Elaigwu Ameh, a PhD student in the Department of (PMA), recently received an honorable mention for the John S. Knight Award for Writing Exercises and Handouts.
The Knight Award honors first-year writing seminar instructors who have developed excellent exercises for improving student writing. Ameh received his award for his exercise “Engagement with Quotes,” created for PMA 1148: Migration Performances: Concepts and Encounters.
“I love teaching. I really do. Broadly, it presents me with an opportunity to contribute my enthusiasm and expertise to the betterment of humanity. More specifically, teaching offers me the opportunity to foster a community of learners and critical thinkers through a pedagogical process predicated on the pursuit of the common good,” said Ameh.
Migration Performances examined questions related to the refugee crisis, why people migrate, and the realities of forced migrations through the study of performing arts and migration studies texts. Ameh designed “Engagement with Quotes” to make students think critically about quotation use. While students often rely on quotations to take up space in their essays, the exercise explored how proper quotation use can support the writer’s argument.
“I am profoundly grateful to the Knight Institute for the recognition and to PMA for constantly providing me with all the resources I need to thrive as a teaching assistant at Cornell,” said Ameh.
Julian Robison '20 is a communications assistant in the Department of .
