Workshop Leader: Barbara Bergstrom, Bowling Green State University
Designed for graduate students who work as teaching assistants, this workshop leads attendees through a series of discussion prompts, visual engagements, and intra/interactive strategies in preparation for teaching undergraduate students. Though focused on earning degrees themselves, graduate students often embrace the demanding and complex challenge of teaching. This workshop aims to demystify several aspects of successful teaching. Workshop attendees will learn ways to prepare the nuts and bolts of a semester incorporating university policies and curricular expectations and designing a syllabus that can serve as a teaching tool. Among recommendations for ways to establish themselves as the classroom “expert”, attendees will hear how to set course expectations on the first day of class while building community among students within a large lecture hall or a small classroom. Promoting pedagogies that further deep learning, the body of this workshop will include several examples of oral, written, and visual teaching strategies to engage, mentor, and assess novice art students. These can include communicating using visual metaphors, assigning homework that applies to life outside of class, and designing peer evaluations for projects. Suggestions will also be provided for giving demonstrations and presentations and promoting students’ full participation within group projects and critique Sessions. As research recognizes benefits of both personal and professional self-reflection, attendees will be prompted to consider how their own values, beliefs, and motivations for pursuing creative scholarship can tailor their roles as teaching assistants to the advantage of students. The workshop will conclude amid tips for developing a professional teaching portfolio and open Q&A.
