The English Department Non-Tenure Track Faculty (NTTF) Committee does all kinds of good work. One good thing is their newsletter “In Addition…News from the English Department’s NTTF Committee.” One of the features of the newsletter, which is sent monthly to NTTF in the department, is a faculty profile, which they’ve agreed to let us share on the blog.

Hannah Aldine

What name do you prefer to go by? Where are you located on campus?

Hannah Aldine – Ingersoll SE 259 (but only for one more month!)

What courses do you teach at CSU? What (if any) courses have you taught before?

I’m teaching CO300 and CO150-ESL this semester, and I also teach CO150 and CO130.

What are the greatest strengths that you bring to teaching composition?

I think my dynamic teaching approach helps me to be flexible and willing to constantly re-invent my courses. I try to be a conscientious teacher who constantly adapts to what students need and want in a writing class. I like to implement new assignments each semester, and right now I’m integrating multimodal assignments which develop technological literacy for students because I think this is a skill that will benefit them outside of the course. I also use research to inform my teaching practices, so I conduct classroom-based research to elicit student feedback on major course changes that I make.

What makes teaching composition to ESL students unique from teaching it to non- ESL students?

In my experience, ESL students are generally more motivated and care a lot about doing well. They often bring a lot of enthusiasm, and I find that I’ve raised my standards for native speakers’ writing because I’ve received such strong texts from my ESL students. I think many of them do well because they routinely use office hours, and I suspect that they read their feedback more as well than their American counterparts.

What song best describes your work ethic?

At this point in the semester, the first song that comes to mind is “Just Keep Swimming” from Finding Nemo. Earlier in the semester it’d probably be “[wo]Man in the Mirror” by Michael Jackson.

(Thank you to Tony Becker for interviewing Hannah.)