James Madison University - Index

James Madison University - Madison Magazine - Summer 2009 - Index

{My Madison}
Finding my voice
JMU English 101 gave me confidence
By Carrie Priddy DuPre (’02)
In the fall of 1998, as I headed off to the ’Burg for the
first of my four years at JMU, I had no idea where my
life would take me. I was more concerned with how I’d
get along with my roommate and who I’d sit with at
D-Hall than what I would do with my life. I figured
my future might have something to do with writing.
As a big fish in the small pond of high school, my writing, I had
been told, had been pretty
good. So I registered as
an SCOMM major and
hoped for the best.
I was just another lost
freshman, with no clue
where I was headed.
I’m pretty sure, too,
that even in my wildest
dreams I never thought
I’d be where I am now:
living in Clemson, S.C.,
working as a full-time
university writer and
teaching freshman composition.
Grad school
brought me to the area,
then corporate ambitions
took me into public relations
for several years
in Greenville, S.C. But
what really brought me
to this unexpected career
was something (or someone)
even more unexpected
— my JMU English
101 teacher.
Because the full
impact of the class didn’t
hit until years later, I
can’t even tell you my teacher’s name. But she changed my life.
I find myself thinking of her class often. My teacher was softspoken.
Understated. She did not have a Ph.D. or an ego the size
of the Potomac. But she had passion
‘She gave me
possibly the
best gift a
teacher can
give a student
— confidence.’
— Carrie Priddy
DuPre (’02)
Writing professor Carrie Priddy
DuPre (’02), in front of Sikes Hall at
Clemson University, says she “found
her voice” in her JMU English 101
writing course. Right: “Just another
lost freshman” at JMU — Carrie
Priddy at Garber Hall in 1998.
— and time for her students. She took
us out to the Quad when she saw our
imaginations waning. She gave us
feedback on our writing before she collected
it for final grading — she actually
wanted us to learn and improve.
It was in her class that I found my
voice. I learned to think, to analyze,
to trust my inner writer. She taught
me how to write from my gut and to
worry about fixing my grammar later. She gave me possibly the
best gift a teacher can give a student — confidence.
Beyond helping me learn who I was as a writer, she also taught
me how influential a teacher can be in the life of a student. That
stuck with me; and when I grew tired and unfulfilled with my
corporate life, it was this thought that drew me back to university
life. Writing for the marketing team of a regional headquarters
kept the rent paid, but
it left me wondering who
I was really helping at the
end of my long days. So,
I took a job writing for
Clemson University and
polished up my vitae.
After I got my first
teaching assignment taking
on two freshman comp
classes, I looked back
through my JMU notebooks
to find my teacher’s
old syllabus and my raw
writings; but I couldn’t
find any proof of my taking
that class. (I’m
kicking myself
now for throwing
it all away.)
As it turned out,
though, I didn’t
need her syllabus to
remember the key
elements of her class
that I now incorporate
into mine.
Like her, I take
a community writing
approach to
my classes. We write together in class, we share our successes
and our struggles; and, as a result, we grow as writers together.
We use peer reviewers, like she did, to help us build confidence
before turning in our final papers, and we embrace our unique
backgrounds to make us better with pen and paper.
When I have rough days in the classroom and I wonder if
I’m getting through to these fresh-faced “kids,” I think about
my freshman comp class. I think about how it affected me for
the better and how I didn’t have the confidence at 18 to tell my
professor how much I liked her class, and how the full impact
of her teaching didn’t even hit me until years later. That gives
me the hope that maybe I really am reaching at least one of
these kids. Maybe, just maybe, I can be to one of them what
my teacher was to me.
M
AlumniNews
DUPRE AT CLEMSON PHOTOGRAPH BY PATRICK WRIGHT
SUMMER 2009
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