In my creative writing classrooms, I emphasize process-based learning, experimentation, and critical self-reflection, all within a collaborative and inclusive environment. As a queer scholar, I prioritize diversity of voice and perspective, helping students explore how identity informs artistic production. My goal is to create spaces where students can take risks with their writing, challenge their assumptions, and learn to read both their work and the work of others with a critical yet generous eye. Through this approach, I foster a culture of curiosity and mutual respect, where students feel empowered to express themselves and engage deeply with the writing process.

One of the central methods I employ in creative writing workshops is a focus on experimentation and discomfort as generative forces. For example, in my Poetry Forms Workshop, I ask students to write a poem in the style of a classmate whose writing differs significantly from their own. A student who gravitates toward lyrical, free verse might be tasked with writing in a formalist structure, while another who favors experimental language might work within the constraints of traditional meter. By challenging students to step outside their comfort zones, I encourage them to explore the boundaries of their creative practice, helping them understand why they write the way they do and how they can push beyond their current stylistic tendencies. This exercise develops technical skills while fostering an environment of creative play, where students learn to embrace unease as part of the artistic process.

My creative writing courses also emphasize the importance of reading as writers, using contrapuntal reading strategies to examine the invisible or unsaid elements in texts. In workshops, I incorporate readings that challenge conventional understandings of form and voice. For instance, Toni Morrison’s Playing in the Dark provides a framework for understanding how silence operates in literature—an idea that translates directly into how students engage with their own work. This critical lens encourages students to interrogate their creative choices and consider how their work speaks to broader social and political contexts.

Workshops in my courses are highly interactive and student-driven. My workshop guidelines stress that a piece is always “in the process of becoming.” I encourage students to view feedback not as prescriptive but to open possibilities for radical revision. We focus on craft—formal structure, imagery, tone, and voice—and students generate their own craft-based questions to direct workshop conversations. This method gives them ownership of their writing and creates a collaborative atmosphere where students feel invested in one another’s growth as writers. By the end of the term, students submit a portfolio of revised work, demonstrating not only their technical progress but also their engagement with the iterative nature of the writing process.

In my literature courses, I take a similarly process-based, collaborative approach. For example, I use contrapuntal reading techniques—examining what is unsaid or left in the margins—to expand students’ understanding of texts. I regularly integrate diverse and underrepresented voices, such as Clarice Lispector and Toni Morrison, to encourage students to think critically about the cultural contexts of literature. In one class, we paired Lispector’s The Passion According to G.H.with Lori Chamberlain’s essay “Gender and the Metaphorics of Translation” to explore the dynamics of gendered language. This approach not only sharpens students’ analytical skills but also helps them recognize how literature can reflect and resist dominant ideologies. By examining how race, gender, and class operate within literary texts, students develop a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between language and power.

Ultimately, my goal as a teacher of both creative writing and literature is to cultivate in students a lifelong engagement with the craft of writing and the critical skills necessary to analyze both their own work and the work of others. By encouraging experimentation, fostering a collaborative environment, and integrating real-world applications, I strive to create a classroom where students feel supported in their creative endeavors and empowered to use their writing to explore the complexities of identity and the world around them.