[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.

[Shaun J. Russell]

Originally Posted by Maryann Corbett

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.

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.

[Kimberly Poitevin]

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

Kim

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by E. Shaun Russell

none of them have had the balance of enjoyability and practicality.

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