This route has led to many adjuncts eventually being hired as full-time instructors. If you did not finish your master's degree and still dream of teaching, check into the requirements for teaching adult education in your community's K-12 system. Or, you might search for volunteer teaching opportunities in community centers, senior citizens' groups, or for those learning English. A final suggestion is to continue on in graduate school for the joy of it, whether it is completing the master's or the doctorate. If you qualify academically for a Ph.D. program and can find the resources to pay for it, go.
Doctoral programs are a challenge at any age.
Of Toronto Press, 1993. In Academia , By Emily Toth, University Of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. The Academic Career Handbook , by Loraine Blaxter, Christina Hughes and Malcolm Tight. Open University Press, 1998. The Academic Job Search Handbook , by Mary Morris Heiberger and Julia Miller Vice.