eDossier
Created for Graduate Teaching and Learning Program Level 2 (November 3rd-10th, 2022)
I believe that students learn through doing and practicing while being supported in an engaging environment where they are challenged to develop knowledge and skills beyond the classroom. Every student has a unique and individual way of learning, and I believe the goal of teaching is to give students the fundamental knowledge to facilitate their understanding so they can apply what they have learned in their lives.
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Treat everyone with empathy and compassion. As an instructor, I aim to put myself in the student's shoes and understand their perspectives. While I can draw from my own experiences, it is also important to acknowledge that each student’s experience is vastly different and will require different approaches to learning. I will take into careful consideration things such as limiting work to be done outside of class, so as to not interfere with students’ personal lives and other commitments outside of school.
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Encourage a welcoming and inclusive classroom. Every student must be able to achieve their goals in class and to do so, they must be provided with equal opportunity to learn. I will strive to provide students with the tools they need to succeed, such as providing learning material that is accessible to students with learning disabilities or other barriers and helping students feel welcome by taking time to get to know them individually and learning how they would like to be addressed.
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Foster curiosity and interest. Students must be motivated and interested in the material they are learning to develop a curiosity for the subject matter. I believe it is the instructor’s responsibility to create a classroom environment that encourages students to ask questions by facilitating an active learning environment. I will do this by approaching teaching from various perspectives and incorporating diverse learning contexts, and using new technologies and student resources when appropriate.
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Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. I believe that students should focus on developing skills that will help them in the long term beyond the classroom, rather than just learning course material in the short term. Students need to be able to integrate their own experiences into their coursework. Therefore, I will teach material that allows students to connect new knowledge to real-world applications to help them develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills that extend beyond their education.
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Promote clear communication and feedback. Students deserve an opportunity to improve over the course of a semester. I believe it is the instructor’s responsibility to provide continuous feedback and communication with students. The students should also be presented with the opportunity to provide feedback to the instructor. I will facilitate this by remaining professional and approachable and giving students methods of providing instructor feedback, then implementing changes when necessary.
What are the steps or strategies I will take?
Engage in professional development opportunities to learn about teaching
Implement philosophies and strategies while TAing in the following semester
Seek out different opportunities for teaching as a graduate student
Receive and apply feedback from students to further improve my teaching
Determine my interests and develop a plan for teaching as a future career
What is the realistic timeframe to accomplish this step or strategy?
1-2 months
3-5 months
6-8 months
1-2 years
2-4 years
How will I evaluate each step or strategy?
Complete GTLP Level 2 and register for Level 3 in the coming months
Identify limitations from this semester and make a list of ways to overcome them
Make a list of classes I could potentially TA that have a variety of teaching activities
Review feedback from students and create a plan to address weaknesses
Consider grad school teaching experience and decide on career goals
How will I know if I achieved the goal?
Successfully passed both courses and have a clearer understanding of teaching
Saw an improvement in students' learning and understanding
Obtained different teaching positions and implemented different teaching methods
Plan was put into place with specific weaknesses and how to address them
Decided whether teaching is a future career goal and applied for teaching jobs
What are two or three things the presenter did well? The presenter had great and attractive slides, an interesting topic and engaged the audience.
What are two or three things the presenter might consider for their video recording? There is a lot of information to be put out there about cat breeds, and even though I'm familiar with the topic, I think that it's a lot to take in in just 3 minutes. Having said that, it's our nature to want to give as much information as possible so I'd consider speaking a little bit slower because the audience (at least I) had a hard time trying to listen and follow the slides at the same time.
Was there a clear hook that caught your attention and piqued your interest in the topic? If yes, what? Yes! Cat breeds aren't as well documented and understood as dog breeds
Was the intended learning outcome clear, and did it articulate an element of Bloom's Taxonomy? Yes, the intended learning outcome was to understand how to identify different cat breeds, and judging by the example in the end of the presentation, most people were able to correctly identify that cat's breed. As for Bloom's Taxonomy, I can identify a few elements being present there: remember, evaluate and apply.
How were the presenter's active learning elements? They were good! Having a quiz at the end of the presentation was a great way to get the audience engaged and applying the concepts they just learned about.
How was the presenter's time management? As I stated previously, there was a lot of information being given out for just a 3 minute presentation. Because of that, the presenter seemed to be rushing their speech to get all the needed information to the audience considering the time constraint. Having just the 3 minutes to watch the presentation and absorb enough to make constructive feedback, for me at least it seemed like a lot.
How was the presenter's use of technology? Most issues, everyone had, were zoom related. Sophie was on the second half of presenters in our group, so there was enough time to learn from others' issues which meant this aspect of the presentation was perfect. For the recording I'd just use the slideshow on google slides.
How were the presenter's visuals? Great! Beautiful and clean slides, not a lot of text and clutter which made the presentation very present to the audience.