Education

 

About Michael

I like teaching at YVC because my personal and professional values line up with the mission and values of a community college.  Traditionally, community colleges are bridges that welcome all and provide a point of access for all to new personal, professional, and educational opportunities that they might not get if not for the community college in their area.  I like serving my local community and being the guide or facilitator who is there to help students get across that bridge to wherever they want to go.

Students should take my classes if they want to dive into interesting topics and learn some new writing tricks that they’ve not learned before.  Instead of rehashing tired old formulas and techniques that don’t really work, students in my class will learn and practice some new tricks that will bring a whole new level of focus, organization, and development to any writing project, large or small.  Students will learn to break down writing assignments and projects into smaller, manageable pieces, to “rough out” and “finish” those pieces, and finally to assemble and join them into a larger work. Students earn their living by doing this construction work in a workshop experience – the work of drafting, crafting, experimenting, engaging in trial and error, and remaking each individual piece.  This process fosters cognitive and rhetorical growth and flexibility.  The construction work is where the learning and growth happens, much more than in whatever the final product is or becomes.

My scholarly interests include psychology, police studies, the Gen-Z mental health crisis, and others.  My personal interests include reading, writing, finance, and biking and bicycle maintenance.