About Me

I teach high school English. This year I will also be teaching high school speech and debate for the first time. In the past I have taught grades 8-12 theatre, 7th grade creative writing, all high school English courses, dual credit English courses, and STAAR English EOC remediation. I have also directed UIL One Act Play and advised Student Council. I have my PhD in English from Texas A&M University-Commerce. I am also a single mother and a writer. Some of my posts on this blog also appear on my other blog www.RachelCantrell.com.

I am always happy to customize my Teacher Pay Teacher products- just ask!

Assignments I have created…

ENG 1302: Ethnography Literacy Projects

The ENG 1302 courses I taught at Texas A&M University-Commerce focused on having students create an ethnography project examining how a community utilized literacy (specifically focusing on literacy sponsorship within discourse communities). My students focused on online discourse communities. I created this website for them full of resources, my assignment customized assignment prompts that meet the requirements of the department for ENG 1302 courses, etc. I have kept this website up as an example of my teaching for this digital portfolio and I have had other teachers utilize my resources.

http://www.eng1302.rachelcantrell.com/

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching focuses on utilizing technology and critical pedagogy. For example, in my Dual Credit ENG 1302: Written Argument and Research RTI course (Spring 2016), I utilized new technologies and Google Hangouts to allow students in both locations to collaborate together on projects as well as to better accomplish discussion participation between both groups. Similarly in ENG 1301 College Reading and Writing I employed a flip classroom model by recording lecture topics such as how to write an annotated bibliography and made these videos available to students to watch as needed throughout the semester. Critical pedagogy drives my teaching as can be seen in the way I create problem-posing assignments that engage students critical thinking skills. For example, in ENG 1301 students read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice then researched ways that it was been adapted over the years such as into different movies like Lost in Austen and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. They researched these adaptations as examples of transformative storytelling and asked themselves how these new works continued Jane Austen’s social commentary on constructions of gender and social class but updated to apply to our time. I frequently utilize a flipped classroom model and record material for my students that they can refer back to throughout the course as needed. I utilize technology to create student lead opportunities for collaborative projects utilizing multimedia where small groups of students are teaching their peers.

Dissertation

Convergence Culture and Competing Literacy Sponsors in Post-Arab Spring Movements by Rachel Noel-Marie Cantrell

A rhetorical analysis of activist literacy events in post-Arab Spring protests movements through the lens of convergence culture illustrates the competing literacy sponsorships between (1) participants vs. broadcast media and (2) social media vs governments. Unpacking their media literacy practices illustrates how these activists utilize social media and technology to challenge their governments and corporate broadcast media reporting about their protests and activities. This rhetorical analysis includes the literacy events that illustrate competing literacy sponsorship in the following discourse communities: Occupy movements, Turkey’s Gezi Park, the Ferguson race protests in the United States, the 2008 presidential race, and Texas Senator Wendy Davis’s 2013 filibuster.

This analysis of these media literacy practices will show how these discourse communities use media to open up dialogues within their communities in order to enact social change and how it illustrates the opposing forces trying to regulate the internet to shut down this dialogue as it threatens authoritarianism while breeding democracy. These movements can be analyzed to illustrate how media literacy is being harnessed within these different discourse communities as a form of resistance to challenge neo-liberal systems and organize action from their dialogue. The rhetorical analysis of these movements also illustrates how convergence culture is a form of literacy sponsorship within these discourse communities.

