Teaching and Pedagogy
Grace has a wide range of teaching experience from teaching the two survey courses for the African American and Black Diaspora Studies program at Boston University; African American Literature and African American History. She has also taught the interdisciplinary introductory course in Women & Gender Studies at Boston University. In addition, during her time as a PhD candidate she developed her own seminar class entitled “Black Venus: American Beauty” which she taught as instructor of record in Spring 2023. She has been responsible for groups of students as large as eighty and as small as twelve and has taught across all undergraduate levels.
She has taken two pedagogy classes at Boston University, one centered on Digital Pedagogy and navigating the global COVID-19 pandemic, the other run by the Core Curriculum and centered on pedagogy for teaching Black Classicism. She has also attended DEI training at Boston University.
She is excited to teach classes at Colby College in the coming year, including a long anticipated course on the work of Toni Morrison.
“The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom.”
— bell hooks
Teaching Experience
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African-American Studies 103/ English 129: Introduction to African-American Literature
Students in this survey course covered African-American Literature from the seventeenth century to the present day. As a teaching fellow I facilitated discussion, lectured, and aided the professor in the daily running of the class.
Boston University. Fall 2019.
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Women and Gender Studies 102: Gender and Sexuality II: An Interdisciplinary Introduction
This interdisciplinary introduction to Women and Gender Studies included approaches from the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields. Students followed the intellectual history and development of the field of Women and Gender Studies, read feminist theory, and applied gender critical lenses to a variety of topics. As teaching fellow I facilitated two solo class discussion sessions, revision sessions for the midterm, and oversaw the switch to a virtual teaching model after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boston University. Spring 2020.
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African-American Studies 371/History 298: African-American History
Students in this survey class followed the arc of African-American history from 1619 to the present day. Students were encouraged to engage with historiography and multimedia assignments to understand the narratives of history. As a teaching fellow I led class discussions, graded assignments, and as this class was on Zoom, supported the professor in the hybrid model of learning for the semester.
Boston University. Fall 2020.
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International Relations 350: History of International Relations since 1945
Students in this class covered the history of international relations and American foreign policy from the end of WWII. As a teaching fellow I was responsible for three solo discussion sessions, all grading, facilitating learning and understanding, and general support of students throughout the semester. I enouraged students to approach the topic with a critical lens around empire and globalization and focused on skillsets for interacting with primary historical sources. I used my digital pedagogy skills to make the class engaging and helpful as it was virtual due to the ongoing pandemic.
Boston University. Spring 2021.
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HUB Social and Racial Justice 101: Systems and Structures
Students in this class covered the history of the systems of structural inequality, oppression, and anti-Black racism that inform modern American culture, society, and governance. Students explored structural inequality through units on the law, housing, education, health, media and culture, and the environment/sustainability.
As teaching fellow, I was responsible for three discussion sections, building a classroom community for my students, and ensuring we had respectful, inclusive, and courageous conversations.
Boston University. Fall 2022.
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American Studies 301: Black Venus: African-American Women Artists and American Beauty
“Can beauty provide an antidote to dishonor?” Saidiya Hartman asks in her essay “Venus in Two Acts”. What would it mean to center Black women’s artistic and cultural production in discussions around American concepts of beauty? This course explores how the figure of the Black Venus can be used to explore and interrogate American culture and ideas of the “the beautiful”. Students will be introduced to a variety of methods and approaches that underpin the field of American Studies by examining iterations of the Black Venus as she emerges through time from 1773 to the present day. Although we will concentrate on the figure of the Black Venus, students will also be introduced to her sister goddesses in other world mythologies such as Oshun, the West African goddess of love. They will be asked to consider how the classical figure of Venus, and specifically African-American iterations and reclamations of the goddess, have helped shape American popular culture and aesthetics.
Boston University. Spring 2023.
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EN413 Toni Morrison: Special Author Course
Toni Morrison was, and remains, a key voice of American literature. This course examines Morrison’s work across genres to take in the breadth, depth, and length of her literary career as well as the legacies she left on the American literary landscape. The class is arranged loosely chronologically as we move through her novels, but alongside her novels you will encounter Morrison as critic, editor, playwright, children’s author, and essayist. You will explore Morrison as novelist, theorist, and sometimes humorist. We will explore themes such as gender, race, freedom, consumption, childhood and family through her work.
Colby College. Fall 2024.
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EN264 African American Women's Writing: Legacies of the Black Venus
This course explores African American Women’s writing in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. We pay particular attention to themes of identity, race, gender, sexuality, beauty, cosmetics, hair, and fashion. Includes work on authors such as Pauline Hopkins, Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Suzan Lori-Parks, Toni Morrison, and Robin Coste Lewis.
Colby College. Fall 2024.
Student Testimonials
“[Grace] is excellent at explaining concepts and answering questions concisely and comprehensively. She is great about checking in to see if her explanation of something made sense, and if there aren't complete nods all around she explains it another way and re-frames it to ensure that everyone has a chance to understand what she's trying to say. She is excellent about giving adequate time to students in discussion to think about their answers to a question she or another student poses, and never pressures for a response. She understands the difficulties and anxiety about a discussion format, and is kind and caring toward her students when these issues arise. She is always incredibly prepared and has an answer to all questions that arise, always has material ready to discuss and allows students time to analyze and reflect on both the discussion material but the lecture material as well. Her grading feedback is always quick and detailed, and she is fantastic about being available for further discussion if you wish. She's always willing to work with students on anything with which they might need help, and is generally just an amazing teacher. She deserves all the opportunities available to her, because she's going to be an excellent professor in the future.”
— STUDENT 1, IR SPRING21
“The source work was really beneficial and made me feel like more of a historian. It allowed me to apply my knowledge from lectures into a 'real-world' setting and I really appreciated that aspect of the course. The discussion section was a really encouraging and comfortable space to talk about everything we had learned and interact with other students and the instructor Grace. I felt really stimulated in the class and sharing our ideas as a group was a fun way to encompass what we had learnt from the lectures.”
— Student 2, IR Spring21
“Really great TF. Super encouraging and had such a good grasp on the concepts that she could facilitate discussion and engagement from multiple perspectives. She also cultivated a really comfortable class environment even when dealing with complicated material.”
— STUDENT 3, WGS Spring20
“The class felt like a safe space to talk and engage with the concepts. Grace was a wonderful instructor with great knowledge of the subjects we learned about. The strengths of the course was definitely the instructor's ability to stimulate interest in the subject and maintain everyone engaged in the discussion. She truly was successful in making everyone feel comfortable with sharing their thoughts and opinions.”
— Student 4, AM SPRING23
“Grace is my favorite teacher that I've had in college so far. She deeply understands the material that she is teaching, and she also cares enough about it to challenge her own views and accept alternative perspectives. Topics we learned about are always interesting and insightful. They are concepts that can be applied to the real world. Directions and expectations for this class are always very clearly stated as well. This course is so unique and interesting. Grace is a wonderful teacher and she encourages intellectual and emotional exploration in a very refreshing way.”