Department of English

Education:

• BA English, Education; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• MA English, Education; Appalachian State University
• MA Certificate in Rhetoric and Composition; Appalachian State University

Certifications:

• National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: Early Adolescence/English Language Arts
• North Carolina State Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction: Academically/Intellectually Gifted (K-12), Middle Grades Language Arts (6-9), English (9-12)
• National Writing Project: Teacher-Consultant

Teaching Awards & Honors:

• Faculty Award for Excellence in General Education Teaching
• College of Arts & Sciences Academy of Outstanding Teachers
• College of Arts & Sciences Non-Tenure Track Teaching Excellence Award
• Sigma Tau Delta Outstanding Faculty Award 
• "Most Helpful" Faculty and Staff List 
• Alpha Delta Kappa Honorary Organization for Women Educators

Presentations:

• Finding the Stars in the Darkness of the Prescribed Curriculum -- co-presented at North Carolina English Teacher Association Fall Conference, Nov. 2023
• My Here, My Home: Place-Based Writing in a Plural World -- presented at the Appalachian Mountains Writing Project, June 2023
• Contract Grading: Two Approaches -- co-presented at App State’s 2020 Rhetoric and Composition Institute, Dec. 2020
• Designed for Download: Using Podcasts as Texts -- presented at App State’s Tech4Teach Fair, Feb. 2020
• Digital Multimodal Writing -- co-presented at App State’s 2019 Rhetoric and Composition Institute, Oct. 2019
• Designed for Download: Strategies for Using Podcasts in Writing Courses -- co-presented at App State's 2018 Rhetoric and Composition Institute, Feb. 2018
• "I ain’t in your dream Keisha. You’re in mine": Spectral Communities and "More than Social" Consciousness in Twenty-First Century London Literature -- presented at the Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, Oct. 2016
• Did You Really Mean Happy and Healthy are All that Matter?: A Mother’s Willingness to Write Multiple Narratives for Her LGBTQ Child -- presented to the Caldwell County PFLAG Chapter and on the News Talk Morning Show of 1340 WJRI, Jan. 2014

Publications: 

• Nelson, R., Weaver, H., West, E., Thomas-Paddie, S., Childress, H., Chesnutt, K., & Beeler, J. (2024). Teachers’ initial perceptions of self-directed learning within a teacher-directed professional learning program. International Journal of Self-Directed Learning, 21 (1), 1-16.

Advisor:

• App State Club Cheer