PhD in English from Texas A&M University-Commerce (Summer 2016)

Keywords
activism
convergence culture
critical pedagogy
literacy sponsor
media literacy
Occupy

Conferences

UNIVERSITY / ACADEMIC CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

  • “Occupy Literacy: Utilizing Occupy Wallstreet in the FYC to Illustrate Media Literacy Practices.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Indianapolis, IN. 19-22 March 2014.
  • “Pinterest for Democracy:Utilizing Pinterest Collections to teach Media Literacy as a Vehicle for Critical Pedagogy. ” Digital Frontiers Co-Operative. University of North Texas. Denton, TX. 19-21 September 2013.
  • “Occupying Literacy: How Occupy Wall Street Can be Utilized in the FYC Classroom.” Watson Conference: Economies of Literacy. University of Louisville. Louisville, KY. 19-21 October 2012.
  • “Gender and Power Dynamics within Natsuki Takaya’s Fruit Baskets.” SW/TX PCA 2012 Conference. Popular Culture Association. Hyatt Regency Hotel & Conference Center, Albuquerque, NM. 9 February 2012.
  • “Decoding the Lolita: Gender roles in Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket.” 9th Annual System Pathways Student Research Symposium. Texas A&M University-College Station, College Station, TX. 11 November 2011.
  • “Feminist Under Glass: Power and Agency within CLAMP’s Chobits.” PCA/ACA 2011 Conference. Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association. Marriott Rivercenter hotel, San Antonio, TX. 22 April 2011.
  • “Damsel to the Rescue: Gender Roles within Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket.” American Studies Association of Texas Conference. Texas A&M University, Commerce, TX. 5 November 2010.

SECONDARY CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

  • “Digital Assessments in the Google Classroom.” Hunt County STEM Conference. Caddo Mills, TX. 3-4 August 2016.
  • “Digital Composition in the Distance Learning Classroom.” Hunt County STEM Conference. Caddo Mills, TX. 3-4 August 2016.
  • “Project Based Learning and Technology.” A presentation I gave on my campus during staff development at Campbell ISD. Campbell, TX. 3 January 2016.

Publications ETC.

PUBLICATIONS

The following manga (Japanese graphic narrative) and anime review in Salem Presses Critical Survey of Graphic Novels: Manga:

  • Cantrell, Rachel. “Cardcaptor Sakura.” Manga (Critical Survey of Graphic Novels). Eds. Bart  H. Beaty and Stephen Weiner. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2012. 69-73. Print.
  • —. “Dragon Ball.” Manga (Critical Survey of Graphic Novels). Eds. Bart H. Beaty and 
Stephen Weiner. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2012. 93-97. Print.
  • —. “InuYasha.” Manga (Critical Survey of Graphic Novels). Eds. Bart H. Beaty and Stephen 
Weiner. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2012. 161-168. Print.
  • —. “Oh My Goddess!” Manga (Critical Survey of Graphic Novels). Eds. Bart H. Beaty and 
Stephen Weiner. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2012. 233-237Print.
  • —. “Saint Seiya: Knight of the Zodiac.” Manga (Critical Survey of Graphic Novels). Eds. Bart H. Beaty and Stephen Weiner. Ipswich, Massachusetts: Salem Press, 2012. 279-283. Print.

EDITORIAL POSITIONS

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

  • Conference Chair, LEOCON 2014, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2014.
  • Conference Chair, English Graduates for Academic Development presents “Agora: Marketplace of Ideas,” Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2012.
  • Conference Keynote Speaker Liaison, LEOCON, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2013.
  • Creative Writing Contest Judge, The Annual Rowlett Writing Contest Presented by The 
 Rowlett Arts and Humanities Commission, 2013.
  • Interlibrary Loans, Library Assistant, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2010-11
    – Co-wrote and edited department procedures booklet. Trained and supervised student workers. Managed over dues for the department. Previously worked there for four years as a student assistant in the federal work study program.

RESEARCH INTEREST

  • Composition & Rhetoric
  • Media Studies (Media Literacy)
  • Critical Pedagogy

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

  • Sigma Tau Delta (International English Honor Society) Texas A&M University-Commerce Chapter, 2012-2014
  • English Graduates for Academic Development (EGAD), President, 2011-2012
  • JUNTO, professional organization, 2010-2013
  • American Studies Association of Texas, 2010-2011
  • Popular Culture Association, 2011-2012
  • Rearview Mirror Society, Vice President, President, Secretary, 2005-2007