TwitterTeaching Certificate Program Details
Reflecting on their teaching practice through a series of seminars, workshops, and small-group discussions, participants will develop a course design project and teaching portfolio by the end of the program.
At the core of the Teaching Certificate Program are five seminars that focus on developing skills as a critically reflective instructor. Participants read literature on course design, student assessment, student backgrounds, teaching methods, and evaluation.
Participants also meet quarterly in small discipline-specific groups led by Graduate Teaching Mentors to discuss the development of course design projects and receive feedback on teaching philosophies.
Over the course of the year, participants attend at least two workshops offered by the Searle Center, as well as meet on a quarterly basis with a faculty mentor to discuss teaching and learning issues.
See the 2012-13 Program Syllabus [pdf] for more details.
Program Seminars
In a workshop-style format, participants apply teaching and learning concepts in Course Design, Student Backgrounds, Assessment, Teaching Methods, and Evaluation to course design projects and teaching portfolios.
Workshops
Program participants are required to attend at least two Searle Center Graduate Workshops [linkn to SCGW page], which delve deeper into select topics such as: “Teaching Tough Texts,” “Reflective Teaching: Beyond the CTEC,” “Diversity and Power in the Classroom,” and “Designing Active Learning in Your Classroom.”
DOCUMENTING TEACHING
Course Design Project
In addition to this year long process of reflecting on teaching practice, participants engage in designing (or re-designing) a course of their own. This endeavor takes the form of a course design project, which participants will ideally be able to put into practice as part of their required teaching experience.
Teaching Portfolio
Finally, over the summer participants construct a teaching portfolio, a document central to their professional development as a teacher and essential for entering the job market. The portfolio will include a teaching philosophy that receives several iterations of peer feedback.
Teaching Context
Each participant is expected to engage in a significant teaching experience while in the program. The ideal context is designing and teaching your own course, but if that option is not available, it may include co-teaching, teaching a section of a course, or delivering guest lectures.
Teaching Feedback
Each participant is required to obtain teaching observations from at least two sources: (1) faculty mentor; (2) Searle Center staff [link to T.O. page]; or (3) peer. If you are teaching your own course, a small group analysis [link to SGA page] is recommended in place of one of the two observations. Formal feedback from these observations are critical elements for a complete teaching portfolio.
MENTORING
Program participants also choose a faculty mentor [link to Mentor page] who provides guidance on issues of teaching and learning in their discipline.
