Heather Childress-Custer

Education:

  • BA English, Education; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • MA English, Education; Appalachian State University
  • MA Certificate in Rhetoric and Composition; Appalachian State University

Certifications:

  • National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: Early Adolescence/English Language Arts
  • North Carolina State Board of Education and Department of Public Instruction: Academically/Intellectually Gifted (K-12), Middle Grades Language Arts (6-9), English (9-12)
  • National Writing Project: Teacher-Consultant

Teaching Awards & Honors:

  • Faculty Award for Excellence in General Education Teaching
  • College of Arts & Sciences Academy of Outstanding Teachers
  • College of Arts & Sciences Non-Tenure Track Teaching Excellence Award
  • Sigma Tau Delta Outstanding Faculty Award 
  • "Most Helpful" Faculty and Staff List 
  • Alpha Delta Kappa Honorary Organization for Women Educators

Presentations:

  • Finding the Stars in the Darkness of the Prescribed Curriculum -- co-presented at North Carolina English Teacher Association Fall Conference, Nov. 2023
  • My Here, My Home: Place-Based Writing in a Plural World -- presented at the Appalachian Mountains Writing Project, June 2023
  • Contract Grading: Two Approaches -- co-presented at App State’s 2020 Rhetoric and Composition Institute, Dec. 2020
  • Designed for Download: Using Podcasts as Texts -- presented at App State’s Tech4Teach Fair, Feb. 2020
  • Digital Multimodal Writing -- co-presented at App State’s 2019 Rhetoric and Composition Institute, Oct. 2019
  • Designed for Download: Strategies for Using Podcasts in Writing Courses -- co-presented at App State's 2018 Rhetoric and Composition Institute, Feb. 2018
  • "I ain’t in your dream Keisha. You’re in mine": Spectral Communities and "More than Social" Consciousness in Twenty-First Century London Literature -- presented at the Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference, Oct. 2016
  • Did You Really Mean Happy and Healthy are All that Matter?: A Mother’s Willingness to Write Multiple Narratives for Her LGBTQ Child -- presented to the Caldwell County PFLAG Chapter and on the News Talk Morning Show of 1340 WJRI, Jan. 2014

Publications: 

  • Nelson, R., Weaver, H., West, E., Thomas-Paddie, S., Childress, H., Chesnutt, K., & Beeler, J. (2024). Teachers’ initial perceptions of self-directed learning within a teacher-directed professional learning program. International Journal of Self-Directed Learning, 21 (1), 1-16.

Advisor:

  • App State Club Cheer
Title: Adjunct Instructor
Department: Department of English

Email address: Email me

Phone: (828) 262-2318

Office address
Sanford Hall 520