English Professors
 

Hi folks,

As some of you know, I decided to go back to school this year (at the ripe old age of 32...) and ultimately get my Masters' degree in English. My aim is to teach English at college level.

I know many of you are English professors, whether adjunct, associate or tenured. I'd be interested in hearing any tips, tricks or general advice you may have as I'm heading into this career.

Thanks in advance!

Have fun! And I mean that seriously. If it's not fun it's not worth doing. Not least because your students won't want to study if you can't show them that it's fun to do so.

Duncan

Once you actually start sending out job applications, find a better, younger photo of Auden to accompany them.

This is my first year teaching at the college level. It's been a great experience for me so far, and there's honestly nothing I'd rather be doing (ok, maybe except writing poems, but a girl's got bills to pay).

I'm a lowly lecturer and teach beginning composition at a 2 year college. I love my students; they're really fantastic, though unprepared. We get down and dirty with grammar, which I swore I'd never do until I read some of their first essays.

But Duncan's got a good point -- have fun with it. I enjoy going to work everyday and I don't take anything too seriously. I had my kiddos watch The Daily Show in class the other day for a lesson on logical fallacies. We all got a good laugh. I tell lame jokes all the time, and they have to laugh at them because I'm the professor! It's wonderful to have a captive audience.

I love what I do, though, I've still got that new professor smell and enthusiasm to me. My favorite part of the job is working with my students everyday. It's actually really rewarding to see them progress and learn the difference between its and it's! I'm curious to see what others say, because I'm sure you'll get some proper advice from people who know a lot more about the profession than I do. I'm such a newbie... But really -- it's a great profession and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Where else would I mistakenly get called Dr. Hoerth? :D Now those are my favorite students...

Good luck!

K.

Honestly Katie, that sounds ideal! Perhaps someday I'll have the intention of teaching only the best and brightest at the highest possible level (i.e.: get my PhD.), but one thing I realized about myself in the past year or so is that, as cliche as it sounds, I truly love helping people. And when it comes to something I'm already quite good at, it stands to reason that I can help AND enjoy that help. So even though I won't initially have much of a choice in the matter when the time comes, I'm actually looking forward to teaching basic composition and rhetoric. And yes...it's clear that there are MANY students who need it!

And Michael? I think I'll opt for a Keats or Shelley photo instead.

I retired two years ago Shaun, but 'Once a teacher, always a teacher'. Today, in the bank, I moved toward the first available cashier who said, "I'm sorry but I'm not serving no more." (Really!)

A moment later she emerged from the nether regions and spoke to me as she passed. I just couldn't help myself; I corrected her, in the nicest possible way, though I wouldn't have done it if I'd thought she'd be offended. (She knows me, and she wasn't.) She said she hated English at school, and laughed when I said I hoped she was OK at maths or I'd take my money elsewhere.

You'll get many, many tips from others so I'll just say this: Good luck in your career. It's a very rewarding occupation but it's not always a picnic! Start how you mean to go on, and don't take any nonsense from your students. (They will test you.)

...And be warned: you will never totally cease being a teacher, no matter how old you are :D

Jayne

Shaun, you will have to forgive me for reading only this far in your post, but at this point I keeled over laughing. You will be sadly disillusioned if you think that the PhD guarantees that a teacher will have "the best and the brightest" students.

There were something like 800 applicants, nearly all with PhDs, for every advertised position at any MLA conference in living memory. Many of those PhDs, if they find work, will find spots at small local institutions that attract students whose skills are all over the map. Some of them, though they may be great people, do not have excellent preparation, or models, or motivation. My Facebook friends who are college teachers sometimes post excerpts from student papers that make me wonder where to start in correcting them. Reread Katie's post: basic grammar and usage need a lot of coverage in the bread-and-butter courses where most of the jobs are.

I probably sound like I'm needlessly ranting at a tiny side issue in your post, and if so I apologize. But that one sentence just cried out for correction.

No forgiveness needed! What I was going for, though I didn't really state it too well, was that if I ever do want to teach the brighter students at some juncture, I'll need my PhD. Not that having a PhD will mean that I'll necessarily be able to teach bright students.

