Beta Project Home > About Us

Denise Olivas

ASU Secondary Education-English

Hello, my name is Denise Olivas and I am the Undergraduate Assistant to the Beta Writing Project.

I am very excited to be part of this great project and thankful to the ASU Foundation Parents

Association for making this assistant's position possible. This is my final year in the College of Education's Initial Teaching Certification program. I will graduate with a Bachelor's in Secondary Education-English. My main area of interest is teaching writing. I believe that all students have stories to tell--they simply need an engaging and encouraging environment to begin the process. Outside of school, I have worked at a local nursing center/home for the past six years. I spent this summer in New York as part of the Summer Teaching Fellows program. During the two months there, I taught 8th grade English alongside an experienced mentor teacher at KIPP: Infinity public-charter school in Harlem. Though this summer will certainly have a lasting impact on me, I was born and raised in Arizona, and hope to teach high school in a local district, and eventually progress to teaching at the community college and university level. Please feel free to contact me for questions regarding the Beta Writing Project; especially the "Ask the Expert" feature since I will be the liaison between Mesa district teachers and ASU faculty. My e-mail is doolivas@asu.edu.

C. Brian Taylor
ASU Curriculum and Instruction Program

Hi, I’m Brian Taylor.  I have been a high school and now college English and composition teacher for the last 10 years.  It has been my privilege to be in the trenches, so to speak, and share the teaching experience with so many other worthy professionals.  Over the years I have had opportunity to help organize and participate in conferences for the Arizona English Teachers’ Association (AETA) and speak at a number of other state and local area conferences.  My areas of expertise include pedagogy, literary analysis essays, AIMS preparation, screenwriting, children’s books, music composition, portfolios, and publishing.  I would like to continue my research in teacher-student conferences and support the BETA Project, as I believe it to be a worthwhile bridge for students to the university and teachers to university resources.  I, too, am very happy to be of help, particularly if your school would like AIMS preparation help and writing tools for advanced or low-level learners.  Please feel free to e-mail me at briantaylor@asu.edu if you would like reinforcement, or if you would like to share with me ideas you have found effective.

Corrine McCawley Gordon

ASU Curriculum and Instruction, English Education

Hi, I’m Corrine Gordon.  I am a doctoral student in English Education.  I currently teach both Freshman Composition at ASU and Teaching through Storytelling for the Maricopa Community Colleges.  I have also been an English teacher working with students from 6th grade to seniors.  My area of expertise deals with creating hands-on lesson plans to engage students in their own learning.  I specialize in using drama and storytelling with any age student to supplement English instruction.  I am currently embarking on a project where students create thematically linked movies to better understand literature they are reading in class.  If I can be of any assistance in using storytelling, drama, or any hands-on technique, I’d love to help.

You can contact me at Corrine.McCawley@asu.edu or (480) 965-3853. 

Kristina ByBee

ASU Curriculum and Instruction Program, English Education

Hello, I’m Kristina ByBee and I am in the ASU College of Education Master’s Degree program. 

I have a BA from ASU in English and currently teach English at Desert Ridge High School in the

Gilbert School District.  I have taught English literature and composition to 8th, 10th,

and 12th grade students for the past five years.  My areas of interest include new   

literacy styles,improving boys’ literacy skills, science fiction, western fiction and poetry, and teaching composition.  One of my specialties is teaching students to analyze literature, poetry and film.  I also have experience tutoring students for AIMS reading and writing.  I’m very excited about the Beta Project and hope to continue working with the project and participants in the future.  My email address is bybee1@asu.edu.  Please feel free to contact me for assistance!

Tricia Sindel-Arrington

ASU Curriculum and Instruction Program, English Education

I am a national board certified English teacher with fifteen years of teaching experience.  I have taught junior high, high school, and college English.  I am currently in my last semester of completing my PhD. in Curriculum and Instruction in English Education.  I truly

love teaching

and would like to someday help prepare future English teachers. My ultimate goal with all of my students is passing on my passion for learning, in hopes that they too will become life-long learners. I spend my personal time with family and friends (if possible at a lake, beach, or swimming pool) and I have an insatiable zest for travel. Being a teacher has been an exciting and fulfilling career, I look forward to many great years of sharing my enthusiasm with future students.  My areas of current interest are:  technology in the English classroom, learning as a cultural process, classroom environment, and polling students as a means of school reform. Hopefully, I will be able to share my areas of expertise with current and future teachers.If you would like to reach me, email me at tricia.sindel@asu.edu.

Kim Geiser

ASU Curriculum and Instruction Program, English Education

I’m Kim Geiser. I have been in education for over 12 years and am entering my 9th year as

a high school English teacher. I am also a Technical Writing Sub-Contractor and have been

part of projects involving policies, standards, and placement for Arizona’s English Language Learners. I hold two Masters degrees, in Curriculum and Instruction and in Rhetoric and Composition and am presently enrolled in the English Education PhD program at ASU. My areas of interest include helping students analyze how context affects expectations and use of language, using different approaches to evaluate literature, working with reluctant writers and readers, and exploring how public policy affects classroom practices. If I may be of assistance I can be contacted at kim.geiser@asu.edu.

Elle Wolterbeek-Yarborough

ASU Curriculum and Instruction Program, English Education

I currently teach both English Composition and Advanced

Literature at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona,

where I also assist with teacher training and coordinate the Writing

Across the Curriculum program.  I absolutely love teaching composition

and helping other teachers figure out how they can integrate writing in

meaningful ways in their curriculum and if you ever need help, or have

ideas or resources to share, I would love to hear from you.  What interests

me most is finding ways to teach composition in a manner that encourages

a lifelong love of writing in students. I love all aspects of teaching and am

always excited to learn from other teachers, and to share teaching ideas.

 Please let me know if there is anything you’d like to talk about. 

My email address is elleyw@hotmail.com.