Freshman Composition Program Director: Dr. Irene Clark

TEACHING ASSOCIATES PROGRAM

The English Department at California State Northridge has developed an especially strong program for training teachers in freshman composition. Composition is the most universally required course in colleges and universities today. If you are interested in preparing for a teaching career, especially in post-secondary education, you will want to apply. However, TA training also provides you with background and hands-on experience that can lead you to careers in:

• --educational publishing
• --web-page design and other applications of technology in writing
• --writing in the professions
• --writing consultancy in business and corporate management
• --literacy training
• --apprenticeship in VISTA as liaison between communities and colleges
• --advertising
• --writing/reading center management
• --high school teaching
• --computer lab design
• --educational software design
• --educational testing

Many of our TAs go on to teach part-time in area community colleges or at CSUN itself. A few have worked into full-time positions, even in today's extremely competitive job market. Still others have recently gone on to graduate school in institutions such as the University of California, Santa Barbara; University of Arizona; Ohio State University; Pennsylvania State University; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the University of Nevada at Las Vegas; University of California, Davis; Georgetown University; Purdue University; University of California, Irvine; and University of California, Riverside.

*Important Note: System-wide policy provides that student employees, including Teaching Associates and Graduate Assistants, may not concurrently be employed in non-student classifications (e.g., staff, part-time lecturer, extended learning instructional faculty, special consultant, etc.).

Q: Who's eligible for the program?
A: You are! If you're a classified graduate student in the literature, creative writing, or rhetoric/composition options-- or linguistics-- you can apply. Sometimes, we've also admitted promising undergraduate English majors at CSUN who are entering the graduate program English the following year.

Q: What prerequisites do I need?
A: You should have completed your Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and CSUN's Writing Proficiency Exam (WPE).

Q: How do I apply?
A: Notices for application are posted in the English Department and announced in graduate classes in late October. For information, you can also contact Marjie Seagoe, Graduate Studies Secretary, at 818-677-3433, or Karin Castillo, Credential and Composition Secretary, at 677-4111. Submission packets are accepted until a mid-November deadline. You must submit a professional a cover letter, a resumè, and a short essay on your understanding of the importance of teaching writing to the Director of Composition. Three brief letters of recommendation are also required-- for example, from professors, former supervisors, people in the CSUN Writing Center. Candidates are interviewed in early December, and successful appointees are notified by mid-December.

Q: How much experience should I have?
A: We train you. But it often helps to have some background in tutoring, working with young people, or any kind of teaching experience.

Q: What happens when I get chosen to participate in the program?
A: You will register for ENGLISH 600A, College Composition: Theory and Pedagogy, for the following spring semester. This is the pre-service seminar for teachers of Freshman Composition, ENGL 155. You will become acquainted with theory in rhetoric and composition, you will do several class observations, you will conduct ethnographic research, you will get familiar with using writing technologies in the computer classroom, and you will design a syllabus for your first semester of teaching. 600A counts as a graduate elective.

During the subsequent semester, you start teaching! You also enroll in 600B, the in-service seminar designed to support you as you teach. You will be required to write daily lesson plans and participate in seminar discussion about classroom management, methodologies, on-going assignment/syllabus development, and evaluation. Mini-workshops in technology occur frequently. You also continue to study the practical application of theory. 600B may be taken for a grade or for credit/no-credit.

Q: How long does my TA appointment last?
A: The English Department commits itself to awarding TA appointments for 4 semesters-- usually taught consecutively. A few may choose to teach for only one year. A modest stipend of approximately $3000 per course is also awarded. TAs teach only one 3-unit course per semester.

The CSUN program in TA training is one of the most exciting, rigorous, and rewarding experiences you can have in your professional preparation. It is comparable to similar programs offered by PhD-granting institutions.

Come join us!