ENG 4750 - Field Experience in Creative Writing: Jail Education Teaching Assistantship

This experiential learning course is designed for upperclassmen English majors interested in working with incarcerated people. Students work as Teaching Assistants to professors teaching creative writing or other English courses at Essex County Correctional Center (ECCF) in Middleton, MA. Students are required to visit the jail at least 2x per week (at least 5 hours total) to attend faculty-taught classes and/or meet with the class on nights faculty are not present. Students are responsible for assisting faculty with classroom activities, helping incarcerated students with writing, editing, and revising, holding writing workshops, and assisting interested incarcerated students with applications to Northern Essex Community College or North Shore Community College. Students will also be responsible for compiling and editing an anthology of creative works by incarcerated writers. In addition to their responsibilities in the jail, students are required to complete a selection of readings related to mass incarceration and higher education, complete a research project correctional education in creative writing, and finally, write writing weekly reflections, which they will compile in an end-of-semester portfolio. Students must submit an application to be considered. This course fulfills a Creative Writing Concentration requirement or English elective for English majors.

Prerequisite(s): ENG 2150 and ENG 3900 , or by instructor’s permission.
Fulfills: X in LS Core