As scholars, we are always developing our research, but how do we think about learning and growing as teachers? This spring, an interdisciplinary group of ten PhD students explored frameworks for teaching development to consider this question and become more reflective and effective teachers in our Bok Seminar, Taking Your Teaching to the Next Level: Practice, Feedback, and Reflection.
Students in the seminar considered their own goals and questions they have about their teaching, and how they might use the framework we teach in the seminar to answer those questions. In the process they explored the nuances of both giving and receiving feedback and learned strategies they can apply to their teaching. The seminar, and all of our programming for PhD students, is organized around Stephen Brookfield’s lenses of critical reflection, asking what can I learn about my teaching by considering it through four different lenses: self, students, colleagues, and literature.
Learning from the self can mean anything from keeping a teaching journal, to watching a video of your class and thinking about how the students are experiencing it. How can you become aware of what you do as a teacher? How can you make sure you are making intentional choices? As students in the class explained:
- Self-assessment is so important - I wish I had started keeping a teaching journal before! As someone who is incredibly self-critical, identifying what worked well and not so well after each section is really helpful to reflect on (and implement).
- Keeping a journal of notes for my teaching has been transformative. It has helped me build rapport with my students, anticipate issues that might be present with the content for the day and how it ties into the lecture, and identify positive and constructive things about my teaching.
In class students explored different ways to learn from students, especially considering how to implement low stakes strategies to collect feedback from students, also called classroom assessment techniques (CATs). A common technique is called a minute paper, where after each class the teacher asks the students to spend a minute answering questions like: what have I learned, what am I confused about, and what do I want to learn more about? Doing this in class regularly can increase student engagement, help the instructor know where students may need extra attention, and help keep the lines of communication open between instructors and students:
- The CATs were great! I applied a few already in my class.
- I like learning about CATs, how to implement them, and why and how they are useful.
- Showing us different strategies (like the minute paper) was great and very concrete because it was adaptable to our classes.
One premise of our work at the Bok Center is that teachers learn by talking about their teaching with colleagues, both to get ideas from each other and to learn how their plans sound to others. We are often “holding up the mirror” for instructors to become more aware of the moves they are making. In the seminar, students completed both a peer observation and a video consultation. Video consultation is a service we offer PhD students through our cohort of Pedagogy Fellows, who work with us throughout the year as teaching consultants.
- I enjoyed observing other students' classes and seeing different approaches to teaching. Receiving feedback on my teaching was also helpful. I was able to build on that feedback to help increase engagement in my class.
- I found this very valuable...I was able to ask my consultant what they thought about specific decisions I made when teaching and brainstorm what alternative approaches might have been.
- I enjoyed the video consultation. While I was nervous at first, it was helpful to see myself teaching and have a visual of what my students were doing when I taught. The feedback from the consultant was clear and provided tangible suggestions that I can apply in future classes.
Finally, students in the seminar learned more about teaching statements, wrote a first draft, and reviewed each other’s drafts. The teaching statement, beyond its use in job market portfolios, is an opportunity for scholars to articulate their approach to teaching, and can also be a tool for self-reflection.
- Reading statements and hearing someone else's perspective on my teaching style was a really valuable exercise before writing the teaching statement.
- Receiving feedback from my peers on this document when they know me and can see the links between me and the statement was incredibly useful - as was learning from their strengths in writing this document which were perhaps the elements missing in my own.
- The many sources of feedback we've received through the seminar were super helpful for writing the teaching statement, and the feedback we received on them was helpful too!
As one of the students shared on the last day of class, “The community that was created throughout the seminar was especially creative, and generous, and I learned a lot about pedagogy and teaching in general.” This seminar is one example of our ongoing effort to bring our values of learning, practice, reflection, and community to instructors at all stages. Students in the seminar were also able to complete many of the requirements for the Bok Teaching Certificate. We look forward to future iterations of the seminar, and welcome discussions with instructors who have questions about their teaching or would like to learn more about our approach.