Viewpoint

TLC’s help for grad student teachers is ‘Only consultation, never evaluation!’

By David Brock

This is an open letter to all graduate students at the University of Saskatchewan. As you continue to read further please keep repeating to yourself — "No evaluations!"

Many graduate students are thrust into the responsibility of teaching, whether that is with grading, helping with essay writing, leading tutorials, lab instruction, or lecturing.

Some graduate students have little, and often no, prior experience in one or any of these areas. This can lead to nervousness, confusion and a general uneasiness about fulfilling these duties – often duties that are required in the acceptance of fellowships.

There are graduate students, however, that are confident, trained and experienced teachers. Regardless of age or level of expertise, most teachers fall somewhere in the middle of this continuum.

Located on the first floor of the Murray Library Bldg. is the Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre. This Centre currently employs two graduate students as Peer Teaching Consultants. Our names are David Brock and Tereigh Ewert-Bauer.

As consultants we are here to listen, consult, direct graduate students to teaching resources, and listen.

Graduate students voluntarily come into our office for assistance. Departments are required, though, to ensure that their graduate students do receive some kind of teacher training when accepting a fellowship.

All discussions are absolutely confidential. No persons, including the university president, deans, department heads, thesis advisors, or the directors of this Centre have access to this private information.

An example is most useful to demonstrate the resource we provide:

Lisa is a graduate student in physics. As part of her fellowship responsibilities she has been assigned to tutor a weekly undergraduate lab. After the first three weeks of tutoring, Lisa finds that she is repeatedly having difficulty conveying the principle of gravity – especially to two unruly brothers from Watrous who insist that the mineral springs prove Newton to be incorrect. The intensity of this debate has begun to disrupt the balance and progress of the entire lab.

One day, already being on the first floor of the Murray library, Lisa decides to visit the Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre. There she meets Tereigh, and the two of them discuss her difficulties for about 30 minutes. They mutually decide to arrange for Tereigh to come into the lab one day and sit with the students, to observe their behaviour and Lisa’s instructional skills. Tereigh and Lisa have agreed prior to Tereigh’s visit to focus on improving her control and credibility in the classroom.

After the lab is complete, Lisa leaves the room and gives Tereigh the opportunity to discuss with the students their thoughts, including those brothers from Watrous, about how they feel the class is going and could be improved.

Based on her observations and discussions with the students, Tereigh writes a two-page consultation outlining Lisa’s teaching strengths and suggests some possible solutions for improving her control and credibility. Tereigh and Lisa meet one final time in private to discuss the consultation results

Lisa then thanks Tereigh for her willingness to listen and helpful comments, and walks away with a documented record of her commitment to teaching –stamped with the Gwenna Moss TLC letterhead. Lisa then tells all her graduate student friends who are now anxious to meet Tereigh and her consulting partner David.

You will notice from the preceding scenario that all events were voluntary, confidential, and at no time involved any evaluations.

To contact us:

• Tereigh’s office hours are Tuesdays 11:00-1:00, Wednesdays 1:00-3:00, and Fridays 12:00-3:00.

• David’s office hours are Tuesdays 9:00-1:00 and Thursdays 9:00-1:00.

We can also both be reached at telephone: 966-2249 and e-mail: grad.peer@usask.ca

In addition to this service, the Centre offers a variety of workshops that can be taken free of charge. See the Teaching & Learning Centre’s section in ‘Coming Events’ on Page 18 of this On Campus News.

David Brock is a peer teaching consultant with the Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre.