Job Sleuth: Teaching Writing

The WRD department is home to DePaul’s First-Year Writing Program and offers coursework and opportunities for students interested in teaching writing at the college level. WRD majors can work in the University Center for Writing Based Learning, and at the graduate level the MA in WRD offers the Teaching Apprenticeship Program to prepare students with hands-on experience instructing students in writing. If you’re looking to work as a writing instructor, this post will introduce you to some resources to help you in your job search and professional development.

The ‘Typical’ Path to a Career Teaching Writing

Teaching writing in a post-secondary institution is a wide-ranging and varied career field, and as a result there is no typical path to a career in teaching writing. There are different specialties and courses you might teach (e.g., first-year writing, technical and professional writing), as well as different ranks of faculty status to pursue: from part-time adjunct, to full-time non-tenure track, to tenure-line professor.

With a recently acquired MA, you might begin by applying for an adjunct position at a 2- or 4-year institution. Although working as an adjunct is an opportunity to gain experience in your teaching career, be aware that there are many challenges and outright difficulties with the institutional rank of an adjunct. However, with persistence and experience, you can pursue full-time instructor or lecturer positions at a 4-year university, some tenure-track positions at 2-year colleges (like MA in WRD alumna Michelle Flory), and writing center coordinator positions (like MA in WRD alumna Molly Rentscher). If you’re interested in pursuing a tenure-track position at a 4-year institution, the only viable path is by getting a PhD (like MA in WRD alumna Sarah Hughes). For more stories about the winding road to a career as a writing instructor, check out our profiles of MA in WRD alumni Shannon Kelley, and Mitchell Goins and Joseph Klein.

Professional Associations

Becoming a member of a professional organization can enhance your career prospects by offering you access to opportunities for professional advancement and connecting you with other professionals already working in your field. The Conference on College Composition and Communication is of particular interest to writing instructors. There are also other, more specialized teaching associations, including the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW) for teaching technical and professional writing, and the Council of Writing Program Administrators for WPAs. All of these organizations have both publications and annual conferences where you can share and learn from others’ pedagogical research.

Job Boards and Resources

Below are some job boards and other resources that can be used to explore or find jobs in rhetoric, composition, and writing instruction.

Adjunct and Non-Tenure-Track

  • Inside Higher Ed (For best results, use keywords such as “teaching writing,” “composition,” or “rhetoric” and filters. Also contains tenure-track and full-time positions.)
  • Higher Ed Jobs (For best results, use keywords and filters. Also contains tenure-track and full-time positions.)
  • Chronicle Vitae (Filter by “Faculty & Research” Position Type. For best results use keywords and additional filters. Also contains tenure-track and full-time positions.)

Full-Time and Tenure-Track

Reaching Out

In addition to searching the job boards, it can never hurt to get in touch directly with program directors at colleges where you might be interested in teaching for advice and networking. Here at DePaul you could contact the Director of First-Year Writing, Julie Bokser, WRD Department Chair Pete Vandenberg, or Assistant Professor Erin Workman, who teaches the course Teaching Writing (WRD 540) and will be taking over as the Director of First-Year Writing in the 2018 academic year.

Happy job hunting!