Roxanne O'Connell

Writer, Textile Artist, Plantswoman

Category: Teaching

Here’s a shoutout to VisComm!

June 20, 2021 /

VisComm 35 happened this past week. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to attend in person, largely due to our move to Ireland and COVID. However, thanks to my iPad’s tendency to bring up photos of people I love but haven’t seen in a while, I am reminded of the wonderful times over many, many years—my first VisComm was 2005 in Banff—when I got to travel to places I’d never been and meet with people who had the same passion for visual communication and teaching that I felt.

These photos come from Midway, Utah and feature my four academic godmothers—Sandy Moriarty, Sue Barnes, Ginny Kidd and Gretchen Barbatsis. Every year they would sit me down and ask me how my tenure portfolio was going — what was I doing, where was I putting my energy. They included me in projects and Sue pulled me into my first publication. Throughout my entire time at Roger Williams, I included Sandy’s Iconic Photo survey in all my Visual Culture, Visual Rhetoric classes. And the person who teaches it now does as well. Who could forget Gretchen’s inevitable “So what?!” that kept us on our toes when we presented. And Ginny’s warmth and inclusive presence helped me see VisComm as my “home” conference. Here’s to the ladies that helped make VisComm the rich and moving experience that it was and is.

It is wonderful when a student gets published!

February 20, 2017 /

Hi Roxanne!

Hope you are doing well! Since you are the reason I wrote this poem I thought you would be delighted to know it was published by Eber &Wein Publishing. I originally submitted it into a contest and later received a letter the poem would be printed in a book. It had to be changed to meet the specifications of the contest however the meaning is still there. Thank you so much for introducing me to the brilliant mind of Marshall McLuhan. Here is a picture of my name printed in a book!

— Hannah

 

The L.A.S.T. Paper Model

October 29, 2016 /

For several years now I have been developing and using a term long paper writing model to help my students become better researchers and writers—and it is paying dividends.

  • It breaks up the tasks students need to complete into Six Steps so that I can use Specifications Grading.
  • My colleagues report that our students’ writing has improved in the higher level courses.
  • Most of all, it yields papers that are more interesting to read at the end of the semester.

Recently, while I was explaining the process to a colleague, I realized that every step of this paper process corresponds to the flow of Benjamin Bloom’s Hierarchy of Learning Model (Bloom’s Taxonomy).  So I created a visual…

the-last-paper-model-1

Working on my 10 commandments…

February 13, 2016 /
  1. Thou shalt not refer to any work of non-fiction as a “novel.” You may say text, book, work… but NEVER “novel”!
  2. Thou shalt not use “pg” or “pg.” for “page” — that abbreviation does not exist in any citation style I have ever seen. If you can find one, let me know. In APA it is “p.” for a single page and “pp.” for multiple pages. Period.
  3. To be continued…

Sometimes Doonesbury gets eerily close to my life…

November 22, 2015 /

Screen Shot 2015-11-22 at 10.41.07 AMNo one turns the table quite as astutely! How does he do it?

This is the part of the semester where the rubber really meets the road. This past week, I reminded students that we only had three weeks left to the semester and many of them were running out of time to get things they’ve been putting off done.

Some might think lowering expectations is in order — on my part. But I’m firmly of the opinion that if even one student is able to keep up the pace and do well without a significant diminishment in their overall quality of life, the rest had the same opportunity.

We all make decisions along the way that gets us to where we are now. Lowering the bar at this juncture only reinforces the notion that “If I procrastinate long enough, those that expect something of me will lower their expectations and I won’t have to do the work.” And what message does this send to those that applied themselves all along?

The question I set myself is this: “What would it be like to spend the next five (or ten) years working with one of these students, side by side, on my team?”

What kind of workmate do I want? What kind of workmate do YOU want? That’s the kind of student you want to be.

© 2024 Roxanne O'Connell

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