Welcome to Teachin' Books, a podcast all about the ways people teach, learn, and work with literature.
*Sorting out a few website issues at the moment -- should be back in order soon!*
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2.3 Emily Dickinson’s “A narrow Fellow in the Grass”
If you enjoy thinking, learning, and hearing about the nuts and bolts of classroom practice, this one's for you! In today's episode, I talk about three methods / exercises...
2.2 Interview with Megan Solberg and Ian Moy / Part Two of Giggles and Screams, AKA: A Conversation with Veteran Teaching Assistants
Listen in to part TWO of my conversation with expert TAs and all-around excellent humans Megan Solberg and Ian Moy, Ph.D. candidates in English at the University of Saskatchewan...
2.1 Interview with Megan Solberg and Ian Moy / Giggles and Screams, AKA: A Conversation with Veteran Teaching Assistants
Teachin' Books is back for Season Twoooooo, and I'm excited, y'all! …especially because this first episode is part of a special two-part series to kick off Season Two, and...
1.23 Failure in/and Teaching
Today I'm talkin' FAILURE. With contributions from friends, colleagues, listeners who shared their stories and thoughts about failure, as well as my own experiences and ideas, this episode gets...
1.22 Louise Halfe – Sky Dancer’s Blue Marrow and “Body Politics”
On today's solo episode of Teachin' Books, I'm talking about the work of acclaimed poet Louise Bernice Halfe, whose Cree name is Sky Dancer. In particular, I'm talking about...
1.21 Interview with Lucy Hinnie / Teaching Shakespeare: Comedy and History
We're back to teachin' Shakespeeeeeare today! This episode features an interview with my lovely friend and brilliant human Dr. Lucy Hinnie! Lucy is currently Wikimedian-in-Residence at the British Library,...
1.20 Interview with Khodi Dill / Spoken Word Poetry and “Grey,” Picture Books, and Education
Teachin' Books is back with an exciting interview with Khodi Dill, who is author of the picture book Welcome to the Cypher (available for pre-order now!) and a Bahamian-Canadian...
1.19 End-of-Term Tips
How do you wrap up the term in a good way? What do you do in the final days of class, whether remote or in-person? What atmosphere do you...
1.18 Interview with Wendy Roy / On Researching, Writing, and Publishing The Next Instalment
Heeey y’all! On today’s episode of Teachin’ Books, we’re talking about something a bit different: research, writing, and publishing as forms of teaching and learning. The episode features part...
1.17 Listener Q&A / Catch-Up Episode!
Today's episode is a bit of a catch-up / breather: I'm answering a few listener questions and emails and, along the way, returning to some of the podcast's ongoing...
1.16 Interview with Jordan Bolay / Dungeons and Dragons
It's heeeeeere! I'm so excited to share this Teachin' Books episode on Dungeons and Dragons, featuring Jordan Bolay, who is an instructor of English at Pearson College UWC. Even...
1.15 Robert Montgomery’s Public Poetry Installations
On today’s episode, I’m talking about the public poetry installations of London-based poet and artist Robert Montgomery. I use Montgomery’s work in my first-year undergrad poetry class to consider...
1.14 Interview with Rebekah Ludolph / Hiromi Goto’s The Kappa Child
Heeeeey y’all! We’re back to talkin’ about book clubs today as Ph.D. candidate Rebekah Ludolph shares her experience reading Hiromi Goto’s novel The Kappa Child (2001) in a book...
1.13 Janelle Monáe’s “Pynk” and Vivek Shraya’s “Part-time Woman”
I’ve been really excited to share this episode with you: today, I talk about teachin’ Janelle Monáe’s song/music video “Pynk” in combination with Vivek Shraya’s song/music video “Part-time Woman”!...
1.12 Interview with Taylor Brown / Thomas King’s The Inconvenient Indian
On today’s episode of Teachin’ Books, undergraduate student Taylor Brown shares her experiences working as a tour guide while she was also reading and thinking through Thomas King’s 2012...
1.11 Jes Baker’s Landwhale
January sucks and I am here to talk about why! 😀 If you need a more positive tagline than that, I can’t help you. In this episode, I talk...
1.10 Interview with Tara Chambers / Andre Alexis’s Fifteen Dogs
Teachin’ Books is baaaaack! It appears it’s a new, but still garbage, year — yay?! On today’s episode, I chat with my friend Tara Chambers about a novel we...
Holiday special!
I’m back from hiatus to share with you this sweet and joy-filled Holiday special episode, which I recorded with my mom Kathy and my cousin Whitney! We planned to...
1.9 Interview with Jocelyne Vogt / Harold Cardinal’s “A Canadian What the Hell It’s All About”
It’s the last official episode of 2020! As I mention in this episode and the last, I’m taking a break from producing the podcast, and I’ll be back in...
1.8 Douglas Coupland’s JPod
Nearing the one-year anniversary — if such a term applies — of my dissertation defence, I am taking this opportunity to mark the occasion by chatting about an author...
1.7 Interview with Anita Smith / William Shakespeare’s & Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan’s As You Like It
We’re talkin’ Shakespeare today! In this episode, I chat with theatre artist Anita Smith about her production of William Shakespeare’s As You Like It for Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan’s...
1.6 Interview with Catherine Nygren / The Stanley Parable
Y’all. Today we’re teachin’ VIDEO GAAAMES and I’m so excited! I’m not really a big gamer, but I loved chatting with Catherine Nygren about the ways she incorporates The...
1.5 Instapoetry
Heyyy all! I’m talkin’ about Instapoetry in today’s episode of Teachin’ Books. In particular, I share three short exercises I use to teach Instapoetry, two of which (in response...
1.4 Interview with Alice Munro Book Club members / Alice Munro’s Dear Life
In this episode of Teachin’ Books, I talk to a few members from the lovely Alice Munro book club I’ve been participating in this year: Sarah Roger, Taylor Graham,...
1.3 Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go
In this episode of Teachin’ Books, I talk to… myself!… about teaching Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novelNever Let Me Go. Get the novel through your library or local bookstore. In...
1.2 Interview with Joanne Leow / David Chariandy’s Brother
In this episode of Teachin’ Books, host Jessica McDonald talks to Dr. Joanne Leow, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Saskatchewan, about teaching David Chariandy’s novel Brother....
1.1 Interview with Jade McDougall / Marilyn Dumont’s “Letter to Sir John A Macdonald”
In this first official / full-length episode of Teachin’ Books, host Jessica McDonald talks to Ph.D. candidate and instructor Jade McDougall about teaching Marilyn Dumont’s “Letter to Sir John...
0.0 Trailer / Intro & Intentions
Welcome to Teachin’ Books! In this first episode / minisode / trailer (who can decide?), host Jessica McDonald chats about her intentions for the podcast and about what you...
About the Podcaster
Jessica McDonald, Host and Creator
Hi! Thanks for checkin’ out the podcast.
I’m Jessica, a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2021) in the Department of English at Simon Fraser University. I teach regularly at the University of Saskatchewan, where I received my Ph.D. in English in 2019. You can find more info about my research here.
When I’m not teaching, researching, or podcasting, I like to cook needlessly elaborate meals, make lots of lists, write silly poems, and, in the summers, pretend I know how to play slo-pitch.
Find me at the accounts below or use the contact form here to get in touch.
2.4 Interview with Shana MacDonald / Feminist Think Tank and Instagram Research, Activism, and Education
Today's podcast is all about the ways we teach, learn, and work with… Instagraaaaaaaaam! I'm so excited to share with you this conversation I had with Shana MacDonald, who...