For The Love of Teaching
Margaret Whitt’s teaching style is as distinctive as her infectious smile and southern drawl.
During her English and Civil Rights literature classes, she often creates riots of laughter with her personal stories and poignant observations of certain characters while engaging students in thought provoking discussions.
Whitt frequently incorporates slide shows of historical locations, current images and examples of period life that pertain to the texts and authors she’s teaching in class. She demands students to go beyond the words on the page by examining literature through creative projects and dramatizations to strengthen their relationship with the subject matter.
Examples:
• Create a replica of a house out of the book next to your future home
• Create an outdoor piece of sculpture
• Create a museum layout to honor some particular event
“I think there’s more than one way to respond to a text,” says Whitt. “A piece of literature will stay with you if you perform it and do something creative.”
Whitt, who’s been teaching at DU for more than 25 years, is the type of person that students aspire to be: successful, loved and satisfied.
Author, traveler and teacher virtuoso
Whitt is an expert of civil rights literature and has published a number of anthologies, English writing guides and books for understanding the literature of authors like Gloria Naylor and Flannery O’Connor.
During the summer, she visits authors’ homes and graves, historical sites (marked and unmarked) from their books, and a few off-beat tourist attractions.
In 2007 her travels took her to a number of famous sites, including the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Corbin, Ky.
Her distinctive teaching style has won her awards including being a 2007 co-honoree for the Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award from the United Methodist Church.
“I always knew I’d teach somewhere, someday” says Whitt. “I absolutely know totally, solidly, clearly that it was the right professional choice.”
A teacher's lasting impact
A large stained glass replica of a Civil Rights Era city bus sits high on a bookshelf in Whitt’s office, and a hand-drawn picture that incorporates a number of important civil rights leaders, objects and moments hangs by the door.
The pieces were created in her classes by her students and stand as testaments to the relationships she maintains with them. Her students often flock to her office for a quick chat or some good advice. She keeps in touch with many of them even after they’ve graduated.
This treasured DU professor continues to use her students as a guide for her classes.
“You don’t ask the teachers if it’s working, you ask the students.”
Published on Sep. 17, 2007