CIRTLCast 2015-2016
Teaching in the USis a workshop seriesfrom the University of Maryland, College Park and CIRTL, designed to bring international STEM students together to learn about higher education in the United States. The series will cover practical topics, like grading and how to communicate with students, in addition to longer discussions around the unique insights that international TAs bring to STEM classrooms. Sessions will take place on the secondThursdayof every month from September through April; there will be no sessions in December and January.
Block one: Fall semester 2015
Session 1:Culturalexpectations
Time: Sep 10th, 9:00PT/10:00MT/11:00CT/12:00ET
Speaker: Sabrina Kramer, Assistant Director, University of Maryland
Description: Different cultural backgrounds can create problems in the classroom.ITAs may at timeshold incorrect assumptions of American students’ academic and communicative expectations. This session aims to help ITAs to understand American students’ expectations in order to help ITAsimprove their teaching and class design.
Session 2: Developing effectivecommunication skills
Time: Oct 8th, 9:00PT/10:00MT/11:00CT/12:00ET
Speaker: Annie Laurie Nichols, Instructor of Record, University of Maryland
Description: Language barriers have been considered as one of the biggest obstaclesfor international TAs. However, many researches have proven that the improvement of language proficiency cannot solve all the problems because many problems are actually caused by a lack of communications skills. Developing effective communication skills can improve ITAs’ teaching significantly even with a limited vocabulary.
Session 3: Grading and effective feedback in the Americansystem
Time: Nov 12th, 9:00PT/10:00MT/11:00CT/12:00ET
Speakers: Sabrina Kramer, Assistant Director, University of Maryland
Lijuan Shi, CIRTL Coordinator, University of Maryland
Description:Because grades are used as evaluations of student work, it’s important that grades accurately reflect the quality of student work and that student work is graded fairly. It’s no surprise that grades are a source of anxiety for students and that grading is often a stressful process for international TAs, as grading with accuracy and fairness can take a lot of time. This session will introduce the American grading system to ITAs, place an emphasis on strategies that can decrease the stress of grading, and provide suggestions for how to give meaningful feedback to students and minimize student complaints about grading.
Block two: Spring semester 2016
Session 1: Recognizing and handling acceptable/unacceptable student behavior.
Time:Feb11th,9:00PT/10:00MT/11:00CT/12:00ET
Speakers: University of Maryland TA panel
Description:International TAs varying cultural experiences and expectations maylead them to make incorrect judgments about students’ behavior. This session will place emphasis on helping international TAs to recognize and handle acceptable and unacceptable student behaviors.
Session 2: Using your international background to your advantage in the classroom
Time:March 10th,9:00PT/10:00MT/11:00CT/12:00ET
Speaker:Kimberly Kenyon, Associate Director, Cornel University
Description: Cultural differences have always been addressed as a barrier for international TAs. However, if international TAs could apply their cultural backgrounds as advantages in their classrooms, not only would this barrier be removed, but their classes would also be broadened by integrating perspectives from other cultures. This session will present some examples of integrating ITAs’ background into their classes and will allow ITAs to explore how their backgrounds can be effectively used in the classrooms.
Session 3:Developing your own teaching philosophy by incorporating your cultural backgrounds.
Time:April 14th,9:00PT/10:00MT/11:00CT/12:00ET
Speaker: Khara Schonfeld-Karan Graduate, Program Coordinator, University of Maryland
Description:A teaching philosophy is one of the most important components of a graduate students’ teaching portfolio. ITAs’ diverse cultural backgrounds should be considered as valuable resources for their professional developmentand also provide unique perspectives for the creation of a teaching philosophy. This session will help ITAs to develop high quality teaching philosophies by using their unique cultural backgrounds.