East Carolinian

Issue date: 4/2/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Jaymee Mason

In her last year of graduate school, ECU student Kathryn Manning has already begun to accomplish her career goal. She is teaching freshman level composition in the Department of English at ECU's College of Arts and Sciences.

When Manning graduates she plans to become a full-time English professor. She wants to continue her teaching career at ECU but is also considering teaching positions at N.C. State and UNC.

"I've wanted to be a teacher since I was a little kid," said Manning. "I decided I wanted to teach at a college level when I realized a lot of neat literature covered in college is not covered in K-12."

Manning has been teaching at ECU since last spring. During that semester she taught freshman research composition (English 1200). During the fall semester, she taught basic freshman composition (English 1100) and is now teaching two sections of English 1200 again.

"I have enjoyed teaching English 1100 and 1200. It's nice because I've seen some of the same students from my 1100 classes in the 1200 class I'm teaching now," she said.

A native of Highpoint, N.C., Manning chose ECU for both her undergraduate and graduate studies. She received her bachelor's degree in English with a minor in political science two years ago. Now she is pursuing a master's of English degree.

Manning has also been a long-term employee at ECU. As an undergraduate, Manning drove buses for ECU Transit for two years.

In addition to teaching her composition classes, she is currently a graduate assistant in the English department at ECU.

Manning's days at ECU are busy. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday she works as a graduate assistant. She teaches freshman research composition (English 1200) at 2 p.m. and also keeps office hours for grading papers and helping students during the day.

On Wednesday nights, Manning teaches another English 1200 class. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she attends night school for her own graduate school courses. She also has weekly graduate assistant meetings every Thursday morning.

Teaching aside, Manning has made what she considers to be two major achievements.

"I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 3 ½ years," Manning said. "Completing my metered scholarly essay was also a big accomplishment."

Metered scholarly essays are graduate level essays that are similar to theses.

"Kathryn was a very hard working, insightful participant in class discussions," said Dr. Wendy Sharer, the director of the first-year composition program at ECU and an English professor.



This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools