The Graduate Teaching Center provides a wide array of teaching enhancement services to teaching fellows and anyone else teaching at Yale. Most GTC courses and workshops are led or assisted by our graduate student fellows, who receive extensive training in such areas as course design, learning theory, active and collaborative learning, grading and feedback, and assessment. These themes form the foundation for all of the Center’s programming.
Many GTC programs are offered annually and are open to all departments. Other programs and one-time workshops are developed in response to requests from individual teachers and specific academic departments. Graduate students and faculty are encouraged to contact us to discuss opportunities for presenting an aspect of their teaching experience to the Yale community or creating a department-specific workshop or series on teaching.
The Certificate of College Teaching Preparation (CTP) is an opportunity for graduate students to complete a comprehensive training program in effective college teaching. The certificate is not a summative evaluation of your teaching; rather, it provides a record of your participation in teaching activities and your reflections on those experiences. Drawing upon programs offered by the GTC and its partners across campus, graduate students use the CTP guidelines to organize and receive recognition for their efforts to become effective classroom teachers. We believe that graduate students who complete the certificate program will be better able to teach undergraduates at Yale and beyond, more attractive candidates for colleges and universities who are recruiting skillful teachers, and have used their time as graduate students and the teaching support resources at Yale in an advantageous and efficient way. Please review the program requirements to determine if you wish to register.
These programs provide an orientation to teaching in Yale College for all teaching fellows. We offer a Teaching at Yale Day session at the beginning of each semester and at the beginning of summer session. These events are open to all disciplines, although the fall program is split between a session for the sciences and a session for the social sciences and humanities. Each fall there is also a special orientation program for TFs in EPH and a program designed for TFs in BBS departments.
By attending Teaching at Yale Day, you will:
Fundamentals of Teaching Courses provide an introduction to teaching for all first-time Yale TFs. In these workshops, you will be exposed to the best practices in your field of teaching, including tried and true strategies for making your section, lab, or review session as powerful for students as it can possibly be. In addition, participants will gain a foundation in effective practice that will serve you throughout your career, even if you are not headed for an academic job.
Teaching Fellows who register for and complete any Fundamentals Course will receive a transcript notation, certifying that you have been trained in the basic teaching practices of your discipline or area. Completion of a Fundamentals course also fulfils one element of the Certificate in College Teaching Preparation. Your workshop leaders will verify the standards of completion.
If you have any questions about the Fundamental Courses, or which course would be best for you, please contact the Graduate Teaching Center at 432-7702.
Each year we offer a series of Advanced Teaching Workshops representing a broad range of topics, such as teaching students with different levels of preparation, teaching students to write well, and helping students read texts. Attendance at five of these workshops will earn participants a transcript notation for participating in the Advanced Teaching Series. These individual workshops count toward the advanced pedagogy workshop requirement of the certificate program.
Participants in this workshop series will gain valuable tools to help them get started in the classroom. Topics will include elements of course and syllabus design, presentation skills and lecture writing, how to promote active learning, incorporation of science information literacy, and effective use of writing and other assignments. This series is offered every spring and alternates between science hill and medical school locations.
This workshop series addresses skills and strategies that science graduate students and postdocs will find helpful and they prepare for an academic job. This series is offered every two to three years and features guest speakers from the Yale faculty. Junior professors share their perspectives on what it’s like to get started and senior professors will offer advice about teaching non-majors, engaging students in any course, and developing your leadership skills and manager and mentor for your own lab group. The final session provides practical advice on writing a teaching statement, making the most of your teaching experience, and talking about teaching during an interview.
In 2009-2010, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences launched a pilot “Associates in Teaching” (AT) program designed to expand the range of teaching experiences and responsibilities for advanced Ph.D. students at Yale. Through this program, an advanced Ph.D. student may work with a cooperating faculty member to conceptualize or redesign, plan, and deliver an undergraduate course. We hope this new program will provide a dynamic cooperative teaching experience for a graduate student and faculty member together, with the faculty member offering direct feedback on curriculum, discussion leading, lecturing, demonstrating or whatever teaching practices are appropriate for that course. Up to six courses will be selected to be taught in the 2009-2010 academic year, two in the humanities, two in the sciences, and two in the social sciences, with an expansion to nine courses, three in each division, anticipated for 2010-2011. The pilot program will undergo a full review, including interviews with participating faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates, in the Spring of 2010.
Every fall we collaborate with Graduate Career Services to help graduate students prepare for the academic job market with the Academic Job Search Series. Sessions are free and do not require advance registration. The fall series is for graduate students in all departments. Several sessions are repeated in the spring semester to provide additional opportunities to prepare for an academic interview.
This series is designed to help graduate students and postdocs in the sciences find postdoc positions and prepare for an academic job search. Each session features guest speakers or Yale faculty members who will address topics such as how to find a postdoc position, what it is like to be a new faculty member, how to prepare application materials, and what selection committee members really look for. This series is offered in late May or early June.