Lindy Ledohowski (BEd 2000, MA 2003, PhD 2008) speaks to Sharon Aschaiek:
After I completed my master’s degree in English, Prof. Russell Brown told me U of T Scarborough was seeking an instructor for a new course on critical thinking about poetry. The course would launch the following academic year, when I would start my doctoral degree in English-Canadian literature – so I jumped at the opportunity.
The English department chair resisted the idea – she was skeptical that a first-year doctoral candidate could take courses, apply for grants and fellowships, prepare for exams and teach a course. She thought it would be setting me up to fail. Brown went to bat for me, confident I could handle it.
I got the job, and I ended up teaching that course eight times over three years. I also helped develop a course on critical writing about literature, and created two teaching manuals. In that first year at UTSC, I even won a teaching award.
It meant a lot having Brown – who would become my doctoral supervisor – and the English department chair look out for my best interests. Also, my pedagogical experience at UTSC heavily influenced the development of EssayJack, the web platform I co-created for helping students write better essays. As an entrepreneur, I have a strong sense of resilience, which I developed at U of T – I learned if I found myself in a demanding situation, I could rise to the challenge.
Recent Posts
Meet Anne Dale, Dentistry’s Unofficial Historian
The museum she curates at the Faculty of Dentistry holds thousands of objects that tell the story of the profession in Canada
Heroes of Our Time
Members of the U of T community are working alongside colleagues from around the world to respond to the pandemic
Whose Stories Do We Tell?
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography aims to record noteworthy lives from “all points of view.” Six decades into its mission, what that means is still up for debate
