Kara Olson

Office Hours:

My classes and office hours vary by semester, but you can find the current schedule posted outside my office. You can always reach me via email or phone. 

Courses:

2540 – Introduction to Literary Studies: Reading Poetry

2350 – Women and Literature

2030 – Writing Poetry

1900 – Introduction to Creative Writing

1202 - College Writing II

1002 - College Writing II - Workshop

1201 - College Writing I

1001 - College Writing I -  Workshop

Teaching Philosophy

I teach through Reading Circles, a workshop model that sits at the center of everything I do in the classroom. I believe writing improves when people feel heard, and craft grows alongside self-worth when students are truly witnessed. At the root of all of this is a belief that everyone in my classroom has a divine imagination. My students help co-create the curriculum through this process; I'm paying attention to what they need, what they’re interested in, and adjusting as we go. When students hear several drafts (essays, poems, etc.) read aloud and workshopped, that immersion changes how they write and how they see themselves as writers.

I bring an equity-focused, warm-demander approach to teaching, which means high expectations paired with flexibility in how students get there. I differentiate for each writer's path, and I build in space for the non-academic barriers and emotional weight students carry into the room. As a poet, I teach inquiry the way I write by asking questions, sitting in complexity, and resisting easy answers. I'm continually developing trauma-informed, embodied approaches to teaching because I know learning doesn't happen separately from the body or the nervous system. Teaching, like writing, is an act of surrender and love as much as skill. I tell students when I don't have an answer, I let them see me make mistakes, and, over time, we slowly build a safe learning community together.