For Kristi Schackelford, James Madison University offers the perfect job—balancing her love for editing as well as allowing her to apply her knowledge and experience in the classroom. “I can close myself off from the rest of the world and focus on my editing and then usually when I need a break, it is time to teach!” However, she is no stranger to this campus. After receiving her B.A in 1994, Kristi pursued a career in editing, landing a job for a publishing company writing instructions for software. She came back eight years later to receive a master’s degree in technical communication.
Ms. Shackelford focuses her studies on the author/editor relationship and has used this interest in combination with collaboration to produce publications such as JMU’s yearbook. She is currently working to put together a publication that will allow students to submit and publish their own feature writing.
However, at JMU, Kristi’s baby is the Publication Management class. Here students look at the life cycle of different publications and the different styles of management along the way. Kristi incorporates her personal experience and education to create an interactive course in order to give her students hands on experience. Not only does is she actively teaching, she also offers students counseling, using her professional connections, to find work after graduation.
Kristi Shackelford believes that “writing should be incorporated in every class because many students are still lacking the skills needed to write an effective paper.” She claims that even professors send her work to be edited because some still have trouble relaying an effective and clear message. Kristi focuses her GWRIT class on the technical accuracy of writing, how well it meets the purpose of the paper, and whether its focus adheres to the audience.
Like every professor involved with WRTC that I have had the pleasure of coming in contact with, Kristi Shackelford welcomed me with open arms. She is enthusiastic and ready to assist her students by editing their work as well as helping place each student down a career path that best suits their individual needs. Kristi Shackelford is the definition of an exemplary duke.
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Great Job!
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of grammatical errors. I like your quotes from Kristi also. The thing about the GWRIT class is interesting but I don't know how necessary it is. Only because GWRIT isn't part of the WRTC program. However, all students have to take it so maybe it is.
I loved that you called her an exemplary duke, that's clever and fits in nicely. I enjoyed reading this.
Hi Tyler
ReplyDeleteGood job with your profile. I really liked how you made her fit into the JMU community as a student and a professor. You do a nice job in the end of tying it all together by calling her an exemplary duke.
I do have a few suggestions for you though. You jump from calling her Kristi to Ms. Schackelford and then back to Kristi. I think if you just stuck to Ms. Sachackelford it would be better since that's what her students refer to her as. Also, the GWRIT class is now called GWRTC. Finally, your last paragraph doesn't really flow with the rest of your profile. It goes to your opinion about her rather than a profile. Overall, good job and good luck on your second draft.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your profile. I think you did a good job incorporating quotes and showing the professors ties to the school which then relates to the ending sentence about her being an exemplary duke.
I thought that the part about gwrit works in the profile because you are supposed to discuss the type of classes they teach and what they do in the program.
There are a few grammatical problems like someone mentioned before but over all it is a really well done first draft.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your profile, you gave just enough biographical info for the reader to have a snapshot of the professor without being too lengthy. I would try to stay consistent with the professors name and check the current name of GWRIT and see if it has changed with the department name changing. I would try to make the last paragraph less opinion-based and try to include some factual info to make it less biased.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI liked how you emphasized what Ms. Shackelford finds important about writing because that gives great insight to how she is as a professor.
There were a few awkward phrases and sentences but that shouldn't be hard to fix. There seems to be some disconnect between paragraphs however. Your use of the first person seemed a little out of place to me.
I think you achieved the purpose of the assignment though, now it's just a matter of rewording things for better flow.
Great job!
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I noticed immediately about you paper is your VERY effective way of establishing a strong angle and purpose of your profile. It is by no means general or bland but by focusing on her specific interest in editing, you have brought your profile to a higher level of interest. You took general topics such as her background, role in WRTC and at JMU, and her role as a mentor and for every single one, you applied her interest in editing.
I also really like the tone on you paper. It was lively and upbeat and your sentences were very concise and to the point. This made it very easy to read, which is effective for its purpose, and also goes along which the fun and welcoming personality that I can sense Kristi Schackelford has based on the great quotes that you used.
For improvements, I would recommend maybe working on the conclusion some. After your uniquely angled paragraphs beforehand, the conclusion seemed almost a little general or cliché. This could be a good place for a strong pull quote. Besides that, I think the rest of your profile is very solid. Great job!
Great profile! You did a good job of taking the reader through ms. Shakelford's life from when she graduated to her first career and then teaching. Very interesting and flowed nicely.
ReplyDeleteThe quotes you used were also good, they showed how she felt about her job and teaching. I like how you tied in the theme of her being duke and then brought it back up in the end again.
Hey Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI think you did a pretty good job for your first draft of this profile. You did a good job of showing what Professor Schackelford has accomplished both in here career outside of school, and her teaching career.
