College Ready Writing

What if I want or need to get a tenure-track position? I often (but not always) see the words “or related discipline” at the end of the degree requirements in job descriptions. At what point does your research trump your degree? And, what kinds of research output qualify you? Is presenting at Rhetoric and Composition conferences enough? Do I have to have one, two, three, ten articles that are about rhetoric and/or composition? A book? Does co-founding #FYCchat, a Twitter chat for those who teach Freshman Composition help or hurt? Does teaching writing at various levels for almost ten years help or hurt? Does working to innovate how I teach writing (attempting to create my own peer-driven model) help or hurt? Does anything other than the journal article/book even count?

A confluence of events have got me thinking about where I am right now in my life, both inside and outside of academia. At the conference this weekend, I was repeatedly asked how I "liked it" where I am right now. I embody the trifecta of complaints in higher education: off the tenure-track, teaching outside my specialty, and in a rural, relatively isolated area. Add to that that I am a Canadian (and Canadianist) relocated to the United States, my current level of professional satisfaction was a topic I was asked to address repeatedly.

For those of you who are new to my blog, I have been "experimenting" with peer-driven learning this semester in my 200-level writing class, while my 100-level (or Freshman Writing) class has been reading Now You See It by Cathy Davidson. You can read all of the previous posts in this series here.

This past weekend (extended weekend, really), I attended the Canadian Writers Research Collaboratory (or, CWRC) conference with the theme of “Space/Place/Play.” This is a significant collection of digital humanities projects, all involving Canadian literature, writers, and texts in some form. It was a really fantastic experience, and, in the spirit of the theme of the conference, I’ve modeled my thoughts on the conference according to the themes.

The newest member of IHE's Blog U introduces herself and her writing.