I'm not thinking about PhD at this point though. I'm keeping my goal fairly reasonable: teaching English at a community college. If things go well for my wife and I financially and I feel the need to move on, then I'll consider the PhD route. But for the time being, I'm happy with my current trajectory, and quite certain it's what I'd like to do. I've had other careers (probably three in total), but none of them have had the balance of enjoyability and practicality. They've fallen on either side of that particular see-saw, and I'm fortunate enough to be at a point in my life where I can finally go back and "repurpose" myself.

What Maryann said and more. I sent you a PM.

Kim

Shaun,

Great topic. I've been teaching (adjunct) for almost ten years now at a community college in upstate NY, and while I still love it, I have to be frank: it's hard as hell to get a full-time teaching position with just an M.A., and sometimes I feel like giving up. Sure, if I had a spouse to provide financial support and benefits, teaching as an adjunct would be a great gig! But financially, I'm hurting. I started teaching with just a B.A. at age 22 and completed my M.A. several years ago (I'm your age). While I have no regrets about doing the M.A. (I had some great profs at the state university where I went), I do wish I were more marketable. But, then, from what I'm hearing it's nearly impossible to get a full-time job even if you have your doctorate (obviously this varies a bit depending on geographic location--upstate NY is the absolute PITS!). I guess my main point is this: it's hell out there, but if you love helping fragile students, you'll find work. You may have to eat rice and beans, though. It's a labor of love, to be sure. Best of luck, my friend.

P.S. By the way, in case you didn't know this already, the market is so flooded with Ph.D.'s that community colleges are having a field day with candidates who are sporting four-year school credentials. The applicant pool is huge: over 200 applicants applied for one position at my school last year, and they ended up hiring a young guy with his Ph.D. (who quit three weeks into the semester, I should note). Obviously, part of this is due to my particular location; with Cornell and Ithaca College nearby, we have a high concentration of qualified individuals.

There are no jobs; you're too old; and university-level does not equal "bright." Sorry.

Yes, employment prospects in college teaching are and have been grim for a very long time. It took me years to get my current teaching position at a four-year college (which I have held for 24 years), and it has a heavy teaching load that includes a lot of composition classes. One can get positions in community colleges with just a Master's degree and in four-year colleges on an adjunct or year-by-year basis, but the full-time, tenure-track job is quite rare, even for those with Ph.D's.

Teaching college English is a rewarding but time-consuming job. I haven't regretted it for a minute, though it is intense and exhausting during the school year, leaving me very little time for writing. The compensation is the summers, which I can afford to devote entirely to writing, reading, travel, etc. Sabbaticals, which once came every seven years are now offered every eleven years at my university, a change which has been quite negative. But even so, legislators are eager to abolish them entirely. It has been sad to watch students' writing skills decline over the years, but even sadder to watch them losing interest in reading for pleasure. Many literature classes that once filled are now being canceled for low enrollments. I can only hope that there will remain a group of hardcore readers who will not be seduced by the lure of online entertainment from the joys of reading.

Susan

Shaun, my dear, deluded Shaun,

I love your enthusiasm. It has a rare and naive charm. It really is heartening to see.

I suggest you walk down to your local english department. Find an experienced professor who's holding office hours. Ask him about "enjoyability." If you want a real earful, ask *her*. There's a reason they call it the Anguish Department. Now go look in the parking lot, and see what kind of cars they drive.

Every english professor worth his or her salt discourages anyone who wishes to go into the profession. "Go back to your farm, and work the earth" is a standard line. "Go home and work for your father's construction business" also has a good track record. Or, if the professor is a Zappa fan, she'll quote Cosmic Debris: "You could make more money as a butcher, so don't waste your time..."

This isn't recent, it's a centuries old tradition. The ones who weren't cut out for the field take the advice. The ones who are destined for it won't listen, no matter how discouraging the people they respect are. I've discouraged every one who's asked. A few didn't listen, and they've written me later, thanking me for at least warning them.

