Biography

Kevin Coogan is a graduate of North Carolina A&T State University, where he studied English, Critical Pedagogies, and Rhetoric & Composition.

Influenced by Paulo Freire, Kevin believes education should be liberatory in nature. The tenets of oppression are deeply woven into the United States of America’s society, and a critical lens is often necessary to reveal them. Further, when it comes to writing, Kevin tries to model what Peter Elbow refers to as an “organic, developmental process” – meaning he does not believe writing is a two-step transaction where a message is found and then written about. Rather, sometimes a writer must simply start writing before getting the “mind-fluff” out of the way so their¹ ultimate message can be found.

Moreover, pulling from bell hooks, Kevin practices an Engaged Pedagogy. Thus, he decenters himself from the classroom as an authoritarian font of knowledge, regards his students as whole human beings who are touched by overlapping societal pressures, and considers his role as an educator not to produce capitalistic automatons but to produce individuals capable of critically analyzing the world around them.

Kevin believes that if new and veteran writers alike engage more deeply with their writing – rather than worrying about being graded, sounding intelligent, or hitting a page requirement – writing can feel like second nature, rather than an inconvenience, and can strengthen students’ critical thinking abilities.

^{1 Pronoun sensitivity – not agreement error.}