On this episode of Who's that Star?, Lisa A. talks with Martine Rife. Martine is part of Lansing Community College's Writing Faculty. She's a lifelong resident of The Great Lakes State who loves teaching, enjoys reading, speaking up in the name of social justice, and she has a life goal of planting an entire forest!

Hey, hey, hey. This is Lisa A. And you're listening to Who's That Star? On LCC Connect at Lansa Community College.

Who's that Star Is a behind the scenes show where I sit down and talk with the employees at the college.

This is an inside look at LCC where you will have a chance to learn about their passions, projects, what inspires them both at work and in their personal lives. I'm your host, Lisa Alexander. I'm so excited to get a chance to talk to all the people who make LCC great.

This show is for you to get to know the people that work at Lansing Community College a little bit more and see what makes them tick. Are you ready? Okay. Let's go see who's today's star.

Today on Who's That Star, we have a Michigan native that was born in Dearborn, Michigan, just a ways down the road. She began her educational journey by attending a community college. She went to Henry Ford Community College where she attended her first two years.

Her mom was a secretary there in the Social Science department.

This star has earned a PhD in rhetoric and writing and a Master's of Arts in Digital Rhetoric and Professional writing from MSU, a law degree from University of Denver College of Law, and an English degree from U of M. Our star has been teaching writing at LCC for 23 years. She's taught a variety of writing classes, but currently specializes in teaching composition. I aka hear English121.

In addition to her time teaching at LCC, she worked on and led a number of student success initiatives such as Achieving the Dream and Gateways to Completion.

She worked on student success projects such as the introduction of 247 online tutoring, co requisite model remediation, Multiple Metric Use in Student placement, and redesigning tutoring and embedded learning. She also worked extensively on remodeling the Arts and Science building during the past president, Dr. Knight's leadership.

And if you get a chance to go in there, it's beautiful. Our star describes her passion as teaching and advocating for students. So drum roll please. Today on Who's That Star we have Martine Rife.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you for having me. Thank you for inviting me.

I feel very honored to be here today to be interviewed by you and I really appreciate your time to do this.

Oh, well, I'm the one that feels honored. I've worked with you a long time and I will really say that you are a great instructor. I appreciate what you do for the students that I send to you.

You take care of them. You provide them with encouragement and love.

And I was really excited to have you come on here today because I send a student to you, I get a good report.

Oh.

And so, I mean, you're engaged with them, and I'm not trying to hype you up because you came, but I really feel like that about you, Martina. I think that you're a person that cares about what they do.

You're patient with students, you work to accommodate students where they are, but you're not settling on the work that they give. And so I just want you to know from me, as an advisor and a parent, you're the kind of instructor that we want our teachers to be.

Oh, goodness.

I'm just gonna say that. Tell you that. And I mean that from my heart.

Oh, my gosh. Wow.

I've worked with you in a lot of different areas, and we've been on committees together. And every time, you know, I see you, I see passion for students, and so I don't. I'm not trying to make you and take you off.

That's okay. I'm just really. Wow. Those are some really nice things that you said about me, and I'm very touched about what you said.

So as a teacher, you know, we don't always get, like, acknowledgement from the students necessarily. They're busy with their own lives, doing things and so forth. So I really appreciate that.

Yes.

I'm glad that I'm able to do that and give you that information because it's important for you to know the role and the impact that you have on our students. And that's all our instructors. You know, you instructors spend more time with students than anybody else on campus. You know what I mean?

That's true.

And so you get those four months to really make an impression, and how you treat people and how you engage with them can make or break them.

Yeah, I wish that everyone realized. I mean, I wish that everyone had your wisdom about the importance of faculty to the success of the mission of the college.

Just that in this setting, we are the frontline workers in a way. But of course, I deeply appreciate advisors and wish that we had way more of them.

Yeah, no, it's a good. It's a good marriage, per se, but, yeah, I really. I just know that you do great. So I just wanted to let you know that that's my going off, But.

I. I wanted you to know that. I know you took me off guard, but thank you so, so much. It really means a lot coming from you to say that I Just want.

You to know I mean it. So. Well, can you tell me about your work at LCC and what are your roles here?

