"The students at Berklee energize me. They challenge me to look at things in new ways. There's a lot of passion and creativity here, and almost all the students—regardless of their preparation or skill in reading and writing—tend to be creative and expressive people."
"I try to understand where students are coming from and where they're going. For College Writing I, I want them to get better at communicating clearly and supporting their ideas in writing. In College Writing II, I want to give students exposure to some classics in literature."
"I'm quite informal. I try to engage the students and get to know them, make things fun, and have good discussions. I really enjoy the classes and try to keep them interesting. Discussion is fun, but behind it all, in part, is an attempt to get the students to clarify their ideas in speaking as well as in writing."
"I hope that students are able to apply these lessons to future tasks without my guidance. I make connections to real-life writing that students will need to do for their careers, such as cover letters, reports, scholarship applications, and press kit materials. They need to see that writing a good essay is really the same as writing a good cover letter."
"A well-educated person needs to have a background in different areas; that will inform their music career. If a student can only talk about music, I think they miss out on opportunities. You meet lots of different people in life, and they have different interests. It's valuable to be able to talk about a philosopher you read in one class, some historical period that you read about another class, or a writer that you read about in another class. The more you learn, the more you can make connections. I think that's what education is all about. I don't think most students want to be one-dimensional. I think our students aspire to be skilled and articulate, and to be able to represent themselves."
