For the month of January, and in celebration of our two year and 100th post anniversaries, we’re revisiting some of our most viewed columns. For all of you who are teaching this semester, here’s our post about the best (imho) way to teach privilege, particularly at predominately white institutions. Enjoy! Read more…
Hey you! Yeah, you! You made it to the end of the term! Congratulations!!! I am so incredibly proud of you for all the hard work you’ve put in to make it to this point. No, I’m not proud of your productivity (but whatever you managed to do is awesome, Read more…
Humanities PhD programs will pull you in a lot of different directions. Almost every humanities PhD student I have ever met is trying to be their best researcher-self, teacher-self, activist-self, and human-self. It’s a lot. We’ve talked before about learning to balance these multiple desires and multiple expectations. One part Read more…
Earlier this week we addressed the topic of expertise. Specifically, that you have it. Your expertise doesn’t require you to know everything in the class you are teaching. Rather, your expertise is in your knowledge of how to learn. Many new teachers feel an immense amount of stress around needing Read more…
My MA program, like many humanities PhD programs, came with a teaching assistantship. I taught two sections of public speaking and, in return, the university waived my tuition and paid me a (very) small stipend. I was nervous about my first teaching assignment for several reasons. Like many students entering Read more…
Don’t be afraid to make your students work. I know, it sounds obvious, but I often meet graduate student instructors who feel comfortable testing their students but not making them work. Your students are one of your best resources in teaching and you should use them so that your job Read more…
In education, as in anything else, there are two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is, like it sounds, motivation that is external in the form of rewards of some sort. In teaching, rewards correlate to an increase in grade in some way. Intrinsic motivation is, like it Read more…
It seems like a simple question: we all know what it means to learn. We’ve been learning our whole lives and, if you got into grad school, you’re probably pretty good at learning. Sometimes, when we are good at something, we don’t think much about how that thing works. Addressing Read more…
Listen. I have something important to tell you. You may not believe me, but I promise that what I’m about to tell you is 1000% true and it’s important for you to sit with this knowledge: Every working professor I know is A MESS when it comes to teaching. No. Read more…
If you’re not familiar with Dr. Who’s home/time traveling device/constant companion then the idea that teaching is a TARDIS may not make sense to you but it’s not hard to get. A TARDIS is bigger on the inside than the outside. Similarly, teaching takes up much more of your actual Read more…