I had a conversation yesterday that caused me to think about my Writing and Publishing class and the options available. The discussion with Bill Batton, the prisoner Adult Continuing Education coordinator, had to do with what I will be teaching next quarter. His question was simple, “Do you want to teach Writing and Publishing again, or do you want to teach the Professional Writing course you spoke about several weeks ago?” While a simple question, coming to the answer is anything but simple.
Currently, Writing and Publishing is a class focused on writing and publishing. But it isn’t a creative writing class. It’s more informative. It empowers the participants to get their work published or at least know how to. Through the process of teaching this class, I have heard time and time again that the students want an actual writing class, a class where we meet to write, not be informed about how to publish their work.
I have several thoughts on the matter that I’d like to share with you. I’m certainly open to the idea and even willing to teach it. But I’m concerned with the work involved. Now that I’ve been around in the Education Department for a while, I can see that students like the idea of working and growing, but they rarely are willing to put in the effort. Only a few will really put in the work and see a project through. This is especially true with the voluntary nature of the Adult Continuing Education program.
The other considerable concern is the curriculum. I have spent significant time crafting the Writing and Publishing curriculum. It’s a good curriculum and still develops with each class I teach. I don’t know if I have it in me to craft another curriculum right now with all the other projects I’m taking on. Not that it couldn’t be done, but that I might do so during the next class and offer the Professional Writing course the following quarter.
The final thought is one of my current workload. Right now, I am swamped. That’s the truth of the matter. I’m looking for places to shed extraneous work and utilize that time for more critical work. For example, I want to take on a more significant college class load and devote more time to this blog and revising my novel, Practice Electra. Additionally, I would like to continue teaching Writing and Publishing until I reach the point of fulfillment, which would be when each of the prisoner students of FCI-Petersburg has had a chance to sign up and take the class.
I want to open the floor to all who might comment. What are your thoughts? You know me. Please tell me, in your infinite wisdom, what you think the right path for me is. I’m all ears and would appreciate anything you have to say.
Published Jul 26, 2011 by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA | Last Updated by Christopher Zoukis, JD, MBA on Feb 17, 2024 at 1:24 pm