So here's my best warning: to play this game, you need a doctorate. It should be in rhetoric (literature is vanity). To get a doctorate in rhetoric, you have to love the field, really love arguing about Cicero and Quintillian and Pierre de la Ramee and Kenneth Burke, late into the night. It's fascinating stuff. But if you're starting from a B.A., you're looking at seven to nine years of poverty.

At at the end of that? Maybe there'll be a job, if you're lucky. Somewhere else: Wyoming, central Alabama. You'll start as an assistant at about 40K. After seven years, you might make associate, with a 5K raise.

Need to hear more? There's plenty of other things where those came from. Can I introduce you to the joys of the curriculum committee? ;)

Best,

Bill

Why, if you were a teacher, would you want the best and brightest students?

Hi Shaun,

First, full disclosure, I teach part-time at a university but not in the English Dept. I have, however, taught undergraduate linguistics and trying to teach phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, etc. has similar challenges.

So, here are my thoughts, for what they are worth. Based on your previous job history, you've probably got some marketable skills. You may want to consider landing a non-teaching job at your university. Hear me out on this. Most schools offer full-time employees free tuition. Let them pay you a decent wage while you earn your MA. Depending on the job you find, you may actually be making more than the assistant and associate profs on the tenure track. During your MA studies, you'll get a feel for the department and your day job will provide you with an entirely different education about the facts of life in higher education.

Then, once you have your MA or are close to it, you can make a much more informed decision about what you want. Being an adjunct has its pros and cons. First, if you have a day job that pays the bills, you can teach mainly for the enjoyment of it. There is freedom in that. Publish or perish, for example, won't keep you up at night. Depending on the politics of the department, you may be treated like a second-class citizen, but as the tenure-track folks jockey for Power! Prestige! and influence over life-and-death matters in the curriculum committee, you can keep your eye on the ball and teach. (Actually, it was Bill invoking the curriculum committee that pushed me to respond here.)

As for teaching the best and brightest, I can only tell you that I get the most satisfaction out of teaching the students who have to struggle with the material for a little while before they get it. The best and brightest will succeed whether it's me or someone else doing the teaching. But witnessing that moment when a student gets it is my drug of choice and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm hopelessly addicted. If you've already had that experience, you know what I mean. If you haven't yet, just wait. You will--and then God help you.

Regards,
Devlin

I'll second Devlin's advice. I did the same thing -- while working on my masters I worked as a counselor for the university I studied at. Free tuition! Plus, a pretty marketable skill and it was a rewarding job. So while many of my fellow grad students were astrugglin' to make it on their little stipends, I was making decent money (though, trying to stuff my readings in between appointments was, well, fun! but I managed).

Shaun, I wasn't called to the profession of teaching. If you're called, that's it. You go do the work. I think any students that get you as their teacher are very lucky kids.

Pursue your dream. That is what we are here for. If the first dream doesn't pan out, adjust it and try again.

Beautifully stated, Janice.

Good luck, Shaun!

Don

Shaun--

There's lots of truth in the posts above; I would echo quite a bit of it, but I'll use my space to reinforce what Tim and Jayne said. It should be a "calling" and a "dream"--so that desire and satisfaction will sustain you through the s***. I am so lucky to have my job (tenured, full), which I mostly love, sometimes dislike, very occasionally hate; it's a tremendous gift to spend so many hours doing something you care about. But you must be absolutely sure that you don't care what kind of car you drive!

I wish you lots of luck!
Jean

I don't have any data to back me up but, anecdotally, older PhD students tend to do well. I know many colleagues who finished their PhDs in their late thirties and even a couple of them who finished their degrees in their forties (one of them teaches at West Chester U.) I say go for the PhD.

Pedro.

Yes, go for it. When I was a graduate student in the early 1980s, English professors told me not to go into English because there were no jobs. Yes, they actually counseled me to drop out of the program. When I finished my Ph.D. in 1985, I had so many interview offers I could not respond to them all and have always had work since then. If you do what you know you need to do, it will work out.

dwl