Dr. Marina A Llorente
St. Lawrence University
Submitted by mll1 on Sun, 06/01/2008 - 13:59.
Associate Professor of Spanish, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Courses I teach regularly:
SPAN 101-102 Beginning Spanish
SPAN 103-104 Intermediate Spanish SPAN 201 Advanced Spanish, High Schools of the North Country SPAN 201 Advanced Spanish SPAN 202 Hispanic Cultural Studies SPAN 213 Introduction to Spanish Culture SPAN 423 Introduction to Spanish Peninsular Literature SPAN 439 Literature, Film and Popular Culture in Contemporary Spain SPAN 446 Spanish Oral Expression SPAN 447 Spanish Poetry, Music and Ethics
SPAN 448 SPTP: Hispanic Women Writers: the Power of the Word
Independent Studies and Honors Projects
My research interests:
Spanish and Latin American Modern Poetry; 20th-Century Spanish and Latin American Literature; Foreign Language Pedagogy; Gender Studies; Minorities Literature; Cultural Studies; Film Studies
Sample student projects I have supervised:
Director, Honor Project "La movida madrileña: opera prima de la transición política o cóctel de modernidad a la española"
Mentor, Summer Fellow “Voces de Libertad: Mujeres poderosas en la literatura hispánica"
Advisor, “Alternative Education in Spain”, International Research Award, SLUPA Madrid, Spain.
Director, Independent Stud "Portraits of Women in Spanish Renaissance Texts"
Director, Independent Study "La palabra como vehículo de denuncia social en obras de Isabel Allende, Rosa Montero y Marina Mayoral"
Advisor, Independent Study, Gender Studies: "Domestic Violence in the North Country"
Examples of presentations, exhibitions, performances and published work:
BOOK: Palabra y deseo : Espacios transgresores en la poesía española 1975-1990 (Word and Desire. Transgressive Spaces in the Poetry of Spain 1975-1990.) Universidad de Málaga: Malaga UP, June 2000.
DOCUMENTARY (DVD format): Poesía social ( Poetry in Action: Emerging Commitments in Contemporary Spanish Poetry). St. Lawrence University, June 2004.
ESSAY: “Civilization vs. barbarism” Collateral Language: A User’s Guide to America’s New War, New York: New York UP, 2002. 39-51.
ENTRY: “Andrea Luca.” The Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature. Ed. Janet Pérez. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. 363-364.
ARTICLE: "Poemas críticos en la España contemporánea" Hispania 91.3 (2008): 579-589.
PRESENTATION: “Social Spanish Poetry: Making a DVD for University Classes” Pedagogy and Digital Technologies: Language Labs in the 21st Century, NITLE, Wabash College, Indiana, September 29 - October 1, 2006.
Aspects of my teaching that students find most effective and interesting:
Teaching is both a challenging and a rewarding task. The responsibilities that go with it are great as teachers potentially have a lasting impact on so many lives. Our words, the tone of our voices, our silences, our body language, our behavior—all of these communicate something that will influence how students may react to the skills we teach, the knowledge we share, and the discipline or field we represent. I understand that teaching is my primary responsibility at St. Lawrence University, and I dedicate most of my energy to it. Creativity, organization, knowledge, accuracy, effectiveness and fairness are, certainly, indispensable elements in my teaching, but I accomplish all with passion, energy, enthusiasm, respect, and care. Student responses to my teaching reflect the interconnection of these elements and the sense of entitlement born from it. When my students see my passion for teaching them about what I know they get involved and want to learn. In my classes I seek to encourage the formation of a community of learners who take responsibility for their important role in each session, which is as important as my own role as an instructor of the class. My teaching style demands the total involvement of the students in the learning process, an approach which, according to my students, facilitates their understanding of the material and increases the willingness and desire to tackle the subject matter. I expect the best of them and I help them as much as possible in the process of achieving excellence.
Some ways I connect with students outside the classroom:
I am the coordinator for the monthly Poetry for Peace Reading series mostly attended by students and poets from the North Country.
Doing national presentations with students about the work we do together. For example:
“Poetry in Action: Videography & DVD” The 15th International Conference on
College Teaching and Learning, Jacksonville, Florida, March 29-April 2, 2004. Co-presented with Alejandro Figueroa student intern in the Language Resource Center." “Un idioma compartido: The Effects of El Centro de Escritura” National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing, Plattsburgh State University of New York, November 6-8, 1998. Co-presented with Mary Barkley, and student directors of the Spanish Writing Center, Kim Young and Sarah Wood.
Examples of connections between my research and my teaching:
For me, research supports teaching and, ultimately, it should aim to benefit the students. I have created several classes based in my own different research projects. When I started teaching at SLU I created my Literature, Film and Popular Culture in Contemporary Spain drawing from the sociohistorical framework of my first book. At that point I had the inmense pleasure of directing my first Summer Fellows who wrote a memorable study of the artistic and Popular Culture movement of La Movida in Madrid at the beginning of 80’s and her work was accepted for publication in Spain. Later on I created my Hispanic Women Writers class around the concept of power and desire which did have the origin in an article I was working on at that time. I have directed several independent Studies, four Honors Projects and one Summer Fellow in this topic. I am currently working in a book about the intersections of ethics and aesthetics in the new generation of commited poets from Spain and LatinAmerica under the theoretichal framework of Cultural Studies. Lastly, my Poetry, Music and Ethics class is in part the product of this scholarly work in progress as well as the DVD Poetry in Action which my students and I created together.
My teaching philosophy:
Teaching for me means serving as a facilitator and mentor to students, not only in their effort to learn Spanish language, literature and culture but also in their quest for knowledge, both of themselves and of the world in which they live. During the learning process the students are the focus of my class, and consequently I am able to adjust accordingly to my students’ needs and demands through the development of the learning experience. The fluidity of positive energy that makes the exchange of ideas natural, challenging and enriching is only possible in a student-centered class that sets high standards for everyone. A teacher learns and gains insight through the process just as much as the students do, only at a different level. In the best teaching, the professor must be a learner too.
Ways I offer service to my discipline and/or the University:
Director, Study Abroad- Spain Program, Madrid, Spain 1999-2000, 2004-2005 and again in 2009-10
Coordinator, Multilingual Poetry for Peace Reading Series
Chair of the Multicultural Affairs Committee (2001-02) and current member of the Board of the Center for Diversity and Social Justice
Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, 2007 to present.
Examples of my work as a visiting scholar or guest at another institution:
Invited to present: “New Generation of Social Poets in Spain” Women’s Studies Program, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, April 19, 2002.
Invited to present: “Lenguaje colateral. Claves para justificar una guerra” Joint presentation with John Collins and Ross Glover. Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain,
Invited to present: “La poesía de Isla Correyero” Aula de la Tertulia Literaria Hispanoamericana, Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional, Madrid, Spain, April 4, 2000.
My hobbies and/or personal interests:
Reading
Hiking
Having good conversations about literature, politics, ethics, social justice, education and the power of art in general and poetry in particular.
My current projects:
Book Project: “So many things not yet invented”: Spain's New Generation of Social Poets.
Bilingual Spanish/English Poetry Anthology: Anthology of Contemporary Spanish Poetry.
External Links: