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TWU values scholarship and creative works in support of the mission of the university. In such, Repository@TWU is a repository of scholarly products that inform the disciplines of academia and the larger community. Repository@TWU is another means of highlighting and disseminating scholarly contributions by providing free and unrestricted access to the TWU community and beyond.

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Recent Submissions

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AP? CLEP? Dual credit? Advice from a professor
(Tanglewood Moms, 2019) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie
In Texas, some school districts are now offering to pay AP, CLEP, or dual credit fees in order to push students to complete associate degrees before finishing high school. Yes, the rush to educate students out of school is growing, and the pressure falls most heavily on parents to make decisions before their children know if or where they will attend college.
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Design as renewal
(Tanglewood Moms, 2021) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie
Each time I return to my mother’s house, I’m excited to see what’s changed. I know that stored away are tarnished cheerleading trophies and bent Polaroids. There’s a satin chiffon prom dress and a floral hatbox holding tattered college textbooks. These relics bring me comfort.
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We don’t need to be SuperMom
(Tanglewood Moms, 2022) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie
According to The Blue Dot Project, one in five women will face a maternal mental health disorder at some point in their life. This estimation is higher for first-time mothers, especially those suffering from birth trauma. Despite being so common, few women share their experiences with perinatal or postpartum mood disorders, seek professional counseling, or educate themselves on how to manage their new roles while also managing symptoms of depression, anxiety, or psychosis.
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“Am I using rhetoric right?”
(Tanglewood Moms, 2023) Hoermann-Elliott, Jackie
Seeking confirmation for his understanding of rhetoric as duplicitous, empty speech, a relative asked me this question at a holiday party last year. He peered over his glass of merlot expecting an explanation, and I sighed audibly before saying, “How long do you have?” As an assistant professor of English at Texas Woman’s University, people assume I have a menagerie of pet peeves about the use (and alleged abuse) of the English language. I am often asked to hypothesize as to why no one knows how to use a comma or to play therapist to those most concerned with texting’s effect on the writing skills of the youth. And yet, these selfproclaimed protectors of the English language never upset me more than they do with their flippant dismissal of rhetoric.
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Connection
(The Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning (AEPL), 2017) Wenger, Christy; Martorana, Christina; Hoermann-Elliott, Jacquelyn; Godbee, Beth; Wojcik, Adrianne; Musgrove, Laurence
At Texas Christian University, I teach a themed section of first-year composition called “Yoga-Zen Writing.” One of the first writing assignments my students receive is a “This I Believe” essay, for which I ask students to choose a belief or a personal mantra that guides their daily living or reflects their values in a way that is personally meaningful to them. My students are prepared for the assignment by listening to several “This I Believe” podcasts—available for streaming through Thisibelieve.org. As a class, we write in our journals and discuss out loud how these podcasts reflect the personal essay genre outlined in Bruce Ballenger’s The Curious Writer. The greatest challenge of this writing assignment is that students are expected to deliver one to two brief but well-detailed narrative experiences in approximately two pages, which always challenges them to winnow their words down to what is absolutely essential and memorable. Having taught this essay several times, I decided to write my own “This I Believe” essay in the fall of 2016. My intention was to refresh my memory of the process involved in writing a personal essay, and throughout the process I was reminded of how challenging personal essays can be.