[Shaun J. Russell]

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!

[Duncan Gillies MacLaurin]

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

[Michael Cantor]

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

[Katie Hoerth]

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? Now those are my favorite students...

Good luck!

K.

[Shaun J. Russell]

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.

[Jayne Osborn]

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

Jayne

[Maryann Corbett]

Originally Posted by E. Shaun Russell

Perhaps someday I'll have the intention of teaching only the best and brightest at the highest possible level (i.e.: get my PhD.)

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.

[amacrae]

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.

[Quincy Lehr]

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

[Susan McLean]

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