THANKS FOR PROPOSING A CLASS AT HUGO HOUSE 

SELECTION CRITERIA & LOGISTICAL INFORMATION  When selecting courses, we are looking for a fit with our current curricular needs, including a balance of genre, skill-level required of the students, and platform (such as workshop, generative, reading). When hiring teachers, we consider a combination of prior teaching experience, publication history, and the strength of teaching evaluations from Hugo House or other institutions. We're equally committed to hiring a teaching corps that's representative of different and diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to diversity of ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, age, religion, ability and culture.  An education committee of Hugo House staff members and rotating instructors reviews all class proposals. The committee members represent a range of ages, ethnicities, genders, religions and backgrounds.   

The basics:   
 

• A two-hour, multi-week class may be scheduled

1. Tuesdays at 5 pm or 7:10 pm
2. Wednesdays at 5 pm or 7:10 pm
3. Thursdays at 5 pm or 7:10 pm
4. Saturdays at 10am or 1:10 pm
5. Morning 10 am or afternoon 1:10 pm slots may be available on Wednesdays or Thursdays.
    

• A one-day class generally meets for three hours, either from 10 am - 1 pm or from 1:10-4:10 pm on Saturdays. We occasionally run longer one-day classes or two-day classes, depending on space availability.
• Alternate schedules may be possible. Please ask. 
• We are beginning to schedule more classes in our Capitol Hill location, so please indicate if you are willing to teach in-person using the class location selection.
• Generally, class enrollment is set at a maximum of fifteen and a minimum of five. If fewer than five students register for a class, it will be cancelled. Please indicate if you require a higher maximum number of students than five.

TIPS & SAMPLE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS 

When submitting a course description, please consider it your job application. It should be clear, concise, and free of typos. If you're including writers you'll be reading, their names should be spelled correctly. When a student reads your class description, they should think, "I like the way this person writes! I bet I could learn something from them!" Not: "I'm not sure how this person got a job as a writing teacher!" Our team may edit your course description for clarity and/or length, but we strongly prefer when course descriptions come in the door having been thoroughly thought through and proofread.   

Here are some tips for a great course description: The description should tell us what the class is about, why the topic is worth investigating, what's going to happen (generative writing? workshopping? discussion?), and what students can expect to come away with (a new story? three new poems? a better understanding of metaphysics?). 

Here are a couple of great examples:  

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning Each week we will discuss an essay from Cathy Park Hong’s provocative new book of essays, Minor Feelings, and freewrite about our own personal experiences as Asian Americans, interrogating themes such as: coming of  age, the model minority myth, class, the white gaze, microaggressions, shame, family, language, and community. Let’s get personal and political as we examine what connects us or holds us apart in a candid and safe  space for exploration.    

Intro to the Short Story “Where does one begin?” asks Amy Hempel in an essay on short stories. Her answer: “With obsession and nerve and ground worth reporting on.” This two-day introduction lays down a few simple but fundamental craft concepts related to writing short stories. Students will generate and share new work in class while we look at the bold and felicitous work of pros like Hempel, Denis Johnson, Amy Tan, Jamaica Kincaid, Donald Barthelme, and Sandra Cisneros. Students should be willing to risk vulnerability and intimacy. They can expect to come away with two beginnings to new short stories.  

Finally, we're often asked about what gaps need to be filled in our catalog. We can't know this until class proposals come in each quarter, but one good way to answer this question for yourself is to look at the current quarter's catalog. What gaps do you see? What unique knowledge or viewpoint can you offer? What have you been reading that's really wound you up? What's happening in the world or around town that you'd like to interrogate? We love fresh, weird ideas and classes that aren't the same old, same old. World literature, translation, and multilingual courses are encouraged. Courses for beginning writers, or folks who don't even think of themselves as writers are encouraged. Courses in partnership with or inspired by other groups or organizations in town are encouraged (such as a writing or reading class based on an exhibition at the Wing Luke or NW African American museum, a writing class in conjunction with the launch of a book like Recipes for Refuge, or the like); we're happy to help arrange a collaboration if applicable.