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GSI Teaching & Resource Center
University of California, Berkeley

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Meet Weekly with GSIs to Talk about Teaching

While most faculty members see their GSIs regularly, meetings are typically devoted only to logistics and course organization. Seldom are such meetings used to discuss the teaching that takes place in the lecture, section, or lab. Discuss your approach to teaching and why you make the pedagogical choices that you do. GSIs benefit from hearing you reflect not only on "what" you will be teaching but also "how" and "why." Use the meeting to brainstorm ways for GSIs to teach a particular topic. For example, one UC Berkeley instructor wanted to encourage her GSIs to use discussion sections to hold a formal debate on a controversial topic in her field and presented the idea in the weekly teaching meeting. Collaboratively, the GSIs and the instructor developed a successful format that the instructor and her GSIs now use each time the course is offered.

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

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