Core Workshops for Graduate Students and Postdocs

Description:

Planning tutorials, labs, and guest lectures requires careful attention to goals, content, activities, and timing. In this module you willl learn to streamline your lesson preparations and strengthen your teaching. Using a popular model of lesson planning called “BOPPPS,” you will learn to design lessons that align learning activities and assessments with learning outcomes. You will analyze examples of successful lesson plans, and begin to develop a lesson plan that is compatible with your teaching context and instructional style.

Modalities:

• Blended (asynchronous pre-work, followed by in-person session)
• Mixed-mode online (asynchronous pre-work, followed by online session in Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  4-5 hours

As teaching assistants, we aim to establish positive relationships with our undergraduate students. The strategies we use to build rapport differ by course modality (in-person, online, and blended). In this session, we will discuss techniques and brainstorm simple but effective strategies to help you establish positive working relationships with your undergraduate students.

Modalities:

• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Feedback is a critical component of teaching and learning, as instructors and TAs provide feedback on students’ work and students provide feedback on instructors’ teaching. The purpose of this workshop is to help you improve your feedback practice as an instructor/TA by reflecting on and enhancing your current feedback approaches. In this workshop, we will explore what makes feedback effective for improving student learning and provide examples of effective feedback techniques that attend to phrasing, timing, utility and emotional impact of feedback for learning. We will discuss key concepts regarding feedback, provide practical strategies for making feedback more useful to students and offer tips for engaging students in the feedback process.

Modalities:

• In-person
• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Research shows that engaging students through meaningful activities leads to deeper learning. This workshop will provide you with a toolkit of activities you can use to engage students in your class. You will learn about the concept of active learning and compare it to didactic lecturing. You’ll also uncover strategies for selecting activities to use and implementing them effectively. By the end of this workshop, you will be able to design and implement an active learning activity in your class.

Modalities:

• In-person
• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

This interactive workshop will provide you with the techniques and confidence to effectively deliver an engaging lesson in the classroom. Topics covered in this workshop include  methods for structuring your delivery, developing visual aids, strategies for preparation, dealing with nerves and anxiety and tips for engaging your students throughout the lesson.

You'll have the opportunity to practice your in-person teaching skills with a mini-presentation to a small group of peers. This session will be particularly helpful in preparing you for microteaching sessions in the Fundamentals of University Teaching program.

Modalities:

• In-person

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

"Any Questions?" This is, perhaps, one of the most widely used questions in the classroom, but is not the most effective. When you ask your students questions, are you often met with blank stares and no response? How can you use questions effectively to elicit responses and facilitate learning?

In this workshop you will learn the importance of using questions in your teaching and the skills involved in formulating questions that effectively tap into different levels of thinking. You will also learn various strategies for responding to student comments and questions that promote a supportive environment and encourage future student participation.

Modalities:

• In-person
• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Many graduate students experience low confidence in roles as teaching assistants and instructors, as they suddenly find themselves in the role of the "expert", rather than the learner. In this workshop, we will first explore the common roots of this lack of confidence. We will then consider different ways of thinking and strategies that can help all of us to increase our confidence in the classroom. 

Modalities:

• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Note: This session is primarily intended for tutorial TAs in science, engineering and math.

Many TAs in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines are responsible for teaching tutorial sessions. However, running tutorials can pose unique challenges for TAs. In this interactive workshop, we will discuss how to create an effective tutorial environment and present ways of maximizing student participation. In this session, you will plan a tutorial incorporating active learning and receive feedback on your plan. By the end of the session, you will be equipped with practical strategies for planning, running, and assessing your tutorials, with special attention to active learning strategies.

Modalities:

• In-person

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Note: This workshop is primarily intended for TAs in arts, environment and health who teach discussion-based tutorials/seminars.

Discussion-based tutorials and seminars allow students to articulate their ideas, respond to their classmates' points, and develop skills in evaluating the evidence for their own and others' positions.  Initiating and sustaining lively, productive discussions can be a challenging activity for a teaching assistant. In this workshop, you will participate in small group discussions on issues such as how to start and guide a discussion, how to deal with problem situations and prevent the discussion from deteriorating, and how to encourage student participation. Groups will share their responses so we can all benefit from each other's experiences.

Modalities:

• In-person

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

As a teaching assistant (TA), it is important to establish a positive relationship with the course instructor and maintain ongoing communication. This workshop will discuss strategies for various course modalities (in-person, online, and blended). Topics will include tips for success for you as a TA and suggestions for how you and the instructor can communicate effectively before and during the term. We will also discuss various rapport-building strategies that you can adapt as a TA. 

Modalities:

• In-person
• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Our students represent a broad range of racial, cultural, linguistic, physical, and intellectual backgrounds. What do we as TAs/instructors need to know and do as we work towards creating welcoming and inclusive teaching and learning environments?

This workshop is a starting point for TAs and instructors who wish to reflect on their own identities as they relate to teaching, and actively consider diversity of student identities within our classroom communities, with the goal of removing barriers that impact student engagement, learning, and motivation. Through self-reflection and discussion, we will explore teaching strategies that foster inclusive environments in which all students feel welcomed and valued. 

