Orientation socializes your new graduate students to the expectations, policies, and resources of your program. Graduate students also learn about their teaching responsibilities within the context of disciplinary and departmental norms. We hope you will incorporate into your teaching orientation plans two campus opportunities for graduate students to develop their teaching.
Associate Instructor Workshop on Classroom Climate
The Classroom Climate Workshop (CCW), required by the BFC (1990) for all NEW AIs, addresses understanding of how diversity relates to classroom instruction. We include compliance with Federal laws and IU policies regarding instruction and equity as well as topics such as accessibility and disability in the classroom and facilitating contentious discussions. About 400 AIs attend this workshop, sponsored by the Provost’s Office and facilitated by staff from the CITL and graduate peer facilitators. We offer two date options (check the CITL events calendar).
Required? Yes
Dates/times
- Tues, Aug 14, 2018, 4:00 – 6:00 pm
- Thurs, Aug 16, 2018, 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Location: To be announced
Learning outcomes
Graduate student participants will:
- Know the Federal and campus policies that relate to instruction and equitable classroom experiences;
- Relate the climate they set in the classroom with student achievement;
- Be able to respond to difficult situations related to classroom climate; and
- Know where to find strategies and resources related to classroom equity.
CITL Associate Instructor Orientation
The CITL’s day-long teaching orientation for AIs is a complement and supplement to program-specific teaching orientations and focuses on helping new AIs plan for successful first day and first week experiences. Our main topics include: theories of teaching and learning; maintaining boundaries of authority and empathy in the classroom; concurrent sessions on making engaging use of class time; and incorporating instructional technologies.
Required?
- Not at the campus level
- Per program discretion
- Designed as a complement or supplement to program-level activities
Date/time: Wed, Aug 15, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Location: Indiana Memorial Union
Learning outcomes
Graduate student participants will:
- ground their practice in current theories about learning and in evidence-based teaching methods;
- develop and implement teaching methods and instructional technologies that promote student learning ;
- regularly gather feedback on teaching and learning in systematic ways to improve teaching;
- expand collegial networks and give/receive feedback on teaching;
- develop and implement instructional approaches that value diversity and are inclusive of all learners; and
- establish goals and gather evidence of their growth as teachers.
Scheduling considerations
We schedule events in classrooms so that participants can try out practices. Furthermore, we try to minimize impact on departmental orientation activities while ending BEFORE the public transportation summer schedules end for the day. We conduct these two events on different days to reduce fatigue around teaching orientations.
Guiding principles
Peer facilitators plan multiple ways of encountering information and expressing thoughts, including: individual reflection; pair and small group work; whole group conversations; and lecture. We also incorporate analysis of examples from a variety of disciplines. Participants should find several common characteristics of our events (Figure 1). Most of all, we hope these campus-wide experiences help graduate students develop interpersonal and intellectual connections around their teaching.
Making connections
As you look over these programs, consider the content areas covered and learning outcomes of these workshop. Think about where you can avoid duplication, strengthen important concepts, and make connections between these general teaching principles and your discipline-specific examples and program-specific practices. Please let us know if we can help you plan your events to help your AIs apply general pedagogical principles to the teaching of disciplinary skills and knowledge.
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