I teach personal essay, radio essay and spiritual essay workshops at these Chicago-area writing studios and adult learning programs. Check the websites for schedules.
"It's my pleasure to recommend Ellen Blum Barish based on the excellent work she has done as an adjunct faculty instructor for the Writing Program in our Engineering Design and Communication (EDC) courses at Northwestern University. Ellen is a true professional who works efficiently and creatively with students and faculty in this team-taught, cross-school course. Since EDC is a required design course for freshmen, and since this is their first experience with completely new subject matter and a real-world project that their team has to define and manage, students often find the course frustrating. But Ellen takes this challenge in stride, and students say she is "easy to get along with" although sometimes a tough grader. All of the written deliverables in this course stem from the students' design projects, so it is helpful to have someone like Ellen, who has taught writing at a variety of levels in and out of the academy, on our faculty roster. I have greatly appreciated her dependability and flexibility over the past five years, during which time she has team-taught easily with a number of different engineering instructors, who all find her a delightful partner."
Penny Hirsch, Ph.D
Co-chair of Engineering Design and Communication
Professor of Instruction and Associate Director
The Writing Program
Northwestern University
“Ellen has been teaching several classes at StoryStudio Chicago and we've been so impressed by her commitment to her students and the results of each class. Her student evaluations are excellent and tell us how Ellen creates a warm, safe and creative environment in which students can excel.
Her Writing the Radio Essay classes sell out. Her Spiritual Essay course was a first for StoryStudio and her ongoing Personal Essay and Personal Narrative classes are a StoryStudio staple.
Ellen has also distinguished herself in the StoryStudio Business Writing program as a lead individual business writing coach. (She is also a popular coach in our creative coaching program.) These one-to-one meetings with new hires -- as well as top-level executives -- have been successful because of Ellen's patient hand and her exceptional knowledge of business communications.
On a personal note, Ellen is such a pleasure to work with and to have on our faculty. I never worry about her not being prepared and in fact, have been consistently impressed with her thoroughness and commitment in the classroom.
We're so lucky to have found Ellen and have every intention of keeping her!”
Jill Pollack
Director, StoryStudio Chicago
Ellen Blum-Barish has taught for us in several capacities this past year. She first came to us to coach and tutor graduate nursing students whose educational roots stretch far back in time and very widely in country of origin, then in both fall and spring, she's taught a developmental "Fundamentals of Composition" class; she's also taught our first-year and second-year core seminars. Her reviews in all areas have been stellar, a remarkable achievement, given the span of audiences.…I've been impressed by Ms. Blum-Barish's diligence in figuring out how to best adapt herself to our programs and student body and by her hard work in reassessing and adapting her plans to the needs of students. She was totally unafraid of asking for advice, and she's been an intelligent and diligent colleague in the team-taught core seminars.
Carol A. N. Martin, PhD
Writing Coordinator
The Writing Center
North Park University
