Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing

Introduction

“What may read as a crisis in creative writing is at heart a crisis in American culture: without voice, participatory democracy fails.”

Felicia Rose Chavez, The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop

Do you want to gain the skills and experience to be an effective creative writing teacher in today’s classroom? In a single semester, our low-residency Post-MFA Certificate program takes aspiring and experienced teachers from theory to authentic practice, focusing on contemporary methods of teaching writing and allowing the student to gain practical classroom experience through either a face-to-face or an online supervised teaching placement. You may be a graduate of an MFA program beginning the path to collegiate teaching, or you may be an experienced instructor seeking professional development—every student leaves the Certificate program with a richer understanding of contemporary, research-based pedagogy, as well as a fuller awareness of how to navigate both the academic job market as well as the broad landscape of online and independent creative writing instruction. This certificate is offered by AU Los Angeles.

Certificate Overview

Antioch University Los Angeles’s Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing requires a semester beyond completion of the MFA in Creative Writing. Students participate in supervised teaching of creative writing (typically virtually or at an institution or community organization near the student’s residence), read broadly and engage in rigorous, vibrant discussions about the teaching of writing, and teach a learning activity at Antioch of their own design. Although the Certificate is not a formal teaching “credential,” we believe that it is very useful to MFA holders who:

• desire to teach but have little teaching experience
• desire to improve their marketability as teachers
• are teachers who want to learn more about contemporary best practices for an anti-racist and effective creative writing or composition classroom and to incorporate this knowledge into their teaching
• are seeking to bring their traditional teaching experience to the world of online workshops, residencies, and community organizations
• have teaching careers well underway and seek to improve their current positions through post-graduate professional development

Certificate Requirements

The Certificate is a six-month program, completed in three stages, and Antioch will work to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to be a successful and growing creative writing teacher. Deciding exactly what that looks like will be a collaboration, as we support the student’s grappling with the program’s core questions:

1. What has being a student taught me about teaching?
2. Why do I teach? Or, Why do I want to teach?
3. What makes a great teacher?
4. How do I meet the responsibility of a just classroom?
5. What does it mean to be a working creative writing instructor today? How can I make a sustainable living with my teaching?

Stage I: Pre-Project Period Residency*:

The entering Certificate Student must attend a vibrant and engaging 10-day hybrid residency with the Antioch University Los Angeles MFA program, during which the student completes the following requirements:

• “Overview of Post-MFA Certificate Program and Readings in Pedagogy” seminar/ orientation
• “Designing a Flexible Workshop Syllabus” Seminar
• A Residency Workshop in their chosen writing genre
• Attend all lectures and panels involving Certificate students or pedagogy faculty
• Attend five additional Residency learning activities, such as seminars, lectures, panels, roundtables, etc.

*Some requirements of the Pre-Project Period Residency are waived for students who have already completed requirements at previous Antioch MFA Residencies.

Stage II: Semester Project Period:

To prepare students to become creative writing teachers ready to meet the complexity of today’s teaching landscape, Certificate students perform the following off-campus activities during the five-month Project Period:

• Teaching Apprenticeship: every student will gain direct experience working as a professional instructor’s “Teaching Assistant.” This apprenticeship will also include some teaching-leadership of the class, guided by the professional instructor.
• Complete Teaching Practicum: every student will have the opportunity to design and lead a teaching experience for real, eager writers, whether in Antioch’s Alumni Circle, or with community organizations like PocketMFA.
• Engage with Contemporary and Urgent Texts: every student will read widely in the pedagogy of creative writing and engage regularly in vigorous zoom discussions with the faculty and other students.
• Develop a Teacher’s Toolkit: A top priority of the program is practicality and flexibility, and every student will leave the program with an immediately useful set of tools and documents to take on their journey to making a living as a creative writing instructor.

The details of 1-4 are negotiated with program faculty and listed in the Project Period Contract.

Stage III: Post-Project Period Short Residency:

Certificate students are required to attend only the first three days of the Post-Project Period Hybrid Residency. A student may choose to attend as many additional days of the post-project period residency as the student wishes. Requirements:

• Participate in the Post-MFA Panel
• Exit Meeting with Post-MFA Faculty
• Deliver the Annotated Bibliography of Readings in the Field of Writing Pedagogy

 Admissions

GO TO ADMISSIONS

How to Apply

There are three easy steps to apply:

1. Complete the ONLINE APPLICATION.
   • Complete and submit an online application.
   • Submit the $50 non-refundable Application Fee
     • The application fee is waived for all AULA alumni.
   • Complete and submit a Letter of Application, including answers to the questions below. Please answer each question fully. The answers should take the form of a typed letter that addresses the following questions. Please number your responses to correspond with the numbered questions below, and attach your letter to the application form.
     • Why and what do you want to teach? Are you interested in teaching literature, composition, and/or rhetoric? Creative writing?
     • Briefly describe your previous teaching experience: type of institution—college, high school, elementary, etc.—courses, workshops, online conferences, etc.
     • If you are currently employed as a teacher, does your institution expect you to take additional graduate courses or workshops for professional development?
     • Regardless of your previous teaching experience, what are your (potential) strengths and weaknesses as a teacher of creative and other forms of writing?
     • How do you expect earning this Certificate may help you?
     • Do you have ideas or a proposal for a Supervised Teaching Placement during the Certificate Program in terms of where or type of course? If so, please describe.
     • How do you expect teaching will affect your own creative writing?
     • List any other pedagogy-related seminars or lectures you attended during Antioch’s residencies or at your own MFA program.
     • For Antioch MFA Graduates only. As an MFA student at Antioch, please describe your performance as a student and why you think a rigorous post-MFA program is appropriate for you at this juncture in your life and career. Some questions to consider:
       • Did you complete all your packets in a timely manner?
       • Did you check in each week with your mentor and fellow students?
       • Did you turn in your critical papers and final manuscript on time?
       • Did you include two annotations per packet in your first, second, and final terms?
       • Did you have positive experiences interacting with others in workshops and seminars?
       • Did you have positive experiences doing your final graduating reading and teaching your seminar?
       • Did you enjoy providing feedback to other students in your workshops?
       • Did you engage positively while receiving feedback on your creative work or otherwise?

2. Send in all official transcripts for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Applicants who received their MFA’s from an institution other than Antioch University must send in an official transcript for bachelor’s and master’s degrees, with the master’s transcript indicating that the applicant has earned an MFA in Creative Writing from an accredited institution. Request one copy of official transcripts to be sent directly to the Admissions Office at Antioch University Los Angeles from the accredited institutions from which you received your bachelor’s and master’s degree. Applicants who will finish their MFA’s close to the application deadline for the Certificate should ask their registrars to provide evidence of when the degree will be posted (commonly referred to as an On Track statement.)
3. Submit all supplemental materials.
   • Provide a Curriculum Vitae that includes degrees earned, publications, awards, teaching experience, editorial experience, etc.
   • Provide a sample of their creative work (ten-page maximum).
     • Work samples should be typed and double-spaced with your name at the top of each page.

Students who are accepted into the Certificate Program must make arrangements, prior to their Pre-Project Period Residency, for a Supervised Teaching Placement that will be conducted during the Project Period. Reminder: The Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing is not a teaching credential. Applicants should contact the Office of Education in their home state or country to find details of how teachers are certified in their region. Please submit all materials to: Admissions Office, 400 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230. -OR- [email protected] All application materials submitted become part of an applicant’s file and cannot be returned.

Application Deadlines

Cost

Go to Costs

Coursework

For detailed curriculum and degree requirements, please visit the AULA catalog.

New Student Orientation