Pam Kelly
 Director of Instruction

When we select new instructors at the Institute, we are interested in their background, education, work experience, publishing credits, and professional accomplishments that may benefit our students. In an editor, we look for signs of professional growth as he or she rises from entry-level jobs to senior positions in charge of a “stable” of writers. We study a sampling of books the candidate has edited to get an understanding of his or her approach to writing for children and teenagers.

A writer is likely to have a different kind of work history; a list of book, magazine, and other publishing credits. We read a selection of these books, stories, and articles to see if the writer’s style and technique is compatible with our teaching.

If we are still interested in the writer or editor after this review, we invite him or her to visit us for personal interviews. And, if all goes well, we begin the 12-month program of closely monitored training that is given to every new instructor, no matter how impressive his or her credentials may be. Each instructor must learn how to teach to our standards. We have promises to keep, and we can keep them only with qualified instructors-as well as qualified students.

What makes an instructor “top-notch”?

The Institute has gathered together the largest number of highly qualified writers and editors of literature for children and teenagers in the world. No school, workshop, college, or university can begin to approach the number and quality of our instructors.

In total, they have written and edited well over 26,000 books, stories, and articles, and their work has won virtually every award, prize, and honor the field of juvenile literature has to offer. They have been published by, or have done editorial work for, nearly every publisher in the field, and many instructors have also been successful in other fields of writing.

Yet, excellent qualifications along with intensive training by the Institute in one-on-one instruction do not automatically create a top-notch instructor. A top-notch instructor has all of the qualifications of successful professional experience in addition to our careful training, along with another vital ingredient: caring. Our instructors care about their students.

• They care about their hopes and fears.

• They care about their aspirations.

• They care about their frustrations, their discouragements, their rejections, and their ultimate triumphs.

Caring makes the difference between a good instructor and a top-notch instructor.