Led by: Rebecca Miller Brown, Assistant Director, Graduate Student Programming, and Caroline Rende, Interim Associate Director, Graduate Career Services, MCS
How do you leverage your teaching experience in your job search? As a teacher you learn so much, including how to communicate complex topics, organize material, facilitate a group, manage time, set goals, support students, and give feedback. How can you articulate these skills? How might these skills be valued by employers? In this interactive workshop hosted by the Derek Bok...
Led by: Pamela Pollock, Director of Professional Development
Stay for lunch to discuss how to apply what you learned from Erika Bailey’s Engaged Communication session to practice and get feedback on communicating your research. We consider how the basic principles of good pedagogy are also the basic principles of effective and engaging speaking: having clear goals and structuring the content to help the audience understand and become engaged in the material. This session is designed for all PhD students who want to be more engaging teachers or prepare for...
Led by: Erika Bailey, Head of Voice and Speech, American Repertory Theater; Lecturer on Theater, Dance & Media
We spend most of our time preparing for class or presentations by focusing on what we need to cover—what we need to SAY. But are we actually reaching our audiences? Our physical as well as our vocal presence play an integral role in our ability to communicate our ideas and engage students and other audiences. Using exercises from the theater that strengthen vocal and physical expressiveness, we will explore strategies to keep our audiences...
Led by: Sarah Emory, Assistant Director, International Teachers and Scholars
How do our language and cultural backgrounds affect the ways we think about communication? What strategies can we use to communicate clearly in academic and professional settings? In this interactive session, we will explore cultural components of communication and then practice specific strategies to speak clearly and confidently, to listen effectively, and to handle unexpected questions. This session is designed for those who speak English as an additional language but is...
Led by: Ashlie Sandoval-Lee, Assistant Director, Equity & Inclusion
Challenging moments can emerge even in the best-designed courses. Instructors and students might be tasked with engaging with materials or comments that conflict with their worldview; they may encounter or perpetuate microaggressions in the classroom; or they may become activated by course content. When classroom discussions and activities result in unforeseeable, unintended, or unwanted outcomes, those moments can be stressful for instructors. How can you stay present and...
Led by: Rebecca Miller Brown, Assistant Director, Graduate Student Programming
In many disciplines, students are meant to learn from “doing the reading,” discussing it in class, and then writing a paper or doing a project about it. How can we make the discussion component of this process (which largely happens in section) effective and engaging, and how can we build these skills as teachers? In this session we will consider what makes for a productive discussion in your discipline, how students know what “counts” as contributing to a discussion, and how...
Led by: Anza Mitchell, Assistant Director, Science Pedagogy
Do you want to design problems that will help your students develop their critical thinking skills and understand your course content better? How do you help students learn how to do the problems in section without giving them the answers? In this session, we will explore principles of problem design and best practices for running problem-based sections. We will practice evaluating problem sets and different types of feedback. You will leave this session with strategies to design and teach...
Led by: Lee Cannon-Brown, Bok Pedagogy Fellow, and other experienced TFs
During the busy semester, it can be difficult to find the energy to stay motivated and to keep your students engaged too! Connecting with your peers and seeking out teaching mentors can be important both for your own development as a teacher and for keeping yourself and your students engaged throughout the term. In this interactive panel discussion, we will explore our approaches to 1) defining teaching goals and priorities, 2) aligning teacher and student expectations, 3) building...
Led by: Chloe Chapin, Assistant Director, Course Design
How do I plan a section? What’s a good in-class activity? How do I grade this assignment? How should I start planning a sample syllabus for the job market? As an instructor, your challenge is to create a learning environment where students have the tools, opportunity, and desire to learn. How do you create the conditions where this is possible? In this session, we will use backwards design to practice planning engaging and goal-oriented courses, assignments, lessons, and activities. Backwards course...
The emergence of generative A.I. has the potential to change how we learn, how we teach, and how we work. How can we design our courses to help students learn about and be prepared to engage with a future that includes A.I., without compromising our core mission of helping them to develop an independent mind and original voice, the ability to reason, and intellectual humility? In this session we’ll share information, examples, and best practices derived from our work with faculty who are at the forefront of...
The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in our programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about a program/event, please contact bokcenter@fas.harvard.edu or 617.495.4869 in advance of your participation or visit.
