Biographical Sketch
Dr. Christie Time Firtha, Ph.D.
I have taught Basic Writing, Composition and Literature for more than nine years at both community colleges and universities, and I completed my doctorate in English in June of 2006. My areas of specialization for my Master’s degree were Victorian Literature and American Literature to 1900, and my areas of specialization for my Ph.D. are American Literature to 1900, Minority Discourses and Critical Theory (Language Theory). I began teaching in 2000 as a Teaching Assistant in the English Department at the University of California, Riverside, and I also worked in the Writing Center and as an administrator/grader for the UC’s "Subject A" English placement test. In 2001, I enrolled in the Inland Empire Faculty Internship Program and began teaching Basic Writing and Composition as a Part-time Instructor at Mount San Jacinto and Riverside community colleges. In 2002, received recognition for my success as a TA at UCR by being awarded the Flora Hewlett Foundation/ Honey Jordan Stipend and Teaching Assistantship.
In addition to working directly with students in the classroom, I highly value the extra-curricular academic activities that a teaching position encourages. Since an essential part of a college education is being involved in college campus-life, I seek ways to engage students in activities around campus. Four years ago, I served as a guest curator at the UCR/ California Museum of Photography, where I installed an exhibit which addresses some of the racialized photographic conventions in late 19th Century American photos and stereographs. Drawing on my previous experience as chair of the annual, international Humanities Graduate Student Conference at UCR, I organized a symposium specifically to engage RCC, UCR, and local high school students in discussions about diversity and the ways in which stereotypes are perpetuated. My goal was to help students see some ‘real-world’ applications of the lessons they learn in the classroom, while engaging them in social issues pertinent to their lives. Also, since I am a firm believer in the importance of outreach, having started my college career as a socio-economically disadvantaged community college student who was only inspired to attend college because of Grossmont Community College’s outreach program, I involved local high school students in the installation of the exhibit.
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
My interest in teaching stems from my own positive experience as an undergraduate and graduate student, and from my enduring love of learning. I view my role as teacher as a sort of expedition guide/mentor, where the teacher holds the knowledge of the route, the challenges and the rewards, but all members of the learning expedition (the class) are necessary contributors. And, thus, I view the teacher-student relationship as a productive and collaborative relationship, where teacher and students work together to facilitate student learning.
Since I began teaching in 2000 at UC Riverside, the 3rd most diverse public research university in the country, I have found that one of the most important things I can do to foster this sort of collaborative relationship as an instructor is create a classroom environment where every student who enters my classroom, no matter how large or small, feels like they belong, they can participate, and they can succeed. I find this basic level of hospitality creates a learning environment in which students can ask questions and freely and respectfully contribute to class discussions. Ideally, this sort of open discussion also creates an environment where diverse and divergent points of view meet and are explored; classes are best when students learn from each other as well as me. I also find that this basic level of comfort allows me to be learner-centered by leveraging my students’ diverse experiences and helping them see how the matters we discuss in the classroom apply to their own lives and futures.
My teaching philosophy includes my definition of the college in which learning can occur. A college exists to provide a safe, facilitative and supportive environment; a learning community whose activities are shared by administrators, classified employees, faculty and students. The college plans its curricula in response to academic standards and the perceived needs of students who can benefit educationally and economically. That is, the students interact with and affect the function of the college and vice versa; each can influence or change the other. This reciprocally determined relationship is ever-evolving as the college assesses student needs, and anticipates and plans for the future of its diverse student body within its community.
Above all, I try to be very practical in my approach to teaching. I try to keep students’ workload manageable while still guiding them through the work to help them develop the skill necessary to be successful in the class. I believe that curricula and lesson plans must be developed in such a way that they encourage student responsibility for their own success. I don't give grades; students earn them within the structure and standards that I design guided by the requirements of the academic institution or college.
One of my most memorable lessons about becoming a teacher occurred in my mid-teens when I began contemplating which college I wanted to attend. When I asked my mother which college on my list she thought would be best, she offered what I thought at that point was a cynical response resulting from eighteen years of on and off schooling. She said "oh, it doesn’t matter that much. A college education is only partly about learning the curriculum. Really, the most important things you’ll learn is how to figure it out." After several years of college, graduate school, and teaching, I have come to the grudging conclusion that mother was right—mostly right, anyway. While I view a significant portion of my job as a teacher is to teach the curriculum, I also want every student to be successful, to understand what she/he is doing well and to develop a necessary college skill, which is to learn how to overcome his/her’s own challenges—to find out how to figure it out, to become self-directed learners. It is important to me that students develop skills that will help them analyze and interpret situations/texts/ problems outside of my classroom. My hope is that the knowledge I disseminate and the skills I help students to develop will help them become more aware of the ways they have been trained to think, the way that social structures operate, and the beliefs that they have taken for granted as "the way things are." Ultimately, one could say, my hope is that students will develop a deeper understanding of the way that language works, and specifically of how subtle rhetorical manipulations of language can have lasting and tangible effects.
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