Well, I've had a lot of different roles in the past, but right now I'm focusing on teaching, which is actually my favorite thing. And I love teaching. So I'm really focused on being the best educator that I can.

And it's a real delight for me to be able to teach because it allows me to be a learner for my career. And so if I could be a professional student, you know, I would have done that.

But I think this is the next best thing because I am a student along with my students. So I have a lot of empathy for my students because I was in their shoes at one time.

So my role right now is just teaching writing, and I think that's my main thing right now.

So I'm very focused on that and trying to make sure all my materials are updated and redesigning my class, like a lot, depending on what I am learning about how effective my teaching is. And I just took a class on doing the high Flex model.

So we now have a way of offering a class at LCC where students can attend or not attend, and either way the lecture and all the material and all the assignments are provided for them. So I really like the idea of that. And so I'm going to be trying to teach in that mode.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Davenport came in and did a review of their curriculum and stuff, and they were talking about how they have that high Flex model.

It seemed like a lot of college and universities are going towards that. And I know that you're gonna make it a way that's gonna be fun for the students.

Yeah, for sure. Well, right now I already in my face to face class.

I teach online and face to face, but in my face to face classes, I already tell them, you know, if something comes up or you're not feeling well, you don't have to come to class. Everything is doable without you being present. I'd love to have you in class. It's fun when you're here.

We all benefit from you being here, but if you can't come, you can' not gonna penalize you in any way and you'll be able to make the workup.

So basically it's the same idea, but enhance the high Flex model because the lecture or the class time is actually recorded so that students who aren't able to be present can watch the lecture or live stream it.

I was gonna ask you, like, when you talk about the going and taking classes to make sure you're more effective. People don't take that into account as what you have to do to be a good instruct instructor or a good teacher.

Now tell me more about like, you build a class, but how does. What does that look like when you're thinking about that? What do you. Or do you have to meet certain measures that's provided by school?

How do you build your class?

Oh yeah, that's a good question.

One thing that I do is I try to have experiences that are very novel for me because I know that by doing that, by having a novel experience for me in an educational setting, that that is going to inform my teaching. So I actively seek out experiences that will inform my teaching. So I teach comp one mainly.

And when I began building my class, which would have been 23 years ago, things were quite a bit different back then. And you just kind of start from scratch.

Other teachers give you materials that you can incorporate and you start to see what's effective by what you get in response from your.

So now when I am doing an assignment, which it isn't regulated, there's some best practice guidelines and so on, but we have learning outcomes in our class. So all of our assignments are supposed to map onto our learning outcomes.

When I give an assignment or give material to read, I request some kind of information or feedback from the student.

That information and feedback and you know, or a submission of assignment that I get from the student that informs me what I need to do to adjust my presentation. It depends on are the students learning the material or are they struggling with some aspect of it?

So then I know that if many students are not grasping the thing that I'm trying to teach, that means that there's a problem with my teaching materials. My teaching materials need to be adjusted or be more flexible so that students have different ways of expressing their knowledge, that kind of thing.

So how do I build a class? At this point, I'm teaching mainly something that I've been teaching for a long time, but I love it because I still have not figured it out.

And the students are always changing and there's so many things that are always changing that I have to learn. I mean, I have time in my career now to learn how to be the best teacher possible. So I seek out opportunities that can inform my teaching.

I guess is kind of the answer to that question.

Yeah, no, but I think it's important that you say you're still learning, right? Like after 23 years, you don't think that oh, I've done this. I already know this is my class. Do you like it or not? You know, you adjust and you make.

Oh, we have different type of students now maybe than we did 20 years ago.

We definitely do.

So I have to do this and do that. So I think that's really wonderful. I'm glad, you know, to hear that. I know that. I just, like I said, I know you do a great job.

So talk about like what was some of the. I look at your history of working on initiatives. How do you feel initiatives helped you in your career? Did you learn a lot of things?

Was it something that you were passionate about? Some of the, like the achieving the dreaming, gateways to completion.

When you worked on those, what were you hoping to help with the student experience or do with the student experience?

