Author Archives: Robert Borden

My Story Episode 21: Video Games with Tyler McCombs and Stephen Nothum

Have you ever thought that video games could really apply to your learning and writing skills? Well, whether you have or haven’t, Episode 17 of the BYU English Society’s podcast, My Story will show how two former English Teaching majors have made great discoveries in the world of video game research. Stephen and Tyler are both English teachers and love what they do. They spend their days teaching, and their evenings studying. However, their late night study hours are passed behind the screen of their favorite video games as they try to understand how to apply the creative story lines of video games to their English teaching. “Its for the kids” Stephen and Tyler remarked at the end of the interview, “we are trying to improve their educational possibilities.” Tune in to this week’s episode to see just how much we have to learn from video games, and how great the learning gains can be for students. Play the podcast embedded below, and check out all our episodes featuring stories about applying your English major by visiting the BYU English Society SoundCloud page.

Check out the interview HERE

My Story Episode 20: Harry Potter and Pedagogy

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Episode 20 of the BYU English Society’s podcast, My Story, features Nicole Westenskow, Whitney Sommerville, Tyler McCombs, and Stephen Nothum. This dynamic team of English Teaching Majors came together a few years back as a unsettled group BYU students. After doing their time at the university they are all now teaching full time here in Utah, and have made themselves known to the world for their unique achievements while here at BYU. In this episode the groups shares with us their unique pathway to the English Teaching Major, and highlights their experience while conducting research on Harry Potter and Pedagogy (for those of you who don’t know, that means teaching methods). This episode is a must listen for all of those Harry Potter fans, English Teaching hopefuls, and anyone else who wants to know a whole lot about what it means to be an English Major. Play the podcast embedded below, and check out all of our awesome episodes featuring stories on how to apply your English by visiting the BYU English Society SoundCloud page.

Check out the interview HERE

My Story Episode: Caroline Howard, English Teacher with an ORCA grant

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Episode 15 of the BYU English Society’s podcast, My Story, features Caroline Howard, an English turned English Teaching major who is now putting her skills to work as a 7th and 8th grade English teacher. Caroline also shared with us her incredible experience as an ORCA research grant recipient. On top of all her other accomplishments Caroline spent time as a presenter for the McKay School Symposium. Caroline pointed out to us that it was not so much what happened inside the classroom that shaped her decisions. Rather, it was what she accomplished as she work hard outside of her classes. For those of you looking into the idea of teaching English, receiveing an ORCA grant, or anyone else who wants to better understand making life changing decisions, play the podcast embedded above. Also please check out all our episodes featuring stories of applying one’s English by visiting the BYU English Society SoundCloud page.

Caroline’s Interview

Related Links
https://orca.byu.edu/orca/
http://education.byu.edu/ess/majors_and_minors.html
http://english.byu.edu/

My Story Episode: Carli Hanson, Editing Minor, Communications Minor, and Intern Galore

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Episode 18 of the BYU English Society’s podcast, My Story, features Carli Hanson, a first in family BYU student, passionate editing student looking forward to a future in Marketing. Carli shared with us experiences she has had as an intern for Nutrigold, Hope4Utah, and Mind the Gap Worldwide. Carli shared her appreciation for the English Major and the skills that it teaches. She also offered her best advice to those looking to move towards internship opportunities. Carli also shared some of the applications that came about from her experience in the English Major and Editing Minor. If you want to know all about getting in to internships play the podcast embedded above, and please check out all our episodes featuring stories of applying one’s English by visiting the BYU English Society SoundCloud page.

Carli’s Interview

Hope4Utah: hope4utah.com
Nutrigold: www.nutrigold.com
Mind the Gap Worldwide: www.mindthegapworldwide.org/

Editing Minor: https://registrar.byu.edu/catalog/2014-2015ucat/departments/Linguistics/EditingMinor.php
Communications Minor: https://registrar.byu.edu/catalog/2014-2015ucat/departments/Communications/CommsMinor.php

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Episode 17 of the BYU English Society’s podcast, My Story, features Kate Neish, a stay at home mom, English Major, and 2015 English Symposium participant. Kate graduated just a few months ago, and shortly thereafter welcomed her first son into the world. Kate overcame every obstacle as a pregnant student, and made it through with flying colors. Her background in English has given her a unique approach to motherhood as she likens great literature to her life. Kate has always been passionate about English, but starter her time at BYU as a Music Major. Eventually she found her way home and decided to switch to the English Major, and focus on the art of literature. Kate said that in choosing the English Major, “learning was [her] objective” and now her communication, reasoning, and analytical skills are deeper and more easily applied. Play the podcast embedded above, and please check out all our episodes featuring stories of applying one’s English by visiting the BYU English Society SoundCloud page.

Kate’s Interview

My Story Episode: Lindsay Owens, Digital Humanities Minor

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Episode 16 of the BYU English Society’s podcast, My Story, features Lindsay Owens, an English Major with a Minor in the Digital Humanities. Lindsay has always had a passion for writing and creating websites so she decided that she would combine the two and make her dreams a reality. When she faced opposition as she studied programming she decided to change to print and web publishing. As a result of her Digital Humanities Minor she added two more minors one in Graphic Design and another in Creative Writing. Lindsay is taking on the world of web design one print publish at time, and showing the skills that the English Major has given her. With the approach of graduation Lindsay is excited to explore the world of digital humanities even more, and she invites you to do the same! Play the podcast embedded above, and please check out all our episodes featuring stories about how to apply your English Major by visiting the BYU English Society SoundCloud page.

Lindsay’s Interview