Undergraduate
Elizabeth Inness-Brown
Title:
Professor of English
Education:
B.A. St. Lawrence University; M.F.A. Columbia University
Areas of Expertise/Research Interests:
I am a publishing fiction writer. My main area of interest and research is pedagogy - the teaching of writing and the use of writing as a mode of teaching in the classroom; also collaborative learning and other student-centered pedagogies.
Testimonial:
The faculty, and the way their dedication to their students overrides all other interests, make Saint Michael's unique.
What do you like most about teaching/working at Saint Michael's College?
I like the freedom I have to experiment with my teaching, to explore new ways of teaching and learning, to hone my craft. At Saint Mike's, teaching is the top priority. Scholarship is supported and service is necessary, but in the end, we only have one purpose, and that is to teach. Toward that goal, both my colleagues and the administration encourage and support innovation in the classroom.
What inspires students the most in your classes and/or your academic area? Writing itself. Learning to write is tremendously empowering. Many students enter college with a very incomplete appreciation for the worlds that open to you once you learn to write, to REALLY write. Here, I'm not talking about learning grammar or even the writing process; I'm talking about finding your voice, finding your subject, and getting so deeply involved in what you're writing that you lose yourself in it. Once students experience that, they never see writing the same way. Nor do they ever see their education the same way - forever after, they take ownership of their writing, their thinking, their learning. It inspires me and transforms them.
What inspires students the most in your classes and/or your academic area? Writing itself. Learning to write is tremendously empowering. Many students enter college with a very incomplete appreciation for the worlds that open to you once you learn to write, to REALLY write. Here, I'm not talking about learning grammar or even the writing process; I'm talking about finding your voice, finding your subject, and getting so deeply involved in what you're writing that you lose yourself in it. Once students experience that, they never see writing the same way. Nor do they ever see their education the same way - forever after, they take ownership of their writing, their thinking, their learning. It inspires me and transforms them.
What do you like about Saint Michael's students?
Their sincerity and lack of guile.
What is your favorite class to teach, and why?
It's a toss-up between Teaching Writing, where I get to work with some brilliant students who end up becoming amazing writing coaches, and The Examined Life, my first-year seminar, in which my students learn to collaborate with one another, and turn out some amazing memoirs.
Favorite quote: "Writing is revising." - Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and master teacher of writing Donald Murray said it, and ain't it the truth!
Favorite quote: "Writing is revising." - Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and master teacher of writing Donald Murray said it, and ain't it the truth!
E-mail Address: einness-brown@smcvt.edu