Well, the main thing for me always has been that I am interested in eliminating social injustice. And at the college, one way we have of eliminating social injustice is to provide an education to the learners who come across our doorstep.

So I've always been interested in social justice and working towards social justice.

So the initiatives that I worked in at the college, such as the co requisite model of education and getting more students placed into college level classes and so on, they all spoke to the issue of making college a positive experience and allowing a broader range of students to participate in participate in the college experience.

The main thing that many of those initiatives worked on was there's this notion in community college which around it there has been some national projects, but when a student comes to the college, most community colleges, they have to be placed, they have to present what level they're at as far as reading and writing and math. And depending on what level they present, depending on what the measurements are, they may or may not be able able to be placed into a college class.

Twelve years ago when I started working on this initiative with accelerated learning or co requisite model, students who say placed below college ready for lack of a better term in reading and writing, they would need to take some developmental courses they're called, which cost money and our credit bearing but not college credit bearing.

So because those students tested lower or for whatever reason place lower, they would be quite delayed before they could take college composition, which is the class I specialize in.

So the whole issue that is so interesting to me and that I'm so passionate about is equalizing and making more equitable the ability of a broad range of persons to participate in the college experience.

So my dream world students would come to campus and if they want to be in a college composition class, then they will be put in that college composition class. If they need some kind of embedded learning or extra help, then that will be available to them.

And that actually is very close to what we're able to do in the English department right now.

Anyway, it's not perfect, but there's a lot of other technical issues around the remediation at the community college situation, which is that, percentage wise, a larger percent of students of color get placed into remedial and developmental classes. So that is what has created a big social justice issue for me.

And also with Gateways to Completion and some of the other projects I work on, there is a gap in, for example, white and Asian students who are categorized as white or Asian, they will have a higher pass rate in a college class, in the college writing class than black students, Latinx students, and so forth. So there's a couple different issues going on that all speak to social justice for me.

So I grew up in the 60s, and I grew up during the civil rights movements, the various civil rights movements. There was many different kinds of them.

And so for whatever reason, I'm just really interested in social justice and to the ability that I could work on some of the larger goals through those initiatives.

Those were very, very satisfying for me because even though it took many years, more than a decade on some of those projects, they have been adopted and institutionalized by the college. But my first love is teaching.

And even though I can't change the world, like in the classroom, and I can't change the whole college, I still, you know, I appreciate you earlier saying that I have impact.

You don't really know if you have an impact, but I still feel that by equalizing and making as equitable as possible the learning experience in my class for all the different kinds of students that I'm presented with, that I go out of my way to do that.

I feel that's my teeny tiny piece of the world where I can have a positive impact, you know, And I can't really know that I'm having a positive impact. I can't really. I have to just kind of trust that I'm trying to do no harm.

Right.

And just doing the best I can and trying to be responsive, be up to date in my approaches and be at the cutting edge in my approaches, you know, if I can.

Yeah, no, I think you. You explain it wonderfully. And I know we've talked a lot about what you do at LCC. I think we didn't even tell people.

Do we tell Them You've been here for 23 years.

Yeah, I think you said that in the beginning.

Okay, well, yeah, yeah, we're going to go ahead now, and I want to talk about a subject that you geek out about. And what do you love to learn about?

Well, in addition to teaching, you're talking about. Right. So actually, when I started college back in the 70s, the late 70s, I wanted to be an environmental scientist.

So I'm really interested in the environment, and I'm interested in, like, gardening, self sufficiency and trees and forests, those kinds of things.

Because you planted, what, like, a thousand trees?

I have planted a lot of trees in my life, so I read a lot of books about trees, and I'm always trying to learn how to identify trees. And I have a lot of tree stories from my childhood.

For some reason, even though I grew up in the city, I went to school at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. And so there was a lot of nature around us and things. But, yeah, I really love trees.

And so I have a little piece of property where I'm, like, trying to plant a forest on six acres, but it's taking me my whole life, but I'm doing the best I can.

Hey, hey, that's all right. You. You are doing what you do.

You tried to pay for us making up for all the paper that I used in my teaching job.

Gonna replace it.

Yes.

What was your first job?

