One of the standard axioms in higher education is that students hate group work. While there may be some truth to that statement, I think the more accurate version is that students hate poorly designed and structured group work. Admittedly, one of the most challenging parts of teaching is the use of group assignments and… Read more »
Teaching Strategies
You Are Cordially Invited: A Wedding Dressing Ceremony as a Learning Opportunity
In connection with the College’s fall 2017 semester theme, “Diversity, Difference, Otherness,” we have been thinking about ways we can teach about these themes by connecting classroom instruction with cultural centers. We talked with Sarah Hatcher from the Mathers Museum about her ideas and suggestions. Q: How could a faculty member design an exercise around… Read more »
Creating a Teaching Portfolio with a Graduate Student Learning Community
If you’re applying for an academic job, you’ll need a teaching portfolio to provide evidence of your teaching effectiveness. What goes into a teaching portfolio? There are usually three realms of documents: ones the teacher produces; ones from peers, students, and institutions; and ones showing student achievement. Feedback on your teaching portfolio is extremely important,… Read more »
Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Teaching Experiences
Images and objects surround us in our everyday lives—from the advert on the bus to the heirloom in our grandmother’s living room—but are often left out of the classroom. Objects and photos engage students across many disciplines (education, anthropology, history, sociology, languages, etc.). By learning to look critically and evaluate an object’s construction and use,… Read more »
Responding to Charlottesville in Our Teaching
By now, all of us have heard about the recent violence in Charlottesville, VA, which erupted from a confrontation between white nationalists and a group of counter-protestors. The disturbing events started when alt-right protesters marched through the University of Virginia campus Friday night, carrying torches and, according to UVA’s president, Teresa Sullivan, “attempting to intimidate… Read more »
Using Backward Course Design to Demystify the Syllabus Writing Process
A syllabus can be a creative and integrative expression of graduate students’ academic and pedagogical interests. Whether graduate students are applying to teach for their department, Collins, or Global Village, or preparing for academic job interviews, they can use the syllabus to showcase how they would teach their dissertation topic. It can be tempting, however,… Read more »