Graduate Student Day: An Exploration of Teaching & Learning

For new and returning undergraduate TAs and graduate students

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Centre for Leadership in Learning offers three concurrent sessions during the morning of Graduate Student Day. The sessions cover four key areas – graduate student professional development, teaching and learning skills, student learning, and campus communities – and topics are carefully chosen to meet the particular needs and interests of new and experienced TAs. Participants are welcome to attend sessions from any area. Over the course of the day students will:

  • identify and consult with campus resources related to teaching and learning, professional development, accessible and inclusive communities, and graduate student life;
  • participate in general and/or discipline specific teaching and learning sessions; and,
  • establish connections with colleagues in their own and different departments.

The preliminary schedule for Graduate Student Day 2012 is as follows:

  • 8:00-8:50 – Registration and Coffee - Burke Science Building, Room 136
  • 8:50-9:40 – Concurrent Sessions - Burke Science Building
  • 9:50-10:40 – Concurrent Sessions - Burke Science Building
  • 10:40-11:10 – Refreshment Break - Burke Science Building, Room 137
  • 11:10-12:00 – Concurrent Sessions - Burke Science Building            
  • 12:00-2:00 – SGS Lunch & Welcome Event; Resource Fair – Burridge Gym
  • 2:00 – 5:30 – Department/Program Activities
symbol *Should you require accommodations* on Graduate Student Day, please contact the Graduate Student Day Coordinator at gsday@mcmaster.ca to discuss your specific accommodations needs. (Accommodation may include dietary restrictions, religious observance needs and/or accessibility requirements.)

Please take note of the title and location information for
the sessions that you register for.

Registration will open on August 1st and close on Monday, September 3rd.

Students may also register for CLL SESSIONS in person from 8:00-8:50 am on Wednesday, September 5th. Please be aware that some sessions will be unavailable for same-day registration as they will have already reached capacity.

The School of Graduate Studies will be hosting a Welcome Event & Lunch at 12pm in Burridge Gym. Please RSVP if you would like to attend by clicking on the button here


Please check the CLL website (http://cll.mcmaster.ca/programs/graduatestudentday/) for updates over the summer, including a list of available sessions for the morning of Graduate Student Day 2012. Not all sessions will be offered in each time slot, so be sure to register early!

List of Workshops
*Be sure to consult descriptions before registering*


Professional Development Stream


Designing and Delivering Effective Presentations
You may give a presentation as part of your teaching responsibilities, at a conference, before defending your thesis, or during your future career. This session will discuss how to design and deliver an effective presentation that will engage your audience and clearly articulate your ideas.

How to Prepare a Teaching Portfolio and Demonstrate Scholarly Teaching
What is a teaching portfolio? What do you need to do to create one? Why might you do so? Frequently, applicants for faculty positions must submit a teaching portfolio/dossier along with their CV and sample publications. This session discusses what types of materials may be included in a teaching portfolio and what strategies you can use to document your teaching successes.

Entering the Academic Profession: Applying for Academic Jobs
Do you plan to apply for an academic job? Attend this session to find out what is expected of an academic job application and how to assemble a competitive application. Participants will discuss the key components of an application and the different stages of the application process.

Applying for Non-Academic Jobs
Do you plan to apply for a non-academic job? Attend this session to find out where jobs are posted and how to market your academic skills to a non-academic position. Participants will discuss the qualities of a competitive application and the stages of the application process.

Transforming your CV into a Resume
Through this session, you will learn how to turn you academic CV into a resume that will get you noticed by employers! By emphasizing the many transferable skills you have honed through your studies, you can make an employer see that you are more than an academic and capitalize on the professional experiences you have gained through your graduate studies. This workshop may be of particular interest to graduate students, though all are welcome.

Keeping your Research on Track...While Teaching
Graduate student work – whether a thesis or coursework - represents a huge investment of time and energy. Many factors, both personal and academic, can play a part in determining whether your work gets completed, and when. This session is designed to pool ideas and stimulate discussion on strategies for managing your work and managing your time. Find the elusive work-life balance!

 

Teaching & Learning Skills Stream


Everything but Lecturing: Encouraging Participation in the Humanities and Social Sciences Classroom
An interactive workshop that will demonstrate ways to actively involve your students in their learning. These techniques are often used in the Humanities and Social Sciences, but can be adapted for classes of all types and sizes. This session will familiarize you with techniques to engage your audience, and will give you the chance to discuss techniques that have - and haven't - worked for you.

Everything but Lecturing: Encouraging Participation in the Science, Engineering, and Health Sciences Classroom
An interactive workshop that will demonstrate ways to actively involve your students in their learning. You will learn a range of strategies for leading effective classes which can be adapted for classes of all types and sizes. This session will familiarize you with techniques to engage your audience, and will give you the chance to discuss techniques that have - and haven't - worked for you.

Leading Labs
This workshop will address the fundamentals of preparing and leading successful labs – including how to encourage student participation and establish rapport, how to handle equipment problems, how to engage student questions, and how to ensure lab safety.

Marking Essays
This workshop will focus on the major challenges involved in marking essays: consistency in grading, combining speed with accuracy, responding to student concerns, providing effective feedback, addressing academic integrity, and using grading criteria.

The First Tutorial: Humanities, Social Sciences and Business
This session will consider some of the challenges of the first class and how to meet them: What do I want out of the first tutorial? What do my students want?  How can I handle my nerves? This session includes advice on interactions with the course supervisor, campus resources, and how to prepare for teaching. This session will be of particular interest for first time teaching assistants.

The First Tutorial or Lab: Science, Engineering and Health Science
This session will consider some of the challenges of the first class and how to meet them: What do I want out of the first tutorial or lab? What do my students want?  How can I handle my nerves? This session includes advice on interactions with the course supervisor, campus resources, and how to prepare for teaching. This session will be of particular interest for first time teaching assistants.

Marking Labs and Assigned Problems
This workshop will focus on the major challenges involved in marking assigned prob­lems and lab reports: consistency in grading, combining speed with accuracy, providing feedback, addressing academic integrity, and determining what should count as a correct answer.

Teaching When English is Not Your First Language
Communication breakdown due to limited vocabulary is one of the biggest fears of international graduate students and teaching assistants for whom English is not a first language. This workshop discusses how to compensate for these linguistic barriers. An array of strategies to overcome these challenges will be presented, discussed, and put into practice. This workshop is designed to help TAs who are teaching in English when it is not their first language.

Teaching in an Unfamiliar Culture
The cultural, social and educational environment at M cMaster University may be significantly different from your own educational experiences. Understanding the differences can improve the quality of your tutorials and labs and also help you better understand classmates, professors and neighbours. This workshop is designed to help international TAs feel comfortable teaching at McMaster.

A Workshop for Undergraduate Students Working as TAs
At McMaster, both undergraduate and graduate students may be employed as TAs. This workshop is designed for undergraduate students who are working as a teaching assistant for the first time. It will be led by a professor who has considerable experience in supervising the work of  both undergraduate and graduate TAs. The aim of the workshop is to give undergraduate TAs an idea of what to expect in their new position. Practical advice will be offered, and there will be plenty of opportunities for new undergraduate TAs to ask questions or address any concerns they may have.

“You want me to do WHAT!?”  Preparing and Delivering Your First Lecture
When asked to give a lecture, graduate students are often overcome with anxiety over how to approach the preparation and delivery of a lecture.  This workshop will provide both new and returning graduate students with suggestions and tips for all stages of lecture preparation – from creating an outline of the content, to preparing slides and presentation activities, to rehearsing and dealing with nerves on the day of the lecture.  Participants will learn effective strategies for organizing and time-managing their preparations, delivering difficult content, and keeping students engaged throughout the lecture. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss their own experience and tips with fellow graduate students.

Teaching Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Graduate students are usually competent, if not talented, writers. But are we competent teachers of writing? How might a TA manage to teach writing without abandoning course content? How can she/he possibly fit writing lessons into a 50-minute slot? And how does a teacher inspire interest in writing? In this workshop participants will describe the elements of the writing process, discuss the challenges TAs face when attempting to teach writing in their tutorials, and consider specific, practical active learning strategies for the teaching of writing that will help TAs integrate writing into their lessons, without expense to course content.

Teaching Writing (all disciplines)
Graduate students are usually competent, if not talented, writers. But are we competent teachers of writing? How might a TA manage to teach writing without abandoning course content? How can she/he possibly fit writing lessons into a 50-minute slot? And how does a teacher inspire interest in writing? In this workshop participants will describe the elements of the writing process, discuss the challenges TAs face when attempting to teach writing in their tutorials, and consider specific, practical active learning strategies for the teaching of writing that will help TAs integrate writing into their lessons, without expense to course content.

PowerPoint Perfection
This session explores the qualities of a great PowerPoint presentation. While participants will personally benefit from identifying excellent PowerPoint presentations, they will also be equipped to teach their students how to give more effective presentations. This is not a session on how to use PowerPoint software, but rather on how to construct and deliver an engaging and effective PowerPoint presentation. Participants are encouraged to bring their own laptop computer, as this will be a hands-on workshop.

 

Student Learning


Motivating Students to Participate
Many TAs talk about a lack of motivation and enthusiasm in students they are teaching. This session will discuss strategies to encourage your students to participate and to give their best in labs/tutorials and the classroom.

Motivating Students to Learn
This workshop will demonstrate the powerful relationship between your thinking styles and how you behave. Dr. Teal McAteer will reveal the necessary behaviours for anyone wanting to help motivate students in their learning. More importantly, she will focus on the thinking styles that will produce those behaviours. This is an action-oriented session aimed at encouraging participants to identify and work on their own thinking styles and resultant behaviours.

