Building and Repairing Trust in the Classroom

By Jes Heppler, Philosophy Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 The problem of getting students to feel comfortable enough to speak about high-stakes topics is not new. Nevertheless, in an era where social media can build or destroy a reputation, many students who are just beginning their adult lives are keenly Continue Reading >>

Intentional Communication, the Students in the Middle, and Me

By Joshua Freed, Political Science Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 Two terms ago, I reflected on the structure of my communication with students. I realized that my students fell into three categories. First, there were the actively engaged students who felt comfortable coming to office hours or exchanging emails regardless Continue Reading >>

Towards a Red Pedagogy for Social Work Education

By Valentín Sierra, Social Welfare Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 In our current educational system, colonialism is often overlooked or dismissed, perpetuating the marginalization of Indigenous peoples and their knowledge, while simultaneously reinforcing colonialism’s power over their lives. Colonialism is detrimental for all learners, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, as it perpetuates Continue Reading >>

Experiential Learning with Antiquated Musical Media

By Ryan Gourley, Music Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 Teaching the history of recorded sound poses a unique set of challenges. Class discussions involve technologies and recordings that have fallen into obscurity. Photos and diagrams do little to convey the feeling of operating devices such as a phonograph or a Continue Reading >>

“Yes, and…” in Grant Writing

By Nancy Freitas, Energy and Resources Group Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 Figuring out how to fund your research and education as a graduate student is a daunting task. Most of us know that writing for grants and fellowships can help defray these costs, but learning how to navigate applications, Continue Reading >>

Empathy

By Salvador Gutierrez Peraza, Ethnic Studies Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 As a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) in the Department of Ethnic Studies part and parcel of my pedagogical training is the teaching of courses on the Ethno-Racial experience of U.S. minoritarian subjects and cultures. Our discipline entails “the critical Continue Reading >>

That Which Moves: Affect and Analysis

By Kyra Sutton, Rhetoric Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 As a rhetoric instructor, I have found that undergraduates enter my courses having learned to subdue their feelings about academic texts. Whether they like the text, they have learned in high school, is beside the point; they are here to analyze Continue Reading >>

Monstrous Methods for Closely Reading Film

By Morgan Jennings, Film & Media Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2023 In my Film R1B course we examine what monsters and representations of monsters in film and television reveal about the cultures that create and consume them. By looking closely at the various forms in which monstrosity appears on screen, Continue Reading >>