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THOSE WHO CAN, TEACH
by Cynthia MacGregor
You know the old expression: “Those who can, do. Those who
can’t, teach.” Horsefeathers! I’ve been earning my living as
a freelance writer/editor for decades, so obviously I can do.
And I also teach.
It should be evident, if I earn my living writing and editing,
that I’m not a full-time schoolteacher. But I’ve taught writing
classes for adults on and off (and more “on” than “off”) for
over 20 years now.
Where? How? Let me answer that question from my own experience
and then make a few additional suggestions. My first gig
teaching writing was through the Lake Worth (a nearby town
here in South Florida) Recreation Department. I then went on
to teach through the Community Education division of the county’s
public schools, which offers evening classes for adults. Most
recently, since I no longer wanted to teach at night, I arranged
to give Saturday morning classes under the auspices of the Palm
Springs (FL) Leisure Services Department.
Other options include classes offered through your local “Y,”
library, or as an adjunct faculty member at a college.
(Community colleges are your best bet, and something more
targeted than the broad “Creative Writing” is less likely to
conflict with a course already offered by a regular faculty
member.)
What’s in it for you? Not just the satisfaction of encouraging
would-be or fledgling writers, but actual monetary earnings as
well. Though arrangements may be different in your area, Lake
Worth Rec and Palm Springs Leisure Services both paid me a
portion of each student’s course fee; the Palm Beach County
school system paid me by the hour, irrespective of the number
of students in my class. As well, though I’ve never pushed this
arrangement myself, I know of other adult writing course teachers
who have offered their services as an editor or writing coach to
students, outside of class, for a fee.
What do you teach? There’s no one set answer to that. It depends
on what you’re interested in teaching and what you feel competent
to teach. There are classes in the very broad “Creative Writing,”
classes that specialize in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays,
and classes explicitly for writing memoirs. One local writer
offered a course called “Write Your Novel in Six Weeks.” Other
writers have offered classes that zeroed in on plotting,
characterization, and dialogue.
While classes offered through a school usually follow the school’s
semester schedule with inflexible start and end dates, with classes
offered in other venues, the number of sessions is usually left up
to the teacher.
Should you cap the size of your class? And if so, at how many?
Most organizations give you the right to set a maximum number of
students you’ll accept into the course. I find 15 is a good number,
but let me add that I haven’t always abided by it.
Colleges are the most stringent in their requirements for accepting
a teacher into their program. Public schools may require that you
be fingerprinted and pass a background check, even though you’re
dealing with adults and not kids.
I have long been known among my friends and my peers for helping
fellow writers and would-be writers, taking the time to sit down
with them and advise them, so teaching is just a natural
progression for me. There’s something extremely satisfying in
helping a fellow writer get started, or advance his/her career.
But getting paid to do so is a very delicious icing on the cake.
Those who can, do. And if they have the aptitude for it, they
also make great teachers.
~ ~ ~
BIO
Cynthia MacGregor is the author of 54 conventionally published
books and over 30 e-books, not to mention ghostwritten books,
articles, and many other kinds of writing. She also does
freelance editing. In addition, she hosts a weekly TV show for
single parents in the South Florida area. Busy and happy, she
says, "There is no one in the world I'd want to trade lives
with." Email her at
Cynthia@cynthiamacgregor.com . Her website
is www.cynthiamacgregor.com
.
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