The role of Head Teaching Fellow in a larger lecture course can be one of the most rewarding ways for an early-career teacher (i.e. a graduate student) to see how a more experienced instructor (i.e. a faculty coursehead) creates and curates an environment, a set of materials, and a teaching team up close. It can also be a very demanding job, as Head TFs often are called upon to make policy decisions, improvise logistics, and referee differences of opinion among their peers and students alike. The Bok Center is happy to meet with Head TFs about any aspect of course design, classroom practice, teaching staff relationships, or anything else that may come up over the course of a term.
Head TF Resources
Pre-Term Planner
As a Head TF, it's especially important that you be on the same page as your coursehead with regard to how you will share duties with him/her—as well as among your fellow TFs. Who will update the Canvas site? Draft each problem set? Write the midterm? We suggest using our pre-term planner as a way to start the conversation within your teaching staff.
Useful Links
Where your coursehead should place book orders
The Registrar's website on sectioning protocols and the sectioning tool in my.harvard
How to request rooms for sections (FAS RoomBook)
Where to peruse rooms (including capacity, media capabilities, and photos)
How to request videotaping and other media support
Help with all things Canvas (Academic Technology for the FAS)
How to link to readings directly on Canvas — different from the Library Reserves tool (and here are the library's Copyright First Responders if you have questions)
The Accessible Education Office
OUE's Instructional Lunch Fund for staff meetings