Adjunct Instructor in Composition

About

  • Find Me On:

    linkedin

  • Website:

    tiffanydriven

  • Office Hours:

    MWF 3-4 pm: In-person (Also, online via Zoom: see details on Course Canvas page).

  • Role:

    Faculty

  • Position:

    • Adjunct Instructor in Composition

  • Concentration:

    • Applied Linguistics, TEFL/TESL

  • Department:

    • English and University Composition Program

  • Education:

    • M.A. in TEFL/TESL
    • B.A. in English Language

  • Curriculum Vitae:

Biography

"Biography" pages always present such an intimidating challenge for us writers. What to share? Do we prosaically list our academic and professional qualifications? Do we try and add a little spice, a little flavor to our descriptions of ourselves? Some magic exists in the telling of tales and the telling of stories, so I'll paint myself as an adventurer in a story. Akin to all classic tales, I'll use the rule of three and describe myself with three overarching characteristics.

Characteristic One) Driven. 

And, now entering the scene are some fancy letter qualifications, namely that I received my B.A. and M.A. at CSU. In my undergraduate degree, I majored in English Linguistics, and minored in Japanese and Linguistics & Cultural Interdisciplinary studies. Although I became a single parent during my undergraduate degree study, I sought to study abroad with my child twice during my undergraduate degree. We ventured to Yamagata, Japan and Oxford, England. As a budding and curious academic, on my return from abroad, I ventured forth to find research opportunities with a faculty member in my program, and received the CSU undergraduate research grant. If you have questions about research as an undergraduate student, please don't hesitate to talk to me either via email or during office hours! As a grizzled and hardened academic veteran, I came back to CSU to pursue my master's degree in Teaching English as a First or Second Language (i.e., TEFL/TESL). My master's degree, though challenging, provided ample opportunity to further develop my love of caffeine, meditation, and research. In particular, my research revolved around investigating speech acts in Japanese learners of English. In addition, I earned every single silver hair on my head from this program.

Characteristic Two) Adventurous! 

Outside of pouring over books and writing, this adventurer likes pushing into new areas of knowledge and exploring different areas of the world. During my master's degree, I pursued my 200 RYT while abroad in Spain over the summer, and I still teach yoga at my Krav Maga studio in town. I also regularly practice Krav (which seems necessary for adventuring) and am actively working on my instructor training certification. I enjoy diving into clouds (i.e., skydiving), hiking with my kiddo and friends (particularly at night or during backpacking), and learning new languages.

Characteristic Three) Geek. 

When not outside or exploring the new, you can find me playing board games and roleplaying games; attending Fan Expo in Denver and Ren Faire in Larkspur; reading comics; impressionist painting; writing poetry, and so forth.

Now that I've set the stage for myself as an adventurer, who are you? What type of adventuring tale will you tell?

Publications

  • Book review for Hertfordshire Press Publishing House: 
    • Kunanbayeva, S.S. (2021). Competence-Based Modelling of Professional Foreign Language Education. Hertfordshire Press Publishing House.

First Generation Story

Who am I? The answer to this question cannot be explained by merely relaying my experiences and upbringing. Rather, my family history shaped the characteristics that comprise who I am. In brief, I grew up in a family where the only means to secure myself a more promising future rested in my intelligence and how far I could reach via the path of education. I constantly had to strive to use education to secure myself opportunities like more stable living situations or studying abroad for school or professional opportunities. The quintessential lesson learned in my years navigating academia and self-improvement stems from the insight that academia akin to many other professions can assist, if you let it, in helping you realize who you are. And, what I have learned, is that I can boil all my intricacies down into a singular word and that word is: driven.

Courses

  • Rhetoric and Composition

    Syllabus

    Welcome to CO150!
    ようこそ!欢迎!¡Bienvenido! Herzlich willkommen! Bienvenue!
    CO150, at its core, is a composition and rhetoric course. However, what does that mean? From a surface level perusal, this means that we will explore a variety of different genres of writing: professional, academic, and evaluative (i.e., metacognitive). All of these genres of writing have been selected to better prepare you for success as a university student, professional, and global citizen. From a deeper perspective, you will learn to critically read and respond to a variety of texts; to write for a variety of rhetorical situations and audiences; to dialogue about different experiences and perspectives, and to develop and apply effective writing practices to suit your chosen genre and audience. This semester’s CO150 course theme is Professionalism. We will focus on a variety of diverse professional genres to help you cultivate a basic professional profile as a citizen in the global workforce. Throughout the course, we will analyze our inherent biases and perspectives. We will discuss differences with one another, respectfully and with an open- mind, allowing us to better understand each other, the world around us, and what we have the power to change in our ever-evolving global society!

  • Academic Writing

    Syllabus

    ようこそ!欢迎!¡Bienvenido! Herzlich willkommen! Bienvenue!
    In CO130, you will develop and practice how to read and write for academic audiences. In order to effectively communicate in academic contexts, you will learn how to identify the rhetorical situation, learn how to identify, and revise your purpose for writing, practice writing in a variety of genres, and read and research various topics and texts. Since the process of reading and writing is just as important as the final written product, I will teach you the skills of drafting, outlining, writing, revising, summarizing, analyzing, close reading, and research. These are skills that are incredibly important across the CSU campus as well as in the workplace. All of the skills you learn in CO130 can be and should be applied beyond our classroom! As the semester progresses, actively think about how you can apply the skills you’re learning in class to other classes, audiences, and writing situations.