As a non-native English speaking teacher or scholar, what strategies can you apply to improve your intelligibility when speaking English? What features of English pronunciation can you use to make it easy for others to follow you? This hands-on, interactive seminar is designed to help you assess your own pronunciation and provide focused practice on common issues that affect intelligibility. In each class we will complete exercises and activities that highlight different pronunciation features such as intonation, word and sentence stress, pausing, rhythm,...
What can new TFs do to get ready for the first day of class and beyond? In this seminar, you will practically prepare to teach for the first time, learn about resources available to you as you begin your teaching career, and build confidence in the process! We will help new TFs explore best practices for traditional section teaching. We will follow the arc of the semester; each session will be devoted to a teaching topic, including the first day of class, inclusive teaching, lesson planning and delivery, and giving and receiving...
Led by Marlon Kuzmick, Christine D'Auria, and Jordan Koffman
In the average course, students will spend a large chunk of their time listening, a large chunk of their time reading, and some of their time making things. This seminar is devoted to the making chunk, and, within this chunk, to modes of making that are either newly emergent or overlooked.
Over the course of five sessions in the Bok Center’s Learning Lab, we will experiment with a number of different media and tools, from podcasting to performance to 3D-modeling to photography. No previous experience of...
How does memory work? What strategies—inside and outside of the classroom—help students retain information and apply their knowledge to new situations? In this seminar, we will explore how students learn, drawing on neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and educational research. We’ll examine topics including motivation, metacognition, growth mindset, and retrieval practice, and discuss how to apply this knowledge to our own teaching. During the last two sessions of the seminar, each student will present a concept drawn from The ABC’s of How We Learn:...
Are you on or near the job market? Enthused or concerned about the prospect of assembling a teaching portfolio, writing a syllabus, or giving a teaching demonstration? Wondering what, exactly, a “teaching philosophy” is, and how you get one? While Harvard hopefully has given you opportunities to practice and receive feedback on your teaching, it is often the case that your career as a TF is shaped by forces beyond your control: that is to say, that you’ve taught in courses, in modalities, and with assignments set by someone else, which...
How do you skillfully address race in the classroom, accounting for the multiple identities that students hold? How can you facilitate classroom discussions that center race without perpetuating racial harm? In this practice-based seminar, we’ll read articles from scholars working on the intersections of mindfulness and race and practice different mindfulness techniques. Drawing on scholarship and our own experiences, we’ll learn to craft learning scenarios that process hard moments instead of circumventing challenging discussions. We’ll explore how to...
