Help GSIs Construct a Teaching Portfolio

Faculty who teach with GSIs can provide guidance in thinking about the teaching process early in graduate careers by introducing the concept of the teaching portfolio. The GSI Teaching and Resource Center gives workshops for faculty who teach with GSIs on the teaching portfolio and has library resources and handouts to assist you. You can also set up an appointment to discuss the concept of the teaching portfolio with GSI Teaching and Resource Center staff.

A teaching portfolio is a narrative reflection on selected aspects of your teaching (e.g., teaching experience, syllabus design, feedback from students, statement of teaching philosophy) accompanied by appendices that back up what is stated in the narrative. Teaching portfolios are most effective when used as a means to reflect upon and improve teaching. They are also used by many institutions nationally for faculty as documentation of teaching for tenure and promotion purposes and increasingly by graduate students as they go on the job market.

• Plan a pre-semester course orientation.
• Know your GSIs.
• Meet weekly with GSIs to talk about teaching.
• Build into the weekly meetings specific pedagogical goals.
• Encourage your students to keep a teaching journal.
• Observe your GSIs in the classroom.
• Encourage GSIs to be videotaped in the classroom.
• Set up a peer observation program.
• Encourage your GSIs to get ongoing feedback on teaching and learning from their students.
• Recommend participation in teaching-related events.
• Help GSIs construct a teaching portfolio.
• Encourage your GSIs to read pedagogical literature.
• View your course as one step in helping GSIs to prepare for their own future roles as professors.
• Take part in the programs for faculty of the GSI Teaching and Resource Center.