UC-Personality: Kyle Crawford

Kyle Crawford didn't exactly enter college with a deep love of English, writing, or teaching.

"I was a history major, and I was like, ‘I don't like this at all,'" he said. Crawford, a part-time faculty member in the English department's composition program, only turned to writing as a last resort.

"I was in a creative writing class, and it was the only thing I was good at," he said.

But after graduating it was back to history—and on to teaching, an occupation Crawford's begun to embrace. For four years, Crawford taught history at Broomfield's Soar High School, which enrolled students who had drug or alcohol abuse issues. Crawford said Soar offered him great opportunities to grow as a teacher, especially in the planning of his class material.

"That was the beginning of my teaching career," he said. "[Teachers there] got to design our courses entirely on our own."

That freedom helped him decide on teaching as a career. And when Soar closed due to shrinking enrollment, he enrolled in UC Denver's teaching of writing graduate program. "It took the school closing for me to move on," he said.

As a teaching assistant, Crawford noticed the many difficulties that incoming first-generation college students face.

"In our education we hear that academia is cultural—it's all cultural activities," he said. "Where does that leave the first-generation student?"

His final Master's project addressed that question. Crawford found that a key to success for students is acting like they're students—playing the appropriate part.

"There's a role that you're supposed to play as a college student," he said. "And how you play that role is largely unsaid. A lot of it's cultural."

The unspoken expectations range all the way from writing in the third person to etiquette when e-mailing professors to texting during class, Crawford said.

And this can be a steep hill for first-generation students to climb.

"Research shows that students that are more aware of their role got better grades," he said.

This semester, Crawford has found success engaging his students in real-life writing situations.

"It's actually pretty decent," said Lizeth Casillas, a UCD sophomore majoring in pre-business in Crawford's "Business Writing" course. "I got a job from this class."

Casillas explained that the course's interaction with the UCD Career Center led to her job with Strategic Programs, Inc.

"We set up a career center account," Casillas said, "and I ended up getting a job from that website."
Casillas said the class has been a positive experience. "I've used everything from this class," she said. "He has a really good plan for the semester."