Rachel

Newlon

Once upon a time, I was an Early Childhood Educator and Administrator. For 20 years, I cared for and taught children ages 6 weeks to 16 years. Eventually, I switched gears, completing an MFA in 2013 and moving to teaching adults English Composition courses. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching at Community College of Aurora, Red Rocks Community College, Front Range Community College, Community College of Denver, and Westwood College. In 2018, I came to Arapahoe Community College as a part-time instructor, eventually accepting a position as full-time faculty one year later!

As an instructor, I’m not ‘easy.’ I challenge my students to perform at their highest levels! I encourage them to toss aside all of their previous writing knowledge – together we rediscover the process. Students learn to question everything, “grow the size of their brains,” and come to realize that it is okay to fail at writing…as long as they learn from that failure and understand that it is part of the process toward success. I believe in active and engaged learning, so students can rest assured that things get crazy, creative, and fun.

Aside from teaching, I have a background in writing tutoring. I privately tutored for several years while completing my degrees.  Eventually, I took on tutoring while teaching as an adjunct for Community College of Aurora and Red Rocks Community College. Currently, I tutor online for the Colorado School of Mines. At one point, I had the honor of being the Academic Learning Center Writing Studio Coordinator for well over one year at the Community College of Aurora.

When I am not teaching, I enjoy reading and writing creative non-fiction, taking American Kenpo Karate, as well as traveling and writing for my travel/lifestyle & health blog, Our Gluten-Free Travels.