Prof. Michael McIntyre

My name is Michael McIntyre (Dr. W.J. Michael McIntyre, if you want to be precise). I'll be your instructor in this course, and as we'll be spending a lot of time together over the several weeks, I thought it'd be nice if we got to know each other. 

I have been long involved in language education, writing & writing education. I hold a doctorate at the University of Southern California, a master's degree from California State University at San Francisco, and a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. And as a living role model for life-long learning, I have taken post-doctoral classes in linguistics, theology, teaching English as a second language, Gaelic language and culture.  

I have taught writing, research, literature, mythology and such topics at the college level since about 1999. In my  teaching, I do attempt to make my classes interactive, stimulating, and even a little bit "fun."

Who I am ... Or, as Popeye says, “Who I yam.":

I have written a number of books (some under "pen names"). The most relevant for my teaching here are 

>"The Elements of English Grammar" by Dr. W.J. Michael McIntyre (available on Amazon and other book sellers)

> "The Elements of Writing the Essay" (not yet published, but soon)

In my career as a college educator, I have taught subjects in the area of what is called "English," which includes

· Composition, advanced composition,

   Creative writing, 

    Professional writing;

· Literature, humanities, mythology;

· Research, research writing and methodologies;

· Critical thinking, student study and “success" skills.

· Philosophy

· Doctoral student mentoring & Dissertation research and writing

Education:

Doctorate: University of Southern California: Dissertation research focused on heritage-language/minority language education programs, their rationale and implementation.

Master's. San Francisco State University – English Literature, Creative Writing.

Bachelor's - University of California, Berkeley -- English literature.

Post-doctoral studies in linguistics, theology, teaching English as a second language, and Gaelic language and culture

That's all very well and good, but who am I (really)? 

Teaching isn't the only thing I do with my life. Many years ago, I had a dream of writing the Great American Screenplay and in fact wrote several in that attempt (the titles of none of which would you recognize) and some other things, including a novel.

For several years, I ran my own business -- a property management and maintenance company in Southern California. The funny thing about that is, as much trouble as I had running the business, I discovered I was real good at teaching other people how to do their jobs.

When I realized that, I started transitioning (I think that's what they call it these days) into my teaching career, which resulted in my earning my doctorate, during the course of which I studied efforts to revive and maintain endangered languages through education, with an emphasis on Scottish Gaelic. (NB: There are about 6,000 languages in the world today; within this century, it is expected that half of those will have died, which would constitute, in the minds of linguists, cultural anthropologists, among many others, a great loss in human cultural treasure). In 2009 I experienced the honor and pleasure of seeing my dissertation (in slightly altered form) being published by an academic publisher.

And like most people, I have a life outside of work. I enjoy spending time with my family – I'm married with three children, no pets -- reading on all different subjects, going to movies, and -- as strange as this might sound – until a couple years ago until my knees gave out on me and my work schedule forbade, I was "into" wrestling (the real thing -- as in high school, college, or Olympic-style – not the fake stuff you see on TV – though nowadays, it is all I can do to wrestle myself to the exercise machine in the backyard.)

My idea of fun: I'm a bit of a nut about all things Scottish. In fact, a favorite memory of mine is visiting the "Highland Games" at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. The Highland Games is where people engage in all sorts of things Scottish -- highland dancing, to bagpiping, tossing the caber.

For the past couple summers, I've dragged my wife and however many of my kids I could corral to Scotland.

A couple summers ago I spent a week at the Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye trying to follow academic presentations in Gaelic and English on the preservation efforts being put forth on behalf of the Gaelic language; after that, we trooped around to various castles and historic battlefields and stood in the ancient magic circle of the Standing Stones of Callanish. (You can do searches on the Internet for all of these.)