“Katie Jo has distinguished herself as a deeply committed, creative, enthusiastic and effective teacher. She is beloved by both students and colleagues, for she is as warm and personable as she is exacting and dedicated.”
“Dr. LaRiviere is not only a naturally gifted teacher, but more significantly a naturally gifted educator who inspires her students to read and to engage the material and make connections with other courses and disciplines. Within a 50 minute observation, Latin, Aquinas, scripture, Plato, Aristotle, literature, ethics, theology, liturgical music, and papal teaching were woven into a series of discussions that was nothing short of remarkable. The ancient text of Boethius came alive and had application not only to the other courses of the students but to their modern lives.”
Highlights: Pedagogical Training and Professional Development
2023—Present. Associate Dean of the Propaedeutic Stage (First-Year Program)
My role in this program includes curriculum design and implementation, student advising, and faculty training in pedagogy, along with admissions committee work and one-on-one intellectual formation.
2022 St. Bonaventure Teaching Award: Mount Angel Seminary
“In recognition of that faculty member whose ability to teach effectively and whose generosity with time and talent have inspired students and won the praise of colleagues.” The seminary’s “highest faculty honor.”
2022—Present. Founding Member and Facilitator, Pedagogy Research Group, Mount Angel Seminary
This group meets once monthly to read and discuss scholarship in pedagogy and to review research-based best practices in course design, classroom management, and evaluation practices
2020 University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award: Eastside Preparatory School
Student nominated award recognizing the educator who “thinks carefully about their instruction, shares an infectious love for learning, and cares for their students both inside and outside of the classroom”
2019 Outstanding Teacher of Composition Award: University of Oregon
2018 Peer-reviewed Publication: “Play the Game but Refocus the Aim: Teaching WAW within Alternative Pedagogies.” In Writing about Writing: Next Steps, New Directions. Ed. Barbara Bird, Doug Downs, I. Moriah McCracken, and Jan Rieman. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2019.
My chapter in this book explores the critical differences between composition programs that are not conducive to pedagogy known as “Writing about Writing” (WAW) and other programs that may be open to WAW practices. Using recent research in the field of composition and rhetoric, I argue the benefits of using WAW practices and principles in the composition classroom. I then offer a set of guiding principles for implementing WAW values into alternative composition programs.
2017—19 Member, Inclusive Pedagogies Reading Group, Center for the Study of Women in Society
This group meets twice per quarter to read current scholarship in rhetoric and composition and discuss pedagogical strategies with a focus on diversity and inclusion in the writing classroom.
2012 Certificate of College Teaching, Montana State University Department of Educational Leadership
Certification requires 12 credit hours of seminars, practicum, and educational research. I completed the program while in the final year of my Master’s program in English at Montana State University under the direction of Dr. Carrie Meyers. My research project investigated the effectiveness of the English department’s new Writing Program Outcomes with first-year writing students.
Inquire about my CONSULTING SERVICES
Courses I Teach:
Mount Angel Seminary:
Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Victorian and Modern Literatures
Shakespeare and the Metaphysical Poets
Poetry and the Human Person
Theoretical Issues in Literary Studies
Catholic Selfhood, Ancient and New (Doctor of Ministry Program)
Eastside Preparatory School:
African American Literature and Race Theory
Postmodern Literature and Theory
American Literature
University of Oregon:
ENG 301 Foundations of the English Major, co-instructor
ENG 225 Age of King Arthur: Introduction to Medieval Literature
ENG 220 Introduction to the English Major, co-instructor
ENG 106 Introduction to Poetry
Composition
Creative Writing (Eastside Preparatory School)
WR 121, 122, 123 Introduction to College Writing Series (University of Oregon)
WRIT 101 Introduction to College Writing (Montana State University)
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