Heather Falconer
Title: Associate Professor of Technical and Professional Writing
Department: English
How long have you been teaching? 15 years in higher ed, a few more in K-12 spaces.
How long have you been at UMaine? I’m starting my 6th year!
SEATLE Award for: “The Cultivating Across the Curriculum Award”
Meet Heather
Courses you teach
Technical Communication for Engineering, Theories and Practices of Writing, User Experience and Human-Centered Design in TPC, and many other writing-related courses.
Tell us a bit about you
If your teaching (or research) had a theme song, what would it be?
All I Know So Far (by Pink)
What’s the most surprising thing a student has ever taught you?
In all seriousness, that the Wilton Cookie Press (for making spritz cookies) has been reappropriated for making meat jerky. (It was in the context of drafting a patent and talking about describing mechanisms…)
What’s something you would secretly love to teach, even if it has nothing to do with your field?
How to build a Victory Garden!
What historical figure would you most like to co-teach a course with?
Rosalind Franklin or Ada Lovelace
What’s a surprising fact most people don’t know about you?
That I have had multiple careers at this point and have had jobs that ranged from being a greenskeeper to a shark mascot (Hello, Ripley’s Aquarium) to a plumber’s assistant. I’m a Jane-of-all-trades and usually have an anecdote related to the most random things.
What’s something you have always wanted to learn, but haven’t yet?
How to snowboard without damaging myself.
What’s something you’d walk across campus in a snowstorm for?
Hot brownies, tea, and a good chat-session with a friend.
Tell us a bit about your approach to teaching
How would you describe what you feel to be meaningful changes to your course design or approaches to teaching that have emerged as you have grown as an instructor?
I approach all of my classes with a theory into practice framework. I use the most recent theory in writing studies and turn that into practical application for the class (since I teach mostly writing-focused courses). I want all of my courses to have real-world applications for my students and want them to be clear on how to transfer that knowledge to new spaces.
How would you describe the impact of these changes on the students in your classes?
This approach tends to lead to high-engagement from students because there is always a clear rationale for why I’m asking them to do particular tasks.
As a result of this work, what has changed for you as an instructor and/or colleague in terms of your own teaching.
It has made my courses very active. I rarely ‘lecture’ beyond 10 minutes at a time; we do a lot of in-class activities to learn concepts, which makes it far more fun to teach! Admittedly, this is more difficult to do in asynchronous, online courses…
What would be a piece of advice you might give a new instructor at UMaine?
Take advantage of all the professional development opportunities that seem remotely useful to you – whether that’s through CITL or elsewhere. Don’t isolate yourself to your department; meet and learn from others!