You did a good job using a number of quotes, and made parts sound conversational.
There were a few parts that had grammatical errors, but nothing that will be too hard to fix. Good job.
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your profile. You did such a great job describing Professor Shackelford and you let students know what she can offer them and how committed she is to them. Your profile makes me want to take one of her classes!
As for corrections there are a few grammatical errors and make sure you change the GWRIT abbreviation to GWRTC.
Sincerely,
Carly
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your profile. I liked how you describe the impact that Professor Shackelford has on the JMU community. The way you describe her love of teaching would get any student excited to take her class. You are able to show her passion of editing through her past work.
The quotes that you used also show her character which is great for a profile. Just make sure to go back and clean up some grammatical issues but other then that great work!!
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteYour profile immediately drew me in-your opening paragraph was very effective and you used a great follow-up quote to support your first sentence.
The piece flows really well from what she has done here at JMU, what class she loves to teach and how she feels about writing in general. You showed many different sides which show that you really understood your subject.
The only thing is some grammatical errors which are easy to fix.
Good Job!
Tyler,
ReplyDeleteGood start. I suggest that you remove the first person at the end because if this is a description of her on the WRTC Web site that would probably confuse people. (I'm not sure we're going to have bylines.) You also want to be consistent in using her name after the first mention. Some sentences are a little long-winded and can be cut down like we did in that class exercise. One other question I had is what exactly is she editing these days that you mention in the first graph? The name of the commenter should just say Tim. Sorry.
Start to finish you continue the description of Kristi Shackelford's professional side. It was pretty obvious that this is aimed at a different audience than that of the reviews. I would have liked to see you push her JMU roots some more and how that affects the way she teaches, maybe by saying what brought her back here? Either way the profile was concise and easy to read and understand. If you could gather another quote to add, that would add some more credibility or give it more of a personal feel. outside of that, brainchild instead of baby, but overall we get the idea. Killer job.
ReplyDeleteI like the introduction, it grabbed my attention immediately. The quote you use does a nice job of showing off some of her personality. I also liked the different sides of her that you showed besides teaching, like the year book and her experience in the professional world. It seems like that earlier experience has an effect on how she teaches.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few grammatical errors like GWRIT should be GWRTC but those aren't hard to fix. This is a very good start.
Hey Tyler,
ReplyDeletelet me just say, GREAT profile, i really liked how you made this profile about Kristi and how she fits in so well here at JMU and its community. I also enjoyed the quotes you added, they were interesting AND informative.
I only have a few suggestions...overall it seems rather short. I'm not sure what the word count is, but you may be able to add another paragraph. Also, there were a couple times where I was confused by the way you worded some of your sentences. It left me wondering things after reading it.
Other than that, this is a great start to what I'm sure will be an excellent profile. It makes me want to take Kristi's class!
I really like how you laid out your profile – you started by discussing Kristi’s background info and then stated her current projects. From you profile, I get a clear sense of who Kristi is. Not only is she a teacher, but she also enjoys editing. Mentioning her involvement in JMU’s yearbook is also a good thing to have in your profile since it tells us what she is currently working on. I found your description of Kristi’s Public Management class and her teaching style to be interesting. This gives prospective students an idea of what to expect from one of her classes. My favorite part of your profile would probably be the concluding paragraph. In this paragraph, I get the sense that Kristi is pleasurable to work with and always willing to help her students. Characterizing her as an “exemplary duke,” is a great way to close your profile as it captures the essence of who Kristi is. With the exception of a few grammatical errors, I think that you have a fairly solid profile. Great job!
ReplyDeleteTyler,
ReplyDeleteI liked your profile overall- you really showcased Shackelford as a dedicated teacher and dedicated writer/editor. By blending knowledge of her real world experience and the way she teaches her class you provided a vivid image of the person and the many things she has to offer.
There are things you should clear up, for example: the beginning says that JMU is the perfect job- shouldn't it be being a professor? Calling the Public Management class he baby seems out of place- make the rest sound personal or less formal. Lastly, at the end you include yourself in the text- what is the purpose of this? You only mention yourself once....
Joanmarie
Hey Tyler!
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a really good profile. I liked how it was short but still gave me a good idea of who she is. There were a few spots that could use some refining, especially in the middle paragraph where some wording was awkward. I also don't know if the first person in the last paragraph works. I think you can say what you need to without adding that. But great job already!
Spike
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think you could use a really great introduction to bring us into the piece a bit more. Although your interview was consistent, I found it a bit bland. You have all the great information there, I would just work on making the organization and execution better for the interview. Maybe throw in some funny personal questions that would shed more light on the non-academic Kristi, or any quirky facts or hobbies, etc. I think this is a really great start for a rough draft and only requires some editing here and there.
ReplyDelete