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TLN: Do you feel that your completion of the
University Teaching and Learning Program assisted you in your successful job
search, directly or indirectly?
JL: I was involved with CTE
programs at various levels during all five years of my doctoral
program and these experiences definitely helped me on the job
search. It was clear from my CV that I not only had teaching
experience, but that I took teaching seriously through Scholarship
of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) projects, completing the UTLP
program, and the CTE award for Teaching Assistants.
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"...it was primarily through UTLP involvement and CTE resources
and workshops that I gained skills in reflecting on my teaching,
assessment, techniques and activities, understanding different
pedagogical concepts and tools, and conducting SoTL studies."
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Through UTLP, I
also compiled a teaching portfolio, which required me to think about
my teaching philosophy, summarize my teaching evaluations, and
compile various products that demonstrated my commitment to
teaching. All of this gave me confidence on the job market, and
these initiatives were seen as very positive by my prospective
colleagues.
TLN:
How has your work through UTLP helped to prepare you for your
current teaching position?
JL: I felt prepared to teach,
and had amassed a fat tool box of teaching techniques and approaches
for different learning styles and ways of making teaching creative
and fun. I think new instructors and faculty members may focus too
much on the quantity and rigor of their content, at the expense of
thinking about how to most effectively deliver content, stimulate
learning, and create experiences in the classroom where learning
happens naturally. I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity
to teach courses autonomously through my department. However, it was
primarily through UTLP involvement and CTE resources and workshops
that I gained skills in reflecting on my teaching, assessment,
techniques and activities, understanding different pedagogical
concepts and tools, and conducting SoTL studies. I also learned many
practical teaching strategies through attending Lilly-East teaching
conferences with CTE.
TLN: Do you feel your experiences with UTLP changed your approach to
teaching in any way?
JL: UTLP required me to think about |
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my teaching philosophy, and this
process gave me the desire to bring my teaching approaches (delivery
of content, classroom climate, structure of discussions, relationships with students, and even grading
policies) into alignment with my vision of the purpose of education.
I also learned about dozens of great practical tips that I could put
to use right away, including using things like pair sharing, buzz
groups, flip charts and dots, grading rubrics, one minute feedback
forms, peer feedback tools, mind-maps, teaching around the learning
style circle, and use of intermittent rewards during class. However,
it really is more than a long list of tricks. I learned principles
that facilitate student engagement that I fall back on every day.
These include principles like:
* Make the content relevant and meaningful.
* Elicit and build upon students’ prior knowledge.
* Change the pace
about every half hour.
* Involve students as actively as possible.
* Learning happens spontaneously when you’re having fun; humor “makes
the medicine go down.”
* Learn at least 10% of your students names
right away.
* Think behaviorally (e.g. what behavior am I
reinforcing?).
* Elicit feedback often.
With these and other
principles in mind, along with repeated exposure through CTE and
UTLP to creative ideas, and opportunities to teach, I am learning to
trust my intuition as an educator.
Attending to teaching as a skill set in itself
has afforded me greater objectivity about my successes and failures.
It’s hard to overestimate the stress of teaching your first class of
65 students - alone. The first class I taught at University of
Maryland four years ago I was so worried about
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"...it really is more than a long list of tricks. I learned
principles that facilitate student engagement that I fall back
on every day." |
being a perfect teacher and how the students would rate me. Not
helpful! Now I can enjoy teaching and routinely evaluate my
teaching without a lot of bruised ego about it all. I welcome
student feedback often, am eager to experiment with new approaches,
and learn from my mistakes and successes alike.
TLN: From your time within the UTLP, is there any particular |
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experience that is especially memorable?
JL: Two events stand out. The first is the UTLP Portfolio Retreat held in
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"I don't think I will ever get bored with teaching, because I know there are a thousand things I haven't tried yet – and I'm glad I have a long stretch in front of me to explore this territory. "
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January. We spent about 3-4 days in a group of like-minded interdisciplinary scholars and hammered out our teaching philosophies and developed teaching portfolios. We also met with experts on various topics like how to represent your teaching on your CV. The concentrated approach to this task was very effective and I honestly can say I might not have come around to it without this structure and support. Making a teaching portfolio is a big job, but well worth it.
The second is attending and presenting at the Lilly-East Conference on College and University Teaching for two years in a row. Even thinking back on Lilly-East now is a powerful reminder of the art and science of teaching itself (apart from our content areas) within higher education, and the many amazing national and regional scholars who make teaching and student development a top priority in their careers. Lilly is also practical - we all walked away with armloads of great ideas, presented in a fun way, that we were ready to put to use on Monday morning. Besides, it is also just a brief getaway from the daily grind of grad school and because you can apply for a grant from CTE to pay for the weekend (including registration, nice hotel, and meals), it was a little perk of being involved with CTE that graduate students on stipends can appreciate! The Lilly experience felt like CTE was giving us both practical support and a symbolic “thanks” for investing time and energy into teaching at U. of M.
TLN: If you can identify the most important skill that you took away from UTLP, what is it? JL: The most important skill I took away from UTLP was the ability and confidence to try new approaches in the classroom to reach students. I don't think I will ever get bored with teaching, because I know there are a thousand things I haven't tried yet – and I'm glad I have a long stretch in front of me to explore this territory.
TLN: What was the most useful requirement you fulfilled as part of UTLP?
JL: The Teaching Portfolio.
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