Freesia McKee

Freesia McKee (she/her) writes poetry and prose about gender, genre, history, and place. She’s published three chapbooks of poetry: City of Honesty (2025), Hummingbird Vows (2023), and How Distant the City (2018). Freesia grew up on Milwaukee’s south side and currently works as an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Freesia’s scholarly interests include empathetic course design, social practice, sonnets, and hybrid literary forms. In Stevens Point, she runs a monthly open mic for community poets.

TEACHING AND LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

I encourage my students to engage in dialogue about how we can address critical issues of justice, belonging, and community through a shared practice of creative writing. My goals for any student writer also include building confidence and developing self-awareness. I want to find spaces for freedom in the classroom: freedom of expression and the freedom that comes through experiencing a sense of belonging. I want my students (and myself) to experience joy, variety, curiosity, and have fun. In addition to what you might think of when you think of a poetry class, I offer multimodal learning opportunities like drawing, mapping, gamified activities that move us around the room, video content, and reading aloud. My courses are process-based and discovery-driven because there is no “one way” to be a writer. My students try new techniques, collaborate, participate in creative risk-taking, and practice asking questions that cannot be answered.