Ethnography writing

Professor Cassandra Blandford teaches writing at UNC Charlotte. She obtained a

BA degree in creative writing and her master degree was in English with a focus on
trauma studies. She believes that writing is a powerful to identity oneself and to open the
door to explore and understand not only a foreign topics, but of one`s own motives as
well. Also, she believes that the real work of writing is not about writing essays without
much thought of the content, rather it is about understanding what decisions students
make in their writing.
Talking about Cassandra`s teaching experience at UNCC and other institutes. She
mentioned that she taught writing in many institutes before she finally settled in UNCC.
Moreover, she thinks that teaching at UNCC is different and special experience to her,
because she have noticed that the department of university writing at UNCC have
different way in how it approaches its students and courses. In addition, she mentioned
that UNCC writing department focusing on creating not just stronger writers, but better
thinkers. In addition, she found that teaching at UNCC keeps her motivated all the time
because she always compares her teaching style to her colleagues and that challenge her
to become a better instructor. Also, her students keep her motivated when she sees how
much improvement she made in their writing process as well as their thinking.
Professor Blandford has some interesting portrait s and pictures on her door office
which interest me to investigate more about these pictures. She has three portraits of her
favorite writers (Edgar Allan Poe, Joyce Carol Oates, and Sylvia Plath). Each of them has

played a significant role in her development as a person and as an instructor. All of their
writings can be dark, but she thinks that they each spark their readers to question and
look at a certain topic in a different way. She is also a big advocate of expanding one's
perceptions of the world around them. On the other hand, I have noticed a picture on her
door that has a dog and cat in it says I love animals. This picture in particular attracted
me the most because I wanted to know what kind of animals she loves. Unfortunately,
this picture turned out to be not hers, she found it on the door before she started to work
at UNCC. Luckily, she is an animal lover and she has a rescue dog called Max and as she
said she would adopt more rescue dogs if her apartment has enough space. Also, she
mentioned that she is a major advocate for animal rights.
In conclusion, I concluded that professor Blandford uses the pictures and portraits on
her office door as tools of motivation. These pictures encourage her to proceed
successfully in her career and wonderful memories for her. I always ask myself why
professors have pictures on their doors! Now, I can understand that items on instructors`
doors always have meaning and story behind it, and it linked somehow to their lives
experience. Exploring professors doors is a great way to explore professors`
personalities and their history as well. I am thankful that our instructor gave us this
opportunity to understand the reason why most instructors tend to have pictures on their
office door and I am glad that I finally understand this issue.