at me.
"So why does our writing matter, again?" they ask. Because of the spirit, I say. Because of the heart. Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least at clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again. It's like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship. Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. |
Master of Arts: Northern Illinois University, 1986.
Bachelor of Arts: Northern Illinois University, 1984. Summa Cum Laude.
Assistant Professor of English, College of DuPage: 1990-Present. Courses taught include: Developmental Writing, Freshman Year Composition Sequence, Honors FYC Sequence, Introduction to Film Art, Literature and Film, Honors Literature and Film, Horror Film, Poetry Writing, Fiction Writing, Non-Fiction Writing.
Adjunct English Instructor, College of DuPage: 1988-1990
English Instructor, Northern Illinois University: 1987-1988
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Northern Illinois University: 1984-1987.
Divisional Service: Has included serving on English hiring committees; chairing the English 101 Multi-Section Assessment Committee; acting as Part-Time Liaison, which entailed interviewing, hiring, orienting, staffing, reviewing, and supporting part-time English faculty; and serving on the Active Course File Revision Committee. Current service: Outstanding Communications Faculty Selection Committee, Chair of the Computer-Users Committee, English Faculty Computer Liaison.
College Wide Service: Has included serving on institutional hiring committees, and co-chairing the College-Wide Classroom Assessment Committee. Current Service: Faculty Senate, Welfare Team, Grievance Committee, Honors Advisory Council, Institutional Climate Committee, Faculty Technology Advisory Committee.
Presenter: "Beyond Pioneers: Faculty Development as Philosophy, Partnership, and Pedagogy." League for Innovation Conference on Computers and Information Technology, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November, 2001.
Presenter: "Raveling Techne and Poesis: The Art of (Dis)Entanglement," Computers and Writing 2001, Ball State University, May 2001.
Presenter: "The Importance of Faculty Voices in Courseware Development and Selection." Computers and Writing 2001, Ball State University, May 2001.
Webfolio Workshop: Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois. Facilitated by Michael Day. February, 2001
ConnectWeb Workshop. Norton Sales Conference. Sea Island, Georgia. January, 2001.
Co-Chair of Town Hall 2, "Dancing on the Limbs of Change," Computers and Writing 2000, Fort Worth, Texas, May 2000.
Presenter: "Forgetting Beginnings." Town Hall 2, Computers and Writing 2000, Fort Worth, Texas, May 2000.
Facilitator: Town Hall 2 Online. Computers and Writing Online Conference, May 2000.
Panelist: Honors in the 21st Century: Incorporating Technology into Honors Instruction. College of DuPage Honors Conference, May 1999.
Presenter: "Learning Curves II: Classroom and Multisection Assessment at College of DuPage, 1998-1999." Triton Assessment Conference, 1999.
Presenter: "Learning Curves: Assessment Strategies and Opportunities at College of DuPage." Triton Community College Assessment Conference, 1998
Facilitator: "Outcomes Assessment Workshop." South Suburban College Faculty Development Day. South Suburban Community College, 1998.
Presenter: "Making Your Writing Your Own." Study Skills Seminar, College of DuPage, 1996.
National Council of Teachers of English
Alliance for Computers and Writing
Member of the Editorial Board of Kairos: A Journal for Teachers of Writing in Webbed Environments.
Developer and facilitator of Syllaweb Development Workshop, College of DuPage Teaching and Learning Center, Winter 2001.
Facilitator: ConnectWeb Faculty Development Workshop. Fall Quarter, 2000.
Developer of the College of DuPage Part-Time English Faculty Web.
Participation in Professional Discussion Lists, including NCTE-Talk, Teaching Composition, Writing Program Administration, ASSESS, Teaching Writing Online, and TechRhet.
Recent Conference Attendance:
League for Innovation Conference on Computers and Information Technology: Minneapolis, Minnesota, November, 2001.
Computers and Writing Conference: "A Cyber Odyssey." May 2001, Ball State University.
NEA Higher Education Conference: March 2-4 2001, San Diego, California.
TechEd Chicago: October 19-20, Chicago, Illinois.
Computers and Writing Conference: "Evolution, Revolution, and Implementation: Computers and Writing for Global Change." May 2000, Fort Worth, Texas.
Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference, "A Virtual Odyssey: What's Ahead for New Technologies in Learning." April 12-14, 2000
"TeacherFest: NCTE's First Online Conference." NCTE Online Conference, October 21-24, 1999. NCTE Online Resort and Conference Center.
Computers and Writing Conference: "Tradition and Technology." May 1999, Rapid City, South Dakota.
NISOD Conference on Teaching and Leadership Excellence, May 1998, Austin, Texas.
College of DuPage Outstanding Communications Faculty, 1997-1998
Nominated for College of DuPage Teacher of the Year, 1997 and 1998
I'm the one sitting front and center on the bottom step in the picture at the left. Note the big smile: a sunny day and being surrounded by students are two of my favorite things. My dog, Dickens the Wonder Mutt, pictured to the right, is about twelve-years old, though he apparently considers himself a mere pup if the way he chases after chipmunks, tennis balls and the occasional delivery truck is any indication. I'm not exactly sure whether I own Dickens or Dickens owns me, but he's generally considered "my" dog since he shadows my every move, which is sweet, but does mean that I trip over him from time to time when I'm trying to get ready for school in the morning. Besides hanging out at College of DuPage and communing with Dickens, I enjoy exploring and studying cyberculture, and poking around in the book sections of antique shops and thrift stores. (Though I'm strictly a so-so cook, I do collect antique cookbooks.) Despite some internet age critics' dystopian visions of a future without books, I don't believe that the book as we know it will be relegated to history's dust bin any time soon--portable; not vulnerable to the vagaries of power-outages, virus induced crashes, or planned obsolescence; and bootable everywhere from a mountain top to a beach, the book may be the ideal communications technology. Of course, since I can boast a healthy if somewhat dusty collection of long-play record albums, my credentials as a futurist might not be above reproach.
Books I've Enjoyed Recently
King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
Miles, Jack. God: A Biography and Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God.
Prejean, Helen. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States.
Pullman, Phillip. His Dark Materials Trilogy. (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass.)
Smith, Huston. Why Religion Matters: The Future of Faith in an Age of Disbelief.
My All-Time Favorite Writers (At the Moment!)
Poets: Robert Frost, Jane Kenyon, Marge Piercy, Sharon Olds, Russell Edson, Margaret Atwood.
Cyberpunk Novelists: Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Pat Cadigan, Elizabeth Hand.
Fantasy Novelists: Guy Gavriel Kay, David Eddings.
Nonfiction: Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks.
Some Favorite Web Sites (Also at the Moment!)
The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society's Urban Legend Reference Pages.
ibiblio.org--The Public's Library.
relgioustolerance.org: Sponsored by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. For obvious reasons, this site is a particular favorite right now.
Do you have favorites to contribute? Please suggest them!
Students chatting atop the sculpture south of SRC in Spring Quarter, 2001.
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Kathy A. Fitch |
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Ever wonder how teachers regard the process of grading student work? See A Grading Poem. |
Copyright © 2000-2002, Kathy A. Fitch
College of DuPage · Liberal Arts Division · IC 3129
B · (630) 942-3367
FitchK@cdnet.cod.edu · Disclaimer ·03 May 2009
