Graduate Instructor Brings Passion for Teaching to Peers
With a quiet intensity, Luke Winslow, AI in the Department of Communication Studies says, "It’s too easy to just get by as a teacher in a university that emphasizes research. The larger challenge is to balance the research demands in a Tier 1 institution with teaching that actually makes a difference, knowing that you are personally responsible for setting the standard of excellence in your own classroom to ensure that your students are actually learning."
Assistant Instructor Luke Winslow will present at this year's Graduate Student Instructor Colloquium, Saturday, September 16.
Winslow, along with Rebecca LaVally, a colleague in teaching Professional Communication Skills, CMS 306M, will be presenting at the 2006 Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Colloquium entitled "Reflecting: Using discussion, writing, and technology to encourage student-centered learning" on Saturday, September 16, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. in the Avaya Auditorium, ACE 2.302. Ten exemplars were chosen from a call for proposals earlier in the year, in keeping with the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA) goal to move toward professionalism in services offered to graduate students.
The UT Austin GSI program is one of the first in the country to model a graduate student instructor colloquium along professional academic organization lines, which typically use a similar competitive selection process to invite speakers for annual conference and seminar programs. Mark Decker, GSI Program Coordinator, says, "We believe that the form of this year’s colloquium speaks to the quality of the program, and we encourage graduate students to take advantage of this opportunity to enhance their teaching skills in this professional setting." Decker notes that GSIs tend to listen to advice from their peers before anyone else. As Winslow puts it to his peer instructors, "How better for new GSIs to learn to teach well than from those who have had the actual classroom experience?"
Other peer presenters emphasize the importance of employing a variety of teaching strategies to ensure that students leave the classroom understanding the material. "It is important to remember that we can learn from our students and we can improve our teaching by paying attention to their needs and learning preferences. It is essential to build a learning community in the classroom, in which students feel comfortable in expressing themselves and in which they can benefit by learning from their classmates as well as the instructor," says Katerina Theodoridou, a GSI in Foreign Language Education. To this end, Theodoridou’s presentation will focus on how films and related readings can be used in the foreign language classroom to enhance cultural and historical understanding.
Several peer presenters believe that planning is the key to successful teaching and learning:
Set up classroom guidelines and your expectations…on the first day of class, and let them know the consequences if they don’t meet those expectations. Rochelle Mendiola, Educational Psychology
Engaging instruction requires good planning. It is our job as educators to know students’ strengths and build on those as we make learning meaningful, purposeful, and connected to their lives and communities. Peggy Semingson, Curriculum & Instruction
Before anything else, you have to decide what you really want (students) to know at the end of the semester, so that your lessons and exams are goal-oriented. This will make it easier for you and your students—you will all know what you are doing and why you are doing it that way. Catherine Dossin, Art History
Decker encourages graduate students to register online for the colloquium and to investigate the ASPECTS Certificate Series, designed to enhance ongoing pedagogical, personal and professional development throughout a graduate student instructor’s career at UT Austin. Watch for new series this fall.