My first job ever. Let's see. I started working when I was 14, so I had a job babysitting.

And then after that, that led to a job at Greenfield Village where I was working in, like, selling hot dogs at a hot dog stand. And then after that, I kept working there and worked in maintenance.

So I would go in the buildings and dust all the antiques, and that was really fun.

Yeah. You have a wide range of experiences of things that you do.

You know what I mean? Yep.

Like, as educated as you are, people would not know how you would get into that dirt. And you will. You will do. And get as grimy as.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah, I know. I love that people wouldn't. Wouldn't know that.

But I'm learning when I do that because I like to know how things work. I mean, I like to know how things are born. I like to know how things develop. And it all goes with gardening and that. So.

Well, what instantly calms you or what activity do you do that instantly calms you?

Oh, well, the thing that would instantly calm me would be reading, I would think. Actually, that was a good question. That you have. Because I couldn't really answer that until I thought about it.

And if I start reading and I realize that's why I'm a teacher and why I'm a student, because reading calms me, so I've always been attracted to reading.

Yeah.

Gardening calms me, too. But reading is something. If I just pick up something to start reading, I'm gonna get calm.

Right. And I hadn't thought about that either. But I could see, you know, you can see how that would do that,.

Because it helps focus all my energy on one thing. Yep.

Well, what's the first thing you do after getting home from work?

The first thing I do after getting home from work is I talk to my dogs, and I just say their names. And I usually kneel down on the ground, and usually I sit on the ground as soon as I get home, and then they jump all over me.

And we act like we haven't seen each other for, like, a year, even if it's only been a few hours.

Yeah.

Yeah. That's the first thing I do.

And you love. They love that.

I love them, and they love me. Yep.

Well, what's your favorite way to spend the day off?

My favorite way to spend the day off is, like, working outside. So I have a lot of different projects. That's one good thing about where I live. If I get bored with one project, I can work on another project.

So I'll go outside and I will, like, be weeding, I'll be planting something, or I'll be cleaning up old wood on the ground or whatever, stuff like that.

Because you stay busy physically moving. You stay busy all the time. Yeah. So what is your proudest accomplishment?

My proudest accomplishment? Oh, that's definitely my children. So I have two children, but they're in their 30s now. But that's definitely the best thing I ever did.

And they turned out really good. So they're nothing like me, thank heaven. So they turned out really good. And then. So that's definitely my number one.

And then my second biggest accomplishment really is some of the trees I planted are really tall. And I get a huge sense of accomplishment that I planted that tree when it was, like, 5 inches, and now it's like, 30ft tall.

Wow. Yeah.

I love that feeling. That's. Yeah.

You can see. Yeah. You can see what you've done.

Yep. It helps me.

Well, we're almost done. Almost done. And I don't know if I should ask this question, but I'm asking. You went to U of M. You went to Michigan State.

Yeah.

Blue or green?

I actually have. Well, okay, so U of M, that was. I didn't get to go on a real campus because I lived at home in Dearborn, so I had to go to U of M. Dearborn.

But my diploma says U of M, so I never really got to go to Ann Arbor. But I do love U of M and I appreciate it.

But my heart really is with MSU because both my kids graduated from there, and my partner graduated from there, and I graduated from there. And they're close, and they're, like, really close.

And LCC students all want to go there, and their campus is completely and totally the most gorgeous campus I've ever seen. It's actually a lot more beautiful than Ann Arbor. I'm sorry, but MSU is amazing. Okay. So I guess I'm green.

Yeah. Okay. I wanted to see how that would go, but. Yeah, you did that well. Martine, I want to thank you so much for coming.

Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. I'm so honored. And thank you for all the kind things you said to me.

Oh, yeah. It was the truth. I don't usually say stuff I don't mean, so that was for sure.

Okay.

How I feel. And the thing about it is I'll do feel, so that's the more important thing. But so thank you.

Okay.

Thank you so. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, I'll see you next time on Who's That Star?

You've been listening to Who's That Star? I'm Lisa A. and you can listen to this episode of Who's That Star and other shows from LCC Connect anytime online at LCCconnect.org. Thank you for listening. Catch me next time to find out Who's That Star.