20141028.0716

I am, by training, a specialist in English literature, particularly the literature of the late medieval period (say, 1300-1485 CE). When I contribute to human knowledge and understanding, I do so in that area, typically by looking at how what was written then is read and rewritten now. Yet when I am in the classroom, I am typically not positioned to be able to work with that material; more often than not, I am teaching writing. I have a fair bit of applied knowledge in that regard, certainly, having written much and read far more, but I do not have the kind of theoretical framework I really *ought* to have to do as well with that work as I feel I ought to do. (I read extensively to correct for that, but there is something to be found in formal instruction that I cannot pick up from my independent studies, a sense of security in the knowledge and practice that I have when talking about Arthur but not so much about ways to put words onto pages.)

In recent terms, I have taught a fair bit of technical writing, and it looks very much like I will be doing more of it in the upcoming term. The work is not difficult, really; I teach in a fairly rigorously structured program, and I have enough experience in it to allow me to do passably well in most cases. (It also helps me with my freelance work, and my freelance work helps with it.) And I am able to learn a great many things from the work my students do, which I appreciate. (I have noted something like this, I think.) Even so, it is not what I thought I would be teaching with degrees focused in literature, and it would seem to be a far cry, indeed, from the writings of the late medieval period (except for the occasional combat manual or discussion of tactics, which occasionally come up in my classes as examples for examination). As such, I feel something of a disjunction between what I ought to do and what I ought to do, if that makes any sense.

I have the hope that my broader teaching experience will help me land one of the teaching-heavy positions that is advertised; there are a fair number, and some of them are even full-time continuing spots greatly to be desired. Alternately, I hold out the hope that I may be able to parlay the experience of teaching technical writing into finding work as a technical writer, for I am aware that I may not be able to make a life in academia. I may need to find work elsewhere, and the years I have spent in the classroom may vitiate against my landing a "real" job--unless I can make the argument that between my work in technical writing (in the classroom and in freelancing) and other writing, I have a set of skills that is worth paying for and a body of experience that suits me to jobs in civil service or the private sector. But Shaw's adage is widely held to be true, and the fight against it is not at all an easy one to conduct, despite all efforts...