Workshops on Teaching

This workshop is designed to help GSIs understand the character and consequences of microaggressions, and to help them begin to develop the tools to address them in their role as instructors. For those who attended any one of the similarly-themed workshops during the Fall or Spring conference for first-time GSIs, this will be an opportunity to revisit some of the topics discussed there, as well as to address any issues that may have emerged in the course of teaching since. For other GSIs, this workshop will provide a basic understanding of microaggressions and an opportunity to reflect on them in the context of their own teaching.

Do you ever have trouble eliciting student participation in class? Do some consistently take the floor while others rarely speak up? Do you wish you had more strategies to get students involved with the course material? In this workshop we will discuss reasons students may tend to hold back and practical strategies to encourage them to participate more fully.

Improve your teaching and prepare for the academic job search. Come find out what is typically addressed in a teaching philosophy statement and participate in activities that will help you get started.

This workshop is designed for graduate students who are interested in improving their statements of teaching philosophy through feedback from peers. Workshop participants will exchange statements of teaching philosophy and provide and receive input. Participants must bring two copies of a draft of their statement of teaching philosophy to participate in the workshop.

How do you know when students experience a barrier to learning? How do you assess the strengths and weaknesses in your teaching practice? What evidence informs potential changes to your course or teaching practice the next time you teach? Explore strategies for reflecting on your teaching practice and collecting evidence of student learning and learning experiences.

Learn strategies for creating useful assignments, teaching students through these assignments, and evaluating student writing on a tight time budget..

While graduate students do not need to become experts in how students learn, a basic understanding of the research on learning can enable GSIs to make informed teaching decisions. Drawing on research findings from neuroscience, anthropology, and cognitive and social psychology, this workshop will enable GSIs to consider ways to apply research-based principles to the learning environments they create for their students.

Are you responsible for designing a course and syllabus for this coming spring or next fall? Are you interested in developing a syllabus for the academic job search? In this workshop, participants will learn ways to turn their syllabus ideas into integrated courses and will work out criteria for selecting course materials, assignments, and methods of assessment.