Prof. Kirsten Holt


Professor Holt has been teaching at Valencia College since 2013, and will be awarded tenure in 2022.

She received her MFA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida in 2013. Professor Holt teaches English Composition, Creative Writing in both Poetry and Fiction, and during the summer semester, her ENC1102 course is based on Horror Films through History.

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Information for Parents of Dual Enrolled Students:

Even though I am not able to speak to you all directly (Valencia's FERPA guidelines are linked below) I know that you all care about the success of your students and want to help if you can. I'm including my recommendations for parents here in hopes they reach you:

1. Your students will likely struggle at some point in the course, and I encourage you to let it happen. I believe strongly in challenging my students intellectually, and do my best to offer resubmissions of assignments that promote their learning. But most of us learn best through getting something wrong, so we can experience the process of revising our efforts. Let them know that challenges, while uncomfortable, help us grow. We are defined by our growth, not our mistakes.

2. If and when they're struggling, help me by encouraging them to reach out. I am invested in being available for my students, and know that many of their frustrations will be best handled in one-on-one meetings. I can and will meet them outside regularly posted office hours. I can and will walk them through revisions of their work. But I can't force them to meet with me. You can be an excellent resource by helping them feel comfortable booking an appointment with me (which they can do online with the link in my Office Hours above).

3. If you or your student have questions about their grades, I encourage the use of the "What If" grades feature in Canvas. With this tool, students can see how their grade can improve with future work, and make decisions about their own available time by seeing how their grade might change if they have to miss an assignment. This can alleviate a lot of student anxiety, but many of them will not read the tutorials on the tool. They're available here: https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-10709-6795255015

4. If your student lets you have access to their course, I organize my work in modules. All due dates are available on the course calendar, with links to assignment sheets, which also include rubrics for each assignment. However, students often work through the Canvas To-Do list, which can lead to missed lesson content. Encourage them to review the pages available in each module to ensure they're seeing the resources and examples that help them prepare for submitted work.

5. Your students have access to CARE coaches in my course. These are private tutors who work directly with me and my classes. They hold help sessions usually twice a week, and are available to assist students with the course content or questions about being a college student. Their hours are listed on the syllabus.

6. Last, please let your student work through their own problems. I'm so glad when students have their family supporting them through difficulty, but some of those difficulties are their own to work through. While you and I can't directly work together, we can both be support systems for the students. My job is to offer guidance on the content, student professionalism, and their work/life balance. You can help me by listening when they're struggling, and by encouraging them to reach out when they need help. Together, we can make their semester successful.

https://valenciacollege.edu/about/ferpa/


Contact

East Campus
1-364
(407)582-2248
kholt12@valenciacollege.edu

Hours

Office Hours during the COVID-19 Pandemic Scheduling are virtual, via Zoom Meeting.

Book here:
https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/ProfessorHoltsOfficeHoursValenciaCollege@valenciacollege.edu/bookings/

Meeting ID: 827 950 6368
Passcode: kholt330

Extended Bio and Links to Published Work: Though I received my primary degree in poetry (links to work found below) I have academic interests outside verse. I was initially a physics major with a specialization in astrophysics and astronomy. You'll see some of that interest present in both my writing, and how I help students make sense of their work. I have a vested interest in the study of video games, music videos, memes, comics, and fanfiction as examples of contemporary literature, as is present in my work at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs national conference in Boston 2013, link below. I continue to be active in presenting pedagogical work to the national community. Outside academia, I read and review contemporary and forthcoming novels in the horror genre. I'm interested in the intersectionality between horror and literature, so if you'd like to discuss how horror is used in movies and tv shows, let's do that in my summer ENC1102 course, where my students research historical context and composition through a study of horror films. In addition to all of that, I rock climb, I have a weird cat, and I collect maps. I look forward to seeing you in my classes and finding a way for you to own and love your education as much as I have. ------------------------------------------------ First Collection of Poetry 2010: http://www.yellowjacketpress.org/yjp-catalog.html Dissertation of Poetry 2013: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2963/ Individual Poems on the Web: http://animalliterarymagazine.com/2013/03/01/poem-4/ http://portlandreview.org/2013/05/ http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/newsfrom187/entry/7418/ http://pidgeonholes.com/2018/08/crossing-rape-woods/ Video Games as Literature Presentation: https://soundcloud.com/lesliesalas-2/fan-fiction-video-games-comics