Suzanne, I was in your 'The Poem' seminar group last term and I feel you took the most care out of all my seminar leaders to get to know all of us within the seminar. Thank you!

Beautiful - your critiques are superb. Thanks Suzanne.

Suzanne has recently led a workshop for Moor Poets on Intimacy and Distance in Poetry. She is an excellent teacher, knowledgeable, thoughtful and structured in her approach whilst at the same time enabling all the participants to contribute and engendering a happy atmosphere. Strongly recommended.

Wow! Now that’s how to run a workshop. I learned so much. The atmosphere of the workshop encouraged me to contribute more than I might normally.

Enlightenment! For the workshop, Suzanne selected 10 poems for the group to read in advance. She let the group discuss the poems in turn, quietly nudging the direction of thought to bring out the theme she had chosen. As a result the group gained the satisfaction of finding, apparently for themselves, what an interesting and important theme it was. At intervals, Suzanne suggested topics for on the spot writing, then encouraged the group to share the ideas they had come up with. I believe that everyone in the group went home replete. It was a good day. Suzanne achieved this result through poise. At times she revealed her deep and robust knowledge of poetry and poets, but this was never to the fore. Her opinions did not dominate the discussion, yet I am sure we saw what she thought was important. At the end of the session I realised what I had felt on first meeting Suzanne: she is someone exceptional, in her direct manner of engagement and her empathy. These qualities gave the discussion of poetry richness and coherence which enhanced the more academic dimensions.

'Suzanne worked at the College as a teacher of English between September 2002 and summer 2014. Suzanne is an excellent teacher and was a very well respected and professional member of staff. She is impressively qualified to teach, including the sixth form phase of education, and has the very real skill of making her breadth of knowledge and understanding relevant and exciting. During the coursework production periods she worked very closely with her students and generated some very original and high calibre creative pieces across the specifications. Her enthusiasm and passion for literature was motivational and was evident in the teaching materials she created. The ‘lesson observations’ undertaken of her classes, praised her learner-centred approaches and teaching methods that promote collaborative working and student autonomy. They also cited the positive student/teacher rapport and highly purposeful learning environment as very real strengths.

Suzanne was the Head of Creative Writing at the College. Suzanne fostered a significant range of creative writing activities and opportunities for her students and inspired many students to achieve very high standards of work. She managed three creative writing groups each year and also led a creative writing ‘extension’ - where Suzanne and other colleagues supported students preparing individual Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) creative writing submissions. The quality of work achieved by students submitting for this ‘½ A level qualification’ was very high. Suzanne also organised and led an annual creative writing residential weekend for students and published a creative writing pamphlet arising from the activities. She also organised an excellent programme of writing events, evening performance activities and a series of workshops with visiting writers. In her own time, Suzanne engaged in creative writing workshops and readings both locally and nationally, and has had her work published in literary magazines and journals. She has significant talents.' 

Suzanne is very experienced at helping students achieve in English and Creative Writing at GCSE, A Level and undergraduate level. Here's what the experts say:

'Suzanne’s teaching of English at the University of Essex was outstanding. Her classes were exceptionally well prepared. The strength of student results from her seminars testifies to her effectiveness, with a well above average level of first-class and high 2:1 grades.

Suzanne used innovative and effective ways to ensure that her subject was taught in interesting ways across the full range of abilities. A variety of technology was used with absolute confidence and I was particularly impressed by the way that Suzanne embedded a number of strategies to make sure that the required knowledge levels were being reached. Student feedback on her classes was excellent (as I expected).

She is very professional. I would go so far as to say that she has a gift for teaching that makes her stand out. Suzanne is the most impressive Graduate Teacher that I have seen for a long time. Her knowledge of modernist and contemporary poetry is outstanding and I expect her to gain her Ph.D. without any difficulty. She has been a wonderful team worker who has contributed cheerfully and meaningfully to the teaching and research environment of my Department. I am very sorry to lose her from my teaching team and will miss her as a colleague.'