Image, courtesy of author, features protesters in D.C. at a Black Lives Matter march
"[Britt] always asks the question to push us to take one step further in our responses and come out with something truly substantial." --Anonymous, Course Evaluation for ENGL293, Writing in a Wireless World, Fall 2020
“As a student of color, I often feel as if the white majority in my classes have more of a voice. But she made sure everyone's voice was heard to make a productive learning environment.” --Anonymous, Course Evaluation
"Britt Starr is one of the best professors I have ever had, if not the best. She was kind, understanding, and always pushed to challenge us intellectually." --Anonymous, Course Evaluation for English 293: Writing in a Wireless World, Fall 2020
“Professor Starr was an exceptional teacher who was able to break down complex topics regarding communication, writing, and digital technology in a remote online–formatted class. She was very open to discussion and questions and treated students with the utmost respect. The course structure was straightforward and easily understandable when it came to the goals of each lesson. It was very evident how passionate she was about the course material and her students.” --Anonymous, Course Evaluation for English 293: Writing in a Wireless World, Fall 2020
Pedagogy
I have designed and taught courses in rhetoric and composition, digital studies, and film studies during my graduate work. In each of these courses, I draw upon intersectional feminist and antiracist frameworks to equip students to think critically and structurally about the complex issues each course examines.
My goal as an educator is to empower learners to imagine and build more just, more joyful, and more liveable worlds using rhetorical skills. From student feedback and teaching and administrative awards I’ve won, I am gratified that my pedagogy seems to ignite passion, curiosity, and empowerment in diverse students.
Don't take it from me. Read what my students have anonymously reported in course evaluations in the teaching portfolio linked below.
Courses Taught
English 293: Writing in a Wireless World
What does it mean to live with others in a digital age in which communication and information are mediated by human-designed technologies that claim to be “social” but often produce decidedly anti-social and undemocratic outcomes? How can we think rhetorically about the design of so-called “social” technologies to interrogate who these technologies serve and who they don’t, along with why, how, and with what ethical consequences for democratic society?
English 245: Film Form and Culture
This course teaches students how to analyze film as a culturally-situated medium of expression and as an art form. They learn basic film terminology as well as fundamental principles of film form, film narrative, and film criticism. I also teach intersectional feminist theory in this course as one particularly rich conceptual tool to help students analyze how films and the institution of filmmaking can both resist and perpetuate the status quo (often at the same time!). Students investigate how filmmakers have used their medium to probe complex questions around humanity, power, meaning-making, and ways of seeing.
