Students can often be intimidated by their professors and may need help approaching them. Through this ongoing series, the Omega will introduce students to several professors at TRU, uncovering the humanity and personalities of our educators.
Taking a uniquely active approach to teaching creative writing, Thom Vernon explores ways of triggering students’ minds to new ideas through exploring, moving and engaging with materials. Vernon is a new professor at TRU, having started this fall.
Coming from Fredericton, N.B., Vernon moved to Kamloops to start as a professor of creative writing and English subjects.
Reflecting on his vocational journey, Vernon expressed how passionate he is about the topics he teaches, telling the Omega that this passion drives his unique and active teaching methods.
“Honestly, I’ve known since I came into the world that I was going to be a writer, actor and teacher,” Vernon said. “I always knew that. It’s never been a question. They’re all very fulfilling, and I love doing them all. I’m very passionate about what I do and I love it.”
Vernon uses a variety of teaching methods from his teaching toolbox, understanding how certain topics in the classroom need to be explored beyond the desk.
“My goal is always to keep the spark in the eye of the students. If students’ eyes are starting to gloss over, I know to mix it up,” Vernon said. “I work in multiple modalities, up on your feet, writing, working online. There’s a variety of ways [to do things], and hopefully something will appeal to somebody.”
When studying scenes in theatre plays, as an example, Vernon has had students throw a basketball around, asking them to closely watch the path the ball takes — the arcing pattern as it was thrown up and then its descent as it comes down, an allegory for the way every scene in a play should progress the storyline. This method of learning, he said, allows students to associate memories with certain topics, planting a seed in their minds so that they can further develop their ideas.
“It’s all about getting people interested and excited and then [getting students to make] it their own. That’s what I really hope for, not that they just repeat what I say but that they will take what I say and use it as a provocation for their own work. That’s exciting and I see that in the students’ work; I love that,” Vernon said.
Being a self-proclaimed “theory geek,” Vernon also attempts to incorporate a variety of topics outside the creative writing discipline into his courses, including ideas in theory, philosophy, the sciences and beyond.
“I have a lot of interests, and I work in a cross-disciplinary way, so I’m always thinking about how I can take something from physics or natural sciences or philosophy or whatever and adapt those principles into a new teaching strategy and something practical,” Vernon said.
In the future, Vernon will teach several more courses in creative writing and literature. Next fall, he plans to teach a course on queer literature in Canada and on gender in graphic novels.
As Vernon works on his next project, he invites audiences to read his latest novel, I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley – described as a “dark, queer comedy,” which is available online through major book retailers.
The Omega’s Professor Spotlight is a monthly series where we reintroduce you to some of the universities most popular faculty members. If you would like to nominate a professor, lecturer, or sessional instructor for their own Professor Spotlight, you’re encouraged to email the Omega’s arts editor, Augustus Holman, by email at auggietaylor6284@gmail.com.