The range of teaching opportunities you’ll have as an MFA student at Alabama is a unique strength of the program. In your first year, you can look forward to working closely with students across all disciplines in our campus Writing Center, or as a small group discussion leader in one of our large lecture literature courses, under the direction of a faculty mentor. In year two you will teach in our innovative First Year Writing Program.

This two-semester sequence focuses on writing as a process of thinking and discovery, and from there guides students in developing their rhetorical and research skills. In your third and fourth year you’ll have multiple opportunities to teach courses in creative writing and literature.

Our undergraduate Creative Writing program is one of the largest in the nation, with over 200 declared minors, enrolling over 400 students each semester. MFA students are guaranteed to be assigned at least one creative writing class, a section of our multi-genre The Living Writer: Introduction to Creative Writing. However, nearly all students who wish to teach another creative writing course are able to—either an additional Intro course; an intermediate workshop in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction; or a special topics course of their own design.

Another strength of the program is our emphasis on professional development. Both First Year Writing and Creative Writing offer teaching practicums in conjunction with their respective undergraduate classes that offer guidance from seasoned teachers while exploring a range of pedagogical ideas and practices.