Posts by GSI Center

Highlights from the Spring 2016 Teaching Conference

The Spring 2016 Teaching Conference provided an orientation for graduate students new to the GSI role. Discipline-Cluster (D-C) workshops led by experienced GSIs addressed pressing questions about getting started as a GSI. The afternoon featured a performance by Berkeley Interactive Theater, which led to a discussion of how GSIs in their role as teachers…

Faculty Advice: Succeeding as a GSI

GSIs have a strategic part to play in promoting students’ learning, and the GSI role is an important professional opportunity for graduate students. In the talks linked here, faculty from several departments offer some pointers. Ani Adhikari (Statistics) Sylvia Bunge (Psychology) Raka Ray (Sociology; South and Southeast Asia Studies)…

Getting Students Involved

This is a good time to review ways you can encourage students to engage actively in their learning. The online Teaching Guide for GSIs offers excellent strategies to use in a variety of GSI-led settings. Active Learning Techniques…

Promoting Inclusive Classrooms for Trans* and Gender-Expansive Students

An inclusive and welcoming learning environment is a central part of any productive classroom. Achieving this, however, is not simply a question of avoiding exclusionary language and practices. It requires an active effort on the part of instructors to acknowledge and respect students’ identities, while opening spaces for them to…

Teaching Effectiveness Award Highlights GSI Ingenuity

Congratulations to the fourteen outstanding GSIs receiving the 2015 Teaching Effectiveness Award (TEA). These GSIs devised excellent strategies to address teaching and learning difficulties that arose in their classes, and their award-winning teaching ideas are available for you to adapt for use in your teaching. Here is a small…

Teaching Support for Summer GSIs

The GSI Center offers the following assistance to GSIs teaching in the Summer Sessions: Consultations and Classroom Observations One-on-one consultations on syllabus and course design, teaching in a compressed time frame, preparing and presenting a lecture, activities to promote discussion, mid-course evaluations, and more. Classroom observations to receive feedback on your teaching. Video recording of classroom session also available. Consultations are provided by GSI Center staff with experience teaching summer session courses. Please fill out our online consultation request form if interested.

Faculty Honored for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs

Many of Berkeley’s faculty members provide excellent mentorship to the GSIs who work in their classes. This year, four were selected to receive an award for their mentoring activities: Sabrina Agarwal, Anthropology David Henkin, History Martha Olney, Economics Anant Sahai, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Candidates for…

Congratulations Outstanding GSI Award Recipients!

Recipients of the 2014-2015 Outstanding GSI (OGSI) Award were honored at the annual OGSI Award Ceremony on Tuesday, May 5. Each year, recipients are nominated within their teaching departments. They receive certificates of distinction from the GSI Center, which also hosts the award ceremony. Currently-enrolled graduate students…

Congratulations to this year’s Outstanding GSI Award Recipients!

Recipients of the 2014-2015 Outstanding GSI (OGSI) Award were honored at the annual OGSI Award Ceremony, which took place at the International House, 2299 Piedmont Ave, on Tuesday, May 5. Each year, recipients are nominated within their teaching departments. They receive certificates of distinction from the GSI…

End-of-Semester Tips

Strategies for Exam Reviews GSIs methods for helping students solidify their learning in preparation for exams: Playing Teacher: Adding Predictive Power to Students’ Toolboxes, Emily Hamilton (History) Instilling Effective…