At Texas A&M, I have had the opportunity to teach undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of standard and honors (contract and embedded) courses that were single, stacked, and cross-listed with History, Linguistics, Religious Studies, and the Digital Humanities, in both traditional classroom settings and online. My goals as a teacher are to help students learn how to think critically about literature through a close examination of rhetorical and literary techniques, to assist them in learning how to ask productive questions, and to guide them in developing effective research and writing skills that will help them formulate clearly articulated and well-supported arguments. Click on the course titles below to view sample syllabi.
DHUM 601: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Instructor of Record
Graduate-level course that focuses on the use of digital tools for conducting humanities research, theoretical ideas that inform the field; application of theory to the critical assessment of online digital projects in the field.
English/History/DHUM 433: Digital Humanities Theory and Practice, Instructor of Record
Undergraduate course that focuses on the use of digital tools for conducting humanities research, theoretical ideas that inform the field; application of theory to the critical assessment of online digital projects in the field.
English 481: Senior Seminar, Shakespeare in the Digital Age, Instructor of Record
Capstone seminar that explores Shakespeare’s works and their cultural afterlives from a digital humanities perspective. Students learn how to work with a range of digital tools and how to apply digital methodologies to Shakespeare’s corpus by completing a series of exercises and writing assignments.
English 365/Religious Studies 360: The Bible as Literature, Instructor of Record
Narrative, structural, and thematic study of the Jewish and Christian scriptures in English translation.
English 330 – Honors Arthurian Literature, Instructor of Record
An advanced literature course designed to introduce students to the legend of King Arthur and Arthurian literature from its medieval origins to the present.
English 317 – Early British Drama, Instructor of Record
An advanced literature course that explores the history and development of drama in England from the medieval period through the seventeenth century.
English 313 – Honors Medieval English Literature, Instructor of Record
An advanced literature course that focuses on Old and Middle English literature, including such authors and works as Beowulf, The Dream of the Rood, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Piers Plowman, Malory, Julian of Norwich, Kempe, the mystery plays and the Middle English lyrics.
English 310 – History of the English Language, Instructor of Record
This course provides a historical study of the English language, beginning with a discussion of its Indo-European origins and continuing to the present day. Students will gain knowledge concerning phonological, grammatical, and lexical changes within the language over time, and will examine the social and political conditions related to such changes. The course will focus on the English language in its social context and will ask students to think about language as a dynamic system that changes when it comes into contact with other cultures through migration, war, colonialization, and technological advancements. Students will explore such changes through various literary works in Old, Middle, and Modern English, including passages from Beowulf, Malory, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. Class activities will involve lecture, discussion, and group work.
English 210 – Technical and Business Writing, Instructor of Record
A semester-long course that focuses on writing for professional settings; correspondence and researched reports fundamental to the technical and business workplace—memoranda, business letters, research proposals and presentations, and the use of graphical and document design.
English 203 – Honors Writing About Literature, Instructor of Record
A beginning literature course that introduces students to communicating persuasively about literature for the purpose of enhancing skills in academic and professional communication. This particular section focused on constructions of villains and heroes in texts drawn from a range of historical periods and across multiple genres.
English 104 – Composition and Rhetoric, Instructor of Record
A beginning writing course that offers instruction in the principles of rhetoric and college writing, providing students with foundational critical thinking, research and writing, skills essential for the completion of persuasive essays in view of multiple audience perspectives, and particularly the academic community.
Liberal Arts 689 – Programming for Humanists – Network Visualization
Part of a two-semester course sequence designed to introduce participants to methodologies, coding, and programming languages associated with the Digital Humanities. My section of the course focused on generating network visualizations using Gephi, an open-source interactive platform, which allows users to create maps that highlight relationships and interactions among characters in various literary works.
Katayoun Torabi, Ph.D.