EspritHabile

One of the other benefits of WC assignments that people often talk about is the lighter workload in terms of weekly/semesterly contact hours. I also want to throw in that the type of intellectual labor you perform in the writing center will be pretty different from what you do as the instructor-of-record. For one thing, there's obviously no grading if you work in the WC, which means your working hours will be pretty clearly delineated. When you're the instructor, it's easy to lose whole days, weekends, weeks to grading, lesson planning, and all the other contingent activities that take up time beyond your FTE status. For that reason, I think working in the WC for the first year can be a really helpful transition. That would also allow you to witness the culture of writing at the institution before you dive into teaching there. It sounds like the setup at Denver would offer you a nice variety of options. The more experience you have, the more you learn about your own interests, the more you can understand other specialists in your field, and the more versatile you'll be on the job market. Well, I think the answer to this question ultimately comes down to where you want to work after your degree. If you're looking to work at a CC or SLAC, you have to have quality teaching experience. Quantity of experience means more practice, more opportunities to implement course evaluation feedback, and more mileage on your teaching gauge. If you're aiming for an R1 gig, then you will also need some teaching experience. The more diverse, the better, especially if you'd be expected to teach graduate courses. I was on a few hiring committees, and we had several conversations about applicants from prestigious programs who had incredible research agendas but very little teaching experience. In several cases, we passed over more prestigious looking applicants in favor of folks who had more balance between their scholarship and research. I'm sure others will chime in here though as I'm sure my experiences aren't representative of 100% of cases. As a final caveat though, I'll say that, in my experience, English departments tend to be viewed as "service" departments to their home institutions. In other words, the powers that be may think of the English department more as a place that churns out freshman writing courses than as a place where students get to productively geek out about novels and poetry. So in the eyes of those higher powers, you'd need to be able to "contribute" by teaching. At the very least, be prepared to talk about intersections between your research and teaching.

Hi, @E. Coronaria (and others in the same boat). I wanted to chime in that I agree with @maengret on several points. 1. When you turn in your notice--be that verbally or in writing--that will make the transition feel very real . There's no turning back, really, once you've made your intentions known to others. Even folks who feel ready to flip a table and march out may find a little change of heart once they give notice. Or conversely, turning in that notice may finally release you to observe the things that really irked you but that you studiously ignored before. 2. People react to loss very differently and often unpredictably. Where I am now, I've seen best friends turn into embittered enemies over a departure, and I've seen nemeses reconcile their differences in the same process. I've also seen people maintain whatever relationships they had prior to the transition phase. It's a crapshoot. So just be aware of that, and try your best not to take anything personally. 3. Depending on what your job is, what your organization is like, and what typical hiring trends are like, a month's notice may be just enough time to bring in and train a new person, or it might not. I gave over a year's notice to some people, and about half that to others. I think it's easier for people to accept news that you're going away to school that it would be for them to gracefully accept your decision to make a lateral move within the organization, or to move to another place for the same job as the one you have now. I think the matter of how much notice to give also depends upon how much agency/responsibility you have in your current role and how involved you could be or want to be in finding your replacement. I know the culture of my current organization, so I felt comfortable giving waaaaaaaaaaaay more notice than I did for my last position. Know your audience. 4. Ultimately, know that you're leaving for a great reason. Whatever happens, do your best to be positive and forward-looking, and that's how people will remember you.

Yaaaay! I am so happy for you! Congratulations!

A program did the same thing to me, and after a few of those messages I almost deleted the admissions email because I thought it was more spam for the winter open house for "future applicants." I almost shellacked myself!

Congrats!

Right?!

I'm currently waiting to hear about fellowship nominations. I received an email with the subject line "Congratulations, EspritHabile!" ...from PayPal.

Yes! I've tutored in writing centers for many years and direct one now. I'd be very happy to chat with you via PM if you have questions. @midwest-ford made several great points about the overlaps between tutoring, teaching, and producing writing. I'll add that, of all the jobs I've ever had, nothing beats working 1:1 and helping another person to effectively communicate their ideas. That same 1:1 interaction is my favorite part of teaching, too.

Out of reactions, but YEAHHH!

Celebrate your pants off! That's awesome!

Yaas! Well done!

Congratulations! Don't worry--I think we're all awkward on our calls, and they know that we're facing big life decisions so I think anything awkward generally gets a pass. Revel in your acceptance! That's an awesome program.

My understanding is that Purdue has notified their first round of admits and will maintain an unranked and invisible (i.e., they won't necessarily confirm or deny that you're on it) waitlist. As current admissions offers are turned down, they will reassess the cohort composition and make offers to folks on the waitlist. This process can take a long time, though I suspect there should be movement after their visit days next week.

Congratulations to @canadianchart, @Melville, and @midwest-ford! I hope the week brings yet more good news to everyone!

Congratulations!

Good points here. YMMV!

Oh my god. I would have been mortitified. Really though, typos like that often go unnoticed. Remember this? https://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/cmabridge/

Congrats! I hope you assemble a bevy of options from which to choose.

Ohh, this raises an interesting question I hadn't considered earlier: what type of TAship are we talking about? The experiences I'm describing in my posts, for example, are all TA-as-instructor-of-record for a class. In this sort of appointment, the TA is responsible for the design, delivery, and grading of the entire course (in accordance with departmental policies; some have a standard syllabus, others allow for more freedom). I think this kind of experience demands a higher level of pedagogical support and development on the front end because once that training concludes, the TA is largely on their own. In other appointments, the TA is an assistant to a professor in the department, and they may develop or teach a unit of the professor's course, lead discussion sections, assist with grading, etc. Because this position involves working so closely with a faculty member, the pedagogical support and mentorship has the potential to be spread out over the term of the appointment (YMMV, of course). I have a few friends in Literature or Cultural Studies programs who had this kind of TAship, and they had a WAY shorter training/orientation but had regular meetings with the professor and, if applicable, the professor's other TAs for the same course. So maybe that's one explanation for the differences in our experiences? And for sure, even within these "categories" of TAship, the preparation expected/offered by programs will vary quite a bit, so your point is well taken.

Congratulations!

You absolutely have a good point here; not all programs or departments will invest much in preparing folks. My experience in English programs--and the experiences I've heard from friends and colleagues in English--has included at least a decent amount of pedagogical preparation. Granted, this may have something to do with our proximity to R/C people and the expectation that all English folks will teach composition. But yes, @fortsibut is right that not all programs will have the resources for this; that's a great metric to investigate when choosing between programs.

@Wooshkuh, @Wabbajack, @CulturalCriminal, and @mk-8 have covered a lot of excellent points here. The only other thing I would add is that the program you join and work for as a TA will invest in preparing you well for the role of being a TA. There will likely be an orientation that lasts anywhere from a few days to a week or more. During that experience, you'll learn about pedagogy, classroom management, ways to use clothing and demeanor to boost a teacherly ethos, and you'll also cover things like lesson planning, assignment sequencing, grading, feedback, and everything else you would need to know to be well prepared to walk into your class. You'll meet people in the orientation who will become friends, mentors, and sources of excellent advice. You'll also become a mentor to others. You'll also likely take a pedagogy course that will not only serve as another source of useful information, practice, and camaraderie but will also serve as a productive space in which to vent and solve problems. Hearing that many other teachers are having the same (or worse) problems, concerns, or questions as you will be reassuring. Hearing about other folks' successes will empower you with ideas to level-up your own lessons. I really can't speak highly enough about the benefits of a well-considered and well-delivered teacher preparation program. I think that's also something to investigate when getting down to the business of deciding where to go. And if you're not assigned a teaching mentor, find someone willing to mentor your teaching. Visit their classes, and have them visit yours. Other bits of advice from someone who walked into their first class with a babyface and out-of-town accent: Dress in a way that makes you feel confident. Don't wear an itchy tweed jacket with leather elbow patches unless it makes you feel confident. Don't wear crazy high heels and matchy-matchy pantsuits unless that's what feels right to you. If you feel good, that will go a long way. It's easier (and I think better) to start out "too tough" and to soften up in a few weeks than it is to start out super fuzzy nice and then to become more strict over time. I'm not saying you should terrorize students, but you should establish clear, firm expectations early on. As the semester progresses and you all get to know each other, you can relax certain syllabus policies (within reason, of course) and your students will sense that you care for their wellbeing, are a human being, and see them as human beings. That's way, way better than starting out without enforcing anything and then, 5 weeks into the semester, pivoting and becoming ultra-strict about tardiness or what have you. Have fun! Teaching is such a wonderful opportunity to learn from everyone around you and to empower others to think critically, articulate their viewpoints, change their minds, and generally grow more in 15 weeks than you--or they--would think possible. I'm happy to chat more, or to provide other advice, etc. etc. via PM.

Sorry to hear that, Warelin. I think you're pretty much the hero of the boards in terms of generous and helpful information (and the data tables, oh, the data tables!), so I am rooting especially loudly for you. How many more are you still waiting on?

Oh, for sure, but I've heard they have a lot of serious issues with Title IX violations.

Aw, shit. Forgot where I was. I blame the grading.