Key topics discussed in the workshop will include: recognizing the multiple intersecting identities of TAs, instructors, and students; building classroom communities; using inclusive language and inclusive teaching strategies. By the end of this workshop, you will be better equipped to use teaching strategies to meet diverse learners’ needs and develop in your role as an instructor of diverse learners.

Modalities:

• In-person
• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Successful teachers make it a priority to critically reflect on their teaching by tapping into the many evaluation tools available to us. In this workshop, we will explore how teaching assistants can get evaluations of their teaching from supervisors, peers, students, and others. We will talk about whom to ask for feedback, when to ask, and how. Together we will analyze both formal and informal feedback tools, discuss how to incorporate them into your teaching, and consider how to interpret and make use of evaluations you receive.s.

Modalities:

• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

*This is a core workshop, and is offered at least once each term

Our students represent a broad range of racial, cultural, linguistic, physical, and intellectual backgrounds. What do we as TAs/instructors need to know and do as we work towards creating welcoming and inclusive teaching and learning environments?

This workshop is a starting point for TAs and instructors who wish to reflect on their own identities as they relate to teaching, and actively consider diversity of student identities within our classroom communities, with the goal of removing barriers that impact student engagement, learning, and motivation. Through self-reflection and discussion, we will explore teaching strategies that foster inclusive environments in which all students feel welcomed and valued. 

Key topics discussed in the workshop will include: recognizing the multiple intersecting identities of TAs, instructors, and students; building classroom communities; using inclusive language and inclusive teaching strategies. By the end of this workshop, you will be better equipped to use teaching strategies to meet diverse learners’ needs and develop in your role as an instructor of diverse learners.

Frequency of offerings:

• Fall, Winter, Spring

Modalities:

• In-person
• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

*This is a core workshop, and is offered at least once each term

The mental health and well-being of University of Waterloo students is a shared responsibility. Situations related to student mental health may arise in academic courses, and in many cases, teaching assistants may be the first to notice. In this module, we will explore how to proactively support student mental health in the classroom and how to respond to mental health problems that come to your attention. We will consider implications for both in-person and online courses. We will also discuss the importance of taking care of your own mental health while supporting students.

Frequency of offerings:

• Fall, Winter, Spring

Modalities:

• Asynchronous online (in LEARN)

Time Commitment:

•  Approximately 2-3 hours.

Social anxiety is becoming increasingly more common among students in higher education. Students who experience heightened social anxiety are at risk for a host of negative academic outcomes, including lower student engagement, satisfaction, sense of connectedness, and grades, and higher rates of attrition. As a Teaching Assistant (TA), you have the ability to support students who experience social anxiety through a variety of pedagogical approaches. During this module, we will discuss teaching strategies that you can incorporate into your role as a TA along with barriers you may face. By the end of this module, you will have developed a toolkit of strategies to help support the learning of students with social anxiety, which can be implemented into your role as a TA!

Frequency of offerings:

• At least once a calendar year

Modalities:

• Asynchronous online (in LEARN)

Time Commitment:

•  Approximately 2-3 hours.

In this highly interactive workshop, you will learn about trauma-informed pedagogy: teaching practices that are informed by an understanding of trauma, its prevalence, and its impact on learning. We will identify concrete actions you can take while teaching that support all students, especially those who have experienced trauma.

Frequency of offerings:

• At least once a calendar year

Modalities:

• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

Our courses include students with diverse backgrounds, unique lived experiences, and varying abilities; these factors affect how they learn. Effective teaching considers students in the design and implementation of instruction. This workshop will introduce you to the concepts of universal design and accessibility, and help you identify concrete changes you can make to integrate these concepts into your teaching. You will discuss actions you can take to implement universal design strategies in your role as a TA.

Frequency of offerings:

• At least once a calendar year

Modalities:

• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours

*This workshop is offered in collaboration with the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office (SVPRO)

TAs are an important contact for students - within the classroom, in tutorials, labs, and office hours. Often, you are the person students first connect with to seek academic help and accommodations, and in seeking support, students may disclose experiences of sexual violence that impact their academics and well-being. In this session, you will learn how to provide a supportive response and assist students in accessing further resources. Additionally, you will learn about your responsibilities regarding confidentiality, and where limits to your confidentiality exist. Lastly, you’ll examine your own attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs to understand how they impact responses to disclosures.

Frequency of offerings:

• At least once a calendar year

Modalities:

• Mixed-mode online (asynchronous pre-work, followed by online session in Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  approximately 3 hours

A learning circle functions by discussion occurring as sharing, open questioning, inclusive design with the result of a co-created territorial acknowledgment for those present. We will also discuss the importance of land acknowledgements to Indigenous people and the differences between a territorial acknowledgement and a land acknowledgement.

** In this circle we recognize that identity is complex and that many people of settler, mixed Indigenous heritage, or those who have been removed from their culture, may question if they belong in Indigenous workshops, activities, ceremonies or circles, but we would like to assure you that you are welcome to connect in this space.

Frequency of offerings:

• At least once a calendar year

Modalities:

• Online (Zoom)

Time Commitment:

•  1.5 hours