I'm looking at the program requirements for the MA in Literature at the university. There are three hours of teaching practicums required. I have no desire to teach students, and furthermore, I don't think I'd be a good teacher. I am not a good public speaker at all. I had severe anxiety in public speaking class as an undergrad.

Why is it assumed everyone in a masters English lit program intends to teach?

If I hadn't chosen nursing and already gotten on that path, I'd be an editor. No reason I couldn't do that also in the future.

I have no desire at this time to be a nursing professor, I wonder if you have to do the teaching thing to get the Master's degree to be a nurse practitioner. No thanks!

So maybe it's a 'just in case' you end up teaching preparation for everyone?

Sounds like, or we do rotations in nursing, like OR, peds, maternity.. college should prepare you for all the things you might do with your degree, see if it sparks an interest

Does seem like a strange requirement. Perhaps a reflection of local demand for teachers with MAs? The graduate schools in my area only require teaching by PhD candidates with funding from the university.

If you get accepted and you explain your interests, they may let you sub a seminar or other type of practical experience as an editor.

EndGame, such a beautiful young couple and a lovely wedding. I think weddings are one of the most special times for families to be together and to appreciate each other.

That's a good question about the MA Program, Jennie. That seems to be the assumption. Are there other options for MA in EngLit that wouldn't involve teaching?

Anna, here are the requirements:

3 hours in bibliography and research (EN 537 Introduction to Graduate Studies, which is normally offered every fall and which students are encouraged to take in their first semester, for maximum benefit);
3 hours of critical theory (EN 535 Literary Criticism, EN 536 Advanced Modern Criticism, or EN 635 Seminar in Literary Criticism);
3 hours of teaching practicums (students with teaching assistantships take the summer practicum, EN 533, and EN 534, for a combined three hours of pass/fail credit); and
Students not writing the thesis (Plan II) will take 6 credits of electives to acquire the 30 credits for completion. Students writing a thesis (Plan I) will take 6 thesis hours.

Seems to be a well-rounded program because there's equal time spent in research and in teaching. I don't think there's a slant toward teaching. They are preparing students to do anything. And there's a thesis and a non-thesis option. That would be the only choice in the program.

Well, I must say I feel a sense of dread about teaching.

It's both cheaper and easier to have a constant stream of grad students who are teaching and who can be supervised and monitored by the graduate faculty than to have to hire and rehire adjunct professors with an MA at minimum.

Where I studied, there were those of us who very much wanted to teach, and those who wanted no part of it.

I read the same in a book written for humanities graduate students, EndGame. That's kind of a shame. Not everyone wants to teach. Not everyone will be a good teacher. Makes sense, though.

I wouldn't feel at all OK about teaching English Literature right away. It's been years since I was in school, and my undergrad degrees weren't in English. I do have a decent background from having read so much on my own, but I do not feel at all confident in my knowledge of the subject matter to be able to teach.

I don't know that I would feel OK about teaching basic composition at this point. I mean, no one taught me to write. I just read a lot, and then I wrote. How do I teach that?

The other option is a MFA in Creative Writing, but I have huge reservations about entering this kind of program. My thoughts are that a background in literature is preferable to being taught to write creatively. Study the masters. Emulate. Develop your own style/voice/technique. Rather than enter a program where you're being taught to write. I tend not to want to be 'taught' to write. I would rather spend my time and money on studying other writers and how they wrote. That's what I do anyway when I read fiction.

Jennie, I do think you would be a great teacher. You love literature, you love reading and when you have that passion about what you read, you can share it with others. I think you would do that very well. I understand it would seem daunting to stand up and teach about a book you read years ago, but that could be easily remedied. I like the thesis idea, too. What topic would you choose for a thesis, if you chose to do one?

Stream-of-consciousness in Beckett, Proust, Saramago, Woolf, and Faulkner.

That's broad, I know. Too general.

Proust evoking memory and passage of time. Beckett's philosophical underpinnings and minimalist style to evoke pure consciousness, time, absurdity of human existence, etc. Faulkner's narrative technique, style, and shifting points of view mirroring the psychological complexity of a character or situation.

These are some things that impress me, anyway, that I'd like to be able to emulate, in my own way, of course, and reflecting my life and my personal experiences.

Techniques and words chosen to describe the phenomenology of human experience.

Other ideas are coming to mind.

It's not a true thesis. There's no theory or statement. These are some areas that interest me, that's all. I would have to read more and come up with something definite. And it would need to be current and relevant.

:deeSP- well you could always throw in the towel and do a reflective work on the most absurd concept you can think of.



[CENTER][/:deeCENTER]

Well THAT worked- not.

I want to thank you for this, Anna. Teaching isn't exactly what I had in mind, but what I have in mind is a long shot anyway.

It wouldn't be a bad thing to teach or introduce others to some of the ideas and authors and texts I loved.

I am in the uncomfortable place of indecision about a few big things in my life, feeling doubt and hearing some old, negative reels playing in my brain.

Looks like a good day today- full moon says bye- dawn has broken (like the first bird). I like mornings- a time of the hope for a fresh new day- full of potential, growth and really wild, great, fantastimical stuff. New beginnings. Kind of helps, that. 0710- here - you know - if you look up from Antarctica- I am first on the right.

Jennie, I know teaching is not what you want to do. I wanted to point out that you are so smart and determined that you 'could' do anything, just in case you don't always see that. :)

Thank you, Anna. :) I feel better. I needed that. Lol. Today has been kind of a downer. I realize I am not facing any easy decisions in my life anymore. They are suddenly all looming before me as hard and impossible. How did I ever manage to skirt between the hard stuff to the extent that I did it for years? I was putting off the inevitable.

Not that I didn't make any hard choices. I did. But I could've done more, done better.

I could've done a lot of things. Writing isn't something I chose. It chose me. I wish I hadn't been picked. Lol. It has made me miserable at times. I ran from it for a little while in college. That didn't last long.

I have put a lot of thought into the career choices I could've taken, and some I can still take. I've considered quite a few options and paths.

And I am STILL undecided about whether to continue on this path of self-employed freelance writing and perhaps the proofreading, or whether to fling myself back into academia. Just don't know if I can stomach that world this time around.

Just don't know... :(

It eats at me that I didn't get a Masters or PhD. But why? Not everyone with the brain and ability to do so should do it. I love knowledge. I love learning. But that doesn't mean I need the credentials to prove it.

But if I am not living to my full potential, what am I doing?

It's likely I'll never publish (creative, original work). There are good writers who don't. The large majority don't. I know this. And I accept it.

But I still can't not write. It's eating at me until I'm at the computer typing away.

And who am I helping? I'm helping no fellow humans by not publishing and by not contributing to teaching or research or publication. The only place I might be helping is here on SR in some way, and in whatever small interactions I have with people at the PO or in day-to-day life.

What am I giving back to society? I am beginning to feel entering academia and that world might allow me to contribute in a better way, even though I really want to live in a cabin in the woods and continue my writing (that will likely benefit no one).

I am torn, feeling selfish and yet, unable to make myself stop the writing.

SP- MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY- QUITE LITERALLY. I WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, TO ME AND THE UNIVERSE. p ERHAPS TO OFFER RECOMPENSE FOR MY PARATITIC SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN YEARS PAST. wRITING HERE IS CATHATIC AND MAKES A DIFFERENCE TO ME IN THE SHARING. Sorry, got excited an didn't check the caps.
The fear part is what gets me- worrying about the doing, instead of doing- then worrying. Perhaps it is time- we could pace ourselves, what do you think?
PJ