English, M.A. and teaching at a community college?

lottarobyn · Sep 18, 2014

I'll be leaving my current job next summer and I'm trying to narrow down what comes next. The idea of teaching keeps popping up. I've been told I'd make a good teacher, and I find helping people very satisfying (that's the problem with my current job - zero satisfaction). If I chose this route, I'd earn an M.A. in English and seek employment as an instructor at a community college.
Does anyone here teach at a community college? If so, can you shed some light on the good/bad/ugly? Things you wish you would've known in the early days? Common misconceptions about the job?
One of my acquaintances teaches at a community college, so I'm planning to chat her up the next time we meet. I'd like a spectrum of opinons, though.

And I figure, even if the teaching thing doesn't work out, the M.A. in English could still be a good bet because 1) it's a subject that interests me and 2) it can help me improve as a writer. Plus, I won't be paying for it out of pocket (GI Bill).

Since my head has a tendency to float in dream-clouds and paint the future in shades of rose, I hope some naysayers and doomsdayers chime in too.

Maryn · Sep 18, 2014

Our daughter supported herself teaching, partly at a community college, while completing her PhD. Her observations:

The pay is really pretty poor for the amount of education it requires and the time it takes to prepare classes and grade papers, although the number of hours actually in the classroom is small.
No benefits. No insurance, no nothing.
The caliber of students at a community college tends to be lower than at a four-year college. Students as a group are not motivated, don't work very hard, etc., although of course there are students who work their butts off, too. Just not very many.
There will be students who are not prepared for college level work, including some you can't believe graduated from high school.
Behavioral issues more typical of high school students are not uncommon, such as disrupting class.
The amount of material covered in a lower-level course which transfers to area colleges as credit is at less depth, or is less material, than the same course at a four-year college. Community college instructors are sometimes ordered to "dumb down" the class. If the class forms the foundation for later classes, the student who isn't working really hard and seeking further challenges may not be ready for the upper level material when s/he reaches the four-year college.
Annoying, but adjuncts who teach only a few classes late in the day may struggle to find a place to park in faculty lots. (This made our daughter cranky in winter, having to park way, way out in student or residential lots despite her faculty sticker.)

I'm sure those with direct experience can add to this. And of course, bear in mind I'm reporting second-hand information here.

Maryn, whose kid's gig at a four-year ends soon, sigh

lottarobyn · Sep 18, 2014

Thanks, Maryn - I appreciate any words of wisdom and experience, whether they're direct or second-hand.
Especially wanting to teach English, I'm very cognizant of the possibility of ill-prepared students. I live in an area with a notoriously poor-quality public school system; I knew a lawyer who employed some assistants straight out of high school and they could barely string together a coherent sentence. :/ It's frustrating to try and help someone who out and out refuses to care though (but that fact alone wouldn't deter me - actually, it would probably spur me to make my class more engaging.)

The negatives I've read mostly focus on how more colleges are turning to adjunct faculty to cover their courses rather than full-time instructors (thus, the crappy pay and lack of benefits) and the difficulty of actually finding a job. That last one doesn't deter me as much as it probably should, because it seems like every field is tough, save for IT or engineering type jobs (nonononono).
(side rant: it drives me bonkers when someone says, "no, get a degree you can actually use," then they list off something heavily-embedded in science and/or math. Not only do I hate that it's so easy for them to discount the value of the humanities/art to society, science and math make some people want to stab pencils in their eyes.)

The main source of regret I've seen for many with an M.A. in English (or any grad degree) is debt they racked up combined with an inability to find a job to pay it all off. I don't have that hurdle, so that gives me some hope.

shakeysix · Sep 18, 2014

I plan to retire next year and will supplement by teaching English or Spanish as an adjunct at a junior college in the area. I did this many years ago and it was the job I liked most but the pay was a joke and there were no benefits so I decided to use my teaching certificate and teach in a high school. Now, with a pension, medicare and social security to fall back on I can afford to do the job I prefer.

How about substitute teaching? Even here in the wilds of Kansas a sub makes $100+ for a day of about 6 hours. No papers to grade, no lesson plans to write, no parents to placate. No day is ever the same and the kids behave themselves better than popular perception would have you believe. I did this for years, and, like college teaching, I enjoyed it but needed benefits. --s6

Siri Kirpal · Sep 18, 2014

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Check your area about benefits. My mother worked as an English teacher at a CC in San Diego and my brother works at the same one now as a Biology/Marine Biology teacher. I know both of them got/get some benefits.

If you live in an area with lots of ESL students, those will usually be motivated--bright, but not English proficient. CCs do attract lots of that sort of student.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

lottarobyn · Sep 18, 2014

shakeysix said:
IHow about substitute teaching? Even here in the wilds of Kansas a sub makes $100+ for a day of about 6 hours. No papers to grade, no lesson plans to write, no parents to placate. No day is ever the same and the kids behave themselves better than popular perception would have you believe. I did this for years, and, like college teaching, I enjoyed it but needed benefits. --s6

The sub idea sounds pretty great, but I don't know how consistent the work would be.

My friend who works at a nearby community college got back to me and said she doesn't plan to leave the job anytime soon because she has a lot of flexibility and she really likes her students. She did comment that the low pay might make it difficult for me to support myself (unless something happened; hint hint, boyfriend). I asked for more detail on that - I can cut a pretty lean budget, but there's only so low you can go with a mortgage. She started as an adjunct several years ago, became a full-time instructor last year, and hopes to become a professor in the future. Sounds like the track I was thinking.

I don't know enough about benefits - I'm in Louisiana and my hopes aren't high - but that's something I'll have to check into.

aaaah, all this adult stuff to think about!

Thank you

shakeysix · Sep 18, 2014

Some school districts hire subs on and guarantee them so many days a week and give them medical insurance. The district where I lived, Dodge City, was too small to do that but once I was established I was subbing every day that I wanted to sub. Worst job was covering for an Ag Ed teacher. I ended up at the school farm supervising as the students castrated pigs. These were shoat pigs--not huge boars but I have no love of pigs. Nor blood for that matter. Other than that the days were fairly tame, especially with high school kids. --s6

juniper · Sep 18, 2014

My daughter has an MFA and has been teaching art at a state university for a few years. Even though she's at a 4-yr school her situation is similar - part time instructor, no benefits, few classes to teach, hard to support herself. She writes for local magazines to supplement - plus her husband has a good government job - they recently married so now she has medical benefits, at least. Before, she was on her own. Fortunately, healthy.

She's gone back to school to get an MA in English - hoping it expands her teaching options.

She's enjoying the new classes - but it's a tough life. She's working as a graduate assistant so teaching some English classes while getting her degree - but low pay and a lot of work for her.

I encourage students to get their MA/MS right after the BA - it's really hard to go back to school later in life, with increased responsibilities and debts ...

lottarobyn · Sep 18, 2014

shakeysix said:
Some school districts hire subs on and guarantee them so many days a week and give them medical insurance. The district where I lived, Dodge City, was too small to do that but once I was established I was subbing every day that I wanted to sub. Worst job was covering for an Ag Ed teacher. I ended up at the school farm supervising as the students castrated pigs. These were shoat pigs--not huge boars but I have no love of pigs. Nor blood for that matter. Other than that the days were fairly tame, especially with high school kids. --s6

I started to think Ag Ed and a school farm sounded interesting - until the castrated pigs popped up! Eek!

lottarobyn · Sep 18, 2014

juniper said:
I encourage students to get their MA/MS right after the BA - it's really hard to go back to school later in life, with increased responsibilities and debts ...

Ah, I'm in a sweet spot right now. No debt outside of mortgage, no kids/dependents, working a full-time job that has allowed me to save a bit (giving me a cushion for transition/hard times) and will pay for my education. The one thing that worries me is being a bit rusty, academically. I took a GRE sample quiz and did fine on the reading comprehension/vocab type questions. But the math? Ugh, I need to revert to 9th grade, please...

CrastersBabies · Sep 18, 2014

It depends on the community college. One around here (we'll call this the one up NORTH that is in the middle of meth-cowboy country) had students that were very difficult for me to work with. No motivation. Complained when you gave them homework. Complained when you didn't give them enough. Pay was $1400 per class (across 5 months). You'll get the bottom amount because you only have an M.A..

The community college in town and close by was around the same pay-wise. Students a bit more "with it." (This is a college down with a big university as well. Many of the Comm. College students had to attend because they'd failed out of the big university and needed to prove themselves before being allowed back in.)

The community college to the east (in farming/fracking area, but near a big city) was the best of them all. Students were really smart. Their assessment processes seemed more authentic in that people in my course had the correct knowledge and understanding of writing. Pay was $2100 per class for 5 months.

I usually taught 1-2 classes tops to supplement my PH.D. stipend.

The nice thing about most community colleges that I've been to? TECHNOLOGY! Nice classrooms. Every single one of the colleges I mentioned allowed me to teach in a computer lab where every student was able to use a PC. Smart system for visuals and such was top of the line. I LOVED that about the community colleges. At my university, there are still rooms where you have to wheel in a freakin' overhead projector.

juniper · Sep 19, 2014

lottarobyn said:
Ah, I'm in a sweet spot right now. No debt outside of mortgage, no kids/dependents, working a full-time job that has allowed me to save a bit

If I were in your shoes I'd go for the MA now. Get 'er done and you can build more on that later if you want, but at least you'll have the MA.

English, M.A. and teaching at a community college?

lottarobyn

Maryn

Baaa!

lottarobyn

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

Siri Kirpal

Swan in Process

lottarobyn

shakeysix

blue eyed floozy

juniper

Always curious.

lottarobyn

lottarobyn

CrastersBabies

Burninator!

juniper

Always curious.