Self-Directed Learning
In self-directed learning (SDL) the student takes the initiative and responsibility for the learning. There are several forms popular at McMaster, such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Inquiry. This workshop explores what these self-directed methods are and the advantages of using them. As well the session will discuss how you might use and assess self-directed learning in your classes.

Encouraging Safe and Open Discussions in Tutorial
Who gets to speak in your tutorials? What factors might cause some students to be more assertive, and others to be more shy? How can you encourage the free exchange of ideas while maintaining equity in the classroom? Can “safety” and “openness” coexist in your classroom?
In this workshop, we will consider each of these questions and identify a number of practices that you can introduce to your teaching that will help you balance openness and equity in your tutorials. Rather than focusing on “problem students” and how to “handle” them, in this workshop we will explore how specific teaching practices can generate more inclusive discussions and improve group dynamics. First-time and experienced TAs are welcome.

Stimulating Discussions
Research on teaching and learning shows that discussions help students to learn better. This workshop will address the concerns of new teaching assistants and frustrated veteran teaching assistants regarding the problems involved in stimulating discussion in tutorials that are both fun and educational. Participants will discuss strategies for engaging students in discussion, organizing and assessing discussions, and dealing with difficulties that may arises during discussions.

Lesson Planning for Diverse Learning Styles  
Learn first how to plan a lesson, then learn how to plan your lessons to encompass the diversity of learning styles of the students that you teach. Appealing to students’ various forms of  intelligence is a great way to engage and motivate them, thereby increasing student participation and satisfaction.

Creative Unblocking: Visual techniques for cracking writing blocks and tutorial chokes
As a student you may get anxious when it comes to writing papers and reports, you may encounter writing blocks and/or you might see writing as a very boring process. As a teaching assistant you want to motivate and inspire your “I didn’t do my readings” and “I don’t know where to start” students.  Drawing from visual thinking and creative problem solving fields, this session introduces various techniques (i.e. freewriting, word lists, graphic organizers) that break up the learning and writing process, by organizing and clarifying information.

How to Successfully Deal With ‘Challenging’ Students
This workshop offers strategies to successfully assist with the maintenance and enhancement of positive learning environments. Participants will gain ideas and skills for handling challenging or difficult students, helping to keep the classroom functioning as a site of learning and engagement.

Student as Consumer
The University of the Early Twenty-first Century has been described as a marketplace for educational credentials. In this view, students are clients or consumers of value-added commodities (degrees) and professors are customer-service representatives. In this workshop, participants discuss the challenges of teaching and learning in this context.


Campus Communities


Avenue to Learn   
Avenue to Learn is the learning management system used by undergraduate and graduate instructors. A facilitator from the Centre for Leadership in Learning will introduce you to the elements of Avenue that you may use in your courses, and will suggest ways you might incorporate the system into your teaching.

Encouraging Academic Integrity in the Classroom
Plagiarism and academic dishonesty are a growing problem at Canadian universities. How is academic dishonesty defined? How should you handle cases of suspected academic dishonesty? How can you help to prevent it from occurring? This session will be led by the Academic Integrity Office and the Ombuds Office, and will discuss your questions and concerns about academic integrity.

Teaching and Research Support From Your Library
Discover library resources and services to support your studies and your teaching. Topics covered in this hands-on workshop will include: working with your liaison librarian to help you and your students find discipline specific information, accessing library e-journals from off-campus, borrowing materials from other Canadian research libraries, and creating your own personal database of citations and managing them online using Refworks.

CUPE, Local 3906: Teaching Assistant as Employee – Rights and Obligations
Being a teaching or research assistant is a great job, and it is even bet­ter because it is unionized. Find out about your rights and obligations, the benefits to which you are entitled, what you can do (and what CUPE can do for you) if work-related problems arise.

Student Accessibility Services: Accommodations that Work
As a teaching assistant, you may encounter students who require accommodations. Attending this session will help you to understand your role in the accommodations process and who you can go to for more help. This session will also explore the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and your responsibilities under this legislation.

Sustainability – Toward a Sustainable Classroom and Community
This workshop will introduce undergraduate and graduate TAs to the resources available through the University’s Office of Sustainability, whose mandate is to be a catalyst for change within the University by encouraging staff, faculty and students to join in and help create a sustainable culture at McMaster and within the broader community. Participants will hear about campus-wide efforts towards sustainability on and beyond campus, learn about ways to get involved in sustainability initiatives, and  have the opportunity engage in open discussion and provide their feedback on ideas for future projects.

Human Rights in the Classroom
This session will provide an introduction to human rights in and beyond the classroom at McMaster. Participants will: learn more about our rights and responsibilities; become familiar with key terms such as harassment, bullying and discrimination; and, develop skills to prevent and intervene when challenged by harassment and bullying. This session will be of interest to all new and returning Teaching Assistants who want to know more about human rights law and policy, and how to work in